Saturday morning finds us sitting on the grass on the
slope at Hideaway Park in downtown Winter Park. We are getting ready to listen
to some great blues music all weekend long. This is the 10th annual
music festival and is presented by the Grand County Blues Society www.grandblues.org The lineup is great and
I’m looking forward to kickin’ back and listening to some awesome music.
It
is also a fundraiser for the Blue Star connection. www.bluestarconnection.org They provide access and ownership of musical instruments for children and young adults
with cancer and other serious life challenges. To date they have reached
hundreds of kids and donated musical gear to sixteen Children's Hospitals
therapy programs as well as several other community programs. They are having
another fundraiser in Denver, Aug, 4th at Clement Park by Southwest
Plaza in Littleton. Tab Benoit is the headliner and he plays Louisiana swamp
blues and is incredible to listen to, especially live. If you are in the area,
you need to go and play for the day!
In between the main stage acts they have young performers
playing on the “Keeping the Blues Alive” stage. These kids range in age from
about 8 into their teens and are very talented. They are playing covers of
Crossroads, Little Wing and All along the Watchtower to name a few; plus many
of their own songs. Katie Johnson of the Sad Sam Blues Jam really stole the
show! Like them on Facebook….great bunch of girls, oops….musicians.
And of course the people watching was highly entertaining…I
found myself looking for the best t-shirt, best hat, best tye-dye, etc
I think my favorites for the weekend were Ryan McGarvey (ryanmcgarvey.com) and Samantha Fish (samanthafish.com) Both are great guitar players and play hard
chargin’ blues. The headliners Sunday were good, too. They can’t but help it…The Royal
Southern Brotherhood….Cyril Neville, Devon Allman (of the Allman Brothers
ancestry) and Mike Zito. Just a little
too jazzy for my tastes….but to each his own. Here are some pix of the bands.
Festival pictures
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