Blues fans will be filling their boots
with the sounds of acoustic and electric, traditional and contemporary blues on the weekend of August 16 thru 19, the 26th edition of the Salmon Arm ROOTSandBLUES Festival.
The festival has already announced that
Colin James and his exceptional band will be headlining on the closing day of the event and that former Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Raitt and John Mayall guitarist
Rick Vito will also be on site for the entire run of ROOTSandBLUES '18.
Those two critically acclaimed artists are only a slice of the blues component that will be balanced by main stage, CBC Blues stage, and Barn stage performances, that will alternate between featured concert slots and a multitude of thematic workshops.
The line-up features a number of recent Juno and Maple Blues Award winners who combine for what is arguably the strongest Canadian blues contingent in the history of ROOTSandBLUES.
These artists cover a large chunk of territory of our country with
Harpdog Brown, a two-time winner of the Maple Blues Harmonica Player of the Year ('16 & '17) representing B.C..
Big Dave McLean, who took home Acoustic Act of the Year at the most recent Maple Blues Awards, is Manitoba's leading ambassador of the blues, and has been for over three decades.
The Montreal-based
Paul DesLauriers Band took home Entertainer of the Year honors for the second year running at the Maple Blues Awards this past January and it was only two years ago guitarist and singer DesLauriers and his powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Greg Morency and drummer Sam Harrisson, finished second at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
MonkeyJunk won the latest Juno award for Blues Album of the Year in Vancouver a few weeks ago thanks to the trio's Ready To Roll album on Stony Plain Records.
Stick the ROOTSandBLUES House Band, as led by guitarist Brent Parkin into the mix for the third consecutive year, and there are countless combinations of players and singers who have worked together in the studio and on stage for artistic director Peter North to utilize while finalizing the ROOTSandBLUES schedules.
"Harpdog and Big Dave have great chemistry and both were pleased to see they had been booked for ROOTSandBLUES. MonkeyJunk lead vocalist Steve Marriner is also doing double duty these days as the harmonica player for Colin James so that's an obvious combo for a workshop, and the guys in the DesLauriers Band and MonkeyJunk have shared stages out east before with great success. Colin James produced Big Dave's For The Blues...."Always" album, a number of years ago, so there's all sorts of connections with this pool of Canadian blues talent," says North who also had one more announcement for blues fans.
Alabama bluesman
Lil' Jimmy Reed will be making his first appearance in B.C., with The Bob Hall Trio, on the Saturday and Sunday of ROOTSandBLUES. Born in the thirties, the seventy-seven year-old Reed, who covers some of the classic material of his legendary namesake, is a lightning rod of a showman. His recent appearances at the Edmonton International Blues Festival (2016) and Calgary Blues Fest (2017) had audiences on their feet in a matter of seconds.
"He was a surprise highlight of both those festivals. His spirit is infectious and he is the real deal," says the artistic director of the guitarist, singer and harp player who filled in one night decades ago for blues star Jimmy Reed, a turn of events that earned him the sobriquet Lil' Jimmy Reed and started him on the long path to success.
North also feels it is a major added bonus for blues fans attending ROOTSandBLUES, that Reed's band is anchored by pianist Bob Hall. Hall was a member of Britain's legendary Savoy Brown band during the late sixties, a run that included his participation on the albums Getting To The Point, Blue Matter and A Step Further. Hall is joined by his bass playing and singing wife Hilary Blythe and the Hall Trio will also be featured at select workshops and side stage performances.
