singing the blues

Last year we were out of town (in Louisiana for our Cajun class) when the sold out Blues Festival was held (with Shemekia Copeland headlining) - so we vowed to come this year and when tickets went on sale - we snapped them up...

It's a nice one day thing- with many places in the area running day before or day after events at bars and other music venues.  Here is the line-up for the riverside stage for the actual blues fest-

the location of the event is right on the Manatee River which leads into Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico 

the event map-

the event logo-

there were also food vendors with some tasty items-

Here are some of the food items sold by from local restaurants:
•Ortygia: Sicilian Chili, Chocolate Pâté.
•Yachtsea Grille: Bayou Mac-n-cheese, Polynesian Pork Shanks, and Chicken Sausage Gumbo (inspired by Marcia Ball’s gumbo recipe).
•SOMA Creekside: Mangrove Snapper and Short Rib Tacos, Crispy Calamari Salad, and Local Fried Green Tomatoes.
•Cedar Reef Fish Camp: Shrimp-n-Grits, Blackened Gator Chowder, Mini Key Lime Crème Brûlée.
•Anna Maria Oyster Bar: Fish-n-chips.
•Hickory Hollow: Deep Fried BBQ Ribs, Pulled Pork Sliders, Loaded Yucca.
•S.O.B Burgers: The Voodoo Burger and homemade french fries.

so we went over for ....the second half of the day arriving as Samantha Fish was ending--- I really wanted to hear EG Kight but just couldn't get it together to be there that early- and since we didn't really want to hear Samantha Fish we decided to wait until the afternoon/evening acts...

we had some BBQ from Hickory Hollow for lunch and then headed into the stage area for the afternoon acts...

And here is the review of the acts we did see in order of how much we liked them -

Jimmy Thackery an AMAZING guitarist- where has he been all our lives? answer in the Nighthawks... but now he is leading his own band - what an incredible talent!

you can see from the photos - he played as the sun was setting- one in daylight one under the spotlights...

then in the number two slot a shared review of Lil Ed and Billy Branch... with a slight nod to Billy Branch just because he studied with Junior Wells (a favorite for decades) - both acts were excellent with Lil Ed getting points for his foray into the audience while playing...

two of Billy Branch-

a number of Lil Ed photos-

he was having a good time!

then in the next slot, of my favorites, I would put Marcia Ball- excellent piano - really rousing as the blurbs said but her voice hurts me... it sounds like a female Rod Stewart- totally blown- she can barely talk without a raspy/hoarseness much less sing... so I would say while I enjoyed the band and the act, it was uncomfortable to listen to her-

we didn't know how this was going to go - so we bought the reserved seating - otherwise it is bring your own chairs-  next year - and there definitely will be a next year- we will bring our own so we have more room and less hard seats... plus being right in front of the stage was great for seeing the acts but the hearing part would actually be more enjoyable a bit further away... live and learn.

a worthy investment of time and money... and we capped it off with a later dinner at SOB Burger's actual restaurant and had some really great burgers as well.... all in all a good Saturday afternoon/evening!