Category: Journey to Memphis

Opening Round Of The 2017 Journey To Memphis Competition Set For First Weekend In June At The Vinyl Tap

Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis

Since 1999, the Cascade Blues Association has sent local acts to represent our organization and region in The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. Over the years, our competition, the Journey To Memphis, has selected a terrific collection of some of our top talent, including several who have made the finals such as Junkyard Jane, Blind Rhino and Ben Rice & The iLLamtics, and even those who’ve taken home some of the top prizes, Ty Curtis Band – 2nd place 2009, Karen Lovely – 2nd place 2010, and most recently Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers – 3rd…

Posted in Cascade Blues Announcement, Journey to Memphis, PDX Blues Event

Here’s Your Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis Competition

Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis

The Journey To Memphis is the Cascade Blues Association’s regional competition to select the acts that will represent our organization and region in next year’s International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, TN, held in early 2018. This year saw more than 260 acts converge on Beale Street to represent blues societies from around the world in band, solo/duo and youth showcase categories. And the Cascade Blues Association was represented extremely well as our band entry Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers came out in third place overall. A great achievement to say the least. The music industry is in full …

Posted in Journey to Memphis

Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers – Women Blues Acts Win Big At International Blues Challenge

International Blues Challenge - Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers

International Blues Challenge - Rae Gordon & The Backseat DriversThe Blues Foundation’s 33rd annual International Blues Challenge (IBC) was held in Memphis over March 31 through February 4, with more than 260 acts from fourteen countries performing on Beale Street before fans and industry personnel representing blues festivals, recording labels, agents, promoters, venue owners and others, for a chance to gain recognition and potential performance gigs. The IBC has been called the closest thing to a convention for the blues, with multiple showcases, seminars, jams and the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards taking place over the week of activities.

International Blues Challenge - Dawn Tyler WatsonThis year’s event certainly turned out to be fruitful …

Posted in Journey to Memphis, PDX Blues Event

2017 Journey To Memphis Applications Due By April

Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis

The Journey To Memphis is the Cascade Blues Association’s regional competition to select the acts that will represent our organization and region in next year’s International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, TN, held in early 2018. This year saw more than 260 acts converge on Beale Street to represent blues societies from around the world in band, solo/duo and youth showcase categories. And the Cascade Blues Association was represented extremely well as our band entry Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers came out in third place overall. A great achievement to say the least. The music industry is in full …

Posted in Cascade Blues Note, Journey to Memphis

Applications Now Being Accepted For 2017 Journey To Memphis

Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis

The Journey To Memphis is the Cascade Blues Association’s regional competition to select the acts that will represent our organization and region in next year’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, held in early 2018. More than 250 acts from around the world converge on Beale Street to perform before music industry representatives who are searching for new talent, with the chance to win recognition and prizes that include major festival performances and more. But the only way an act may participate is to win a regional competition held by one of The Blues Foundation’s affiliated societies like the Cascade …

Posted in Journey to Memphis

Applications Now Being Accepted For 2017 Journey To Memphis

The Journey To Memphis is the Cascade Blues Association’s regional competition to select the acts that will represent our organization and region in the next year’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, held in early 2018. Up to 250 acts from around the world converge on Beale Street to perform before the music industry searching for new talent, with the chance to win recognition and prizes that include major festival performances and more. But the only way an act may participate is to win a regional competition held by one of The Blues Foundation’s affiliated societies like the Cascade Blues …

Posted in Journey to Memphis

Portland Blues Cruise To Help Journey To Memphis Winners Get To The IBC: Oct. 8th

What can be better than a day on the Portland Spirit, floating along the Willamette River, dancing and listening to the sounds of some of our region’s finest blues musicians? This October you’ll have the opportunity to experience three decks of gut-crunching, soul-lifting blues and also help raise funds to send the Cascade Blues Association’s Journey To Memphis winners to Tennessee to compete in the International Blues Challenge in late January/early February.

The Portland Blues Cruise was the brainchild of Rae Gordon while she was searching for a way to raise funds for her band’s trip to the IBC several …

Posted in Journey to Memphis, PDX Blues Event

Journey To Memphis Competition

Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis

From the listener’s seat

The Waterfront Blues Festival is my favorite Portland event. Where else can you see a whole year of blues entertainment with 15,000 of your closest friends for a $10 ticket?

We all love the headliners, but I always go to hear the up-and-coming artists. And what better place to catch them than our own Journey to Memphis competition? After my last visit to the International Blues competition, I was hooked. Memphis is my ancestral home, and a visit gives me a chance to see the family and cheer for our Portland band. For 2016, I am …

Posted in Journey to Memphis

Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers Are Going To Memphis!

On an overcast, humid afternoon at the Waterfront Blues Festival, the Cascade Blues Association held its 17th annual Journey To Memphis finals.

In early June, eighteen bands began the competition to select the Cascade Blues Association’s representative for the International Blues Challenge next January in Memphis. The Rose Room hosted two hard-fought evenings of music where CBA judges determined the four finalists to perform during the Waterfront Festival.

One thing was certain, all four finalists were prepared to amaze our judges and delivered some of the very best performances ever seen in our competition. The Thunder Brothers started things …

Posted in Journey to Memphis

CBA’s 17th Annual Journey To Memphis Finals To Be Held At Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival July 4

Rae Gordon

July 4 at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival — you know it’s going to be packed to the extreme. People coming for the great musical line-up and the fireworks staking their claim of space in the bowl right from the gate’s opening in the morning. But once you have found your ground for the day, make it a point to head directly to the far north end of the festival, to the Front Porch Stage, to witness one of the greatest and most fun happenings of the festival every year, the Cascade Blues Association’s competition, Journey To Memphis finals. Four …

Posted in Journey to Memphis, PDX Blues Event