2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |

A Note from Ticket Information

the MVBS Advance tickets for the 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival are available
at all IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union locations, the River Center/Adler Theater

President Box Office, and through Ticketmaster. The price of an advance weekend pass
for the Fest is $25. Individual Fest tickets at the gate will cost $15 on Friday,
July 2, and Sunday, July 4. Saturday, July 3, is a special free-admission day in
Greetings, and welcome to the 26th- association with the Red, White, & Boom celebration in Davenport.
annual IH Mississippi Valley Blues IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union and Mississippi Valley Blues Society
Festival! members can purchase individual advance Fest tickets at a discounted rate of
We at the Mississippi Valley Blues $12.50 each only at IH Misssissippi Valley Credit Union locations.
Society are proud of our accomplishment Children 14 and under will be admitted free if accompanied by an adult with
of producing this nationally acclaimed a ticket. Tickets are good for admission only on the day printed on the ticket.
festival for more than 25 years. We now
embrace the challenge
of continuing on
this tradition by
bringing you quality
entertainment for at
least another 25 years.
To do this we will
continue to provide
features that our fans
have come to expect:
world-renowned blues
acts at both of our
main stages, interactive
BlueSKool programs
on-site for the young
and young at heart, and
a free photo exhibit
and workshops for one and all at the
Freight House.
In addition to this, we will now feature a
blues/patriotic performance by the Quad
City Symphony Orchestra in conjunction
with a massive firework display over the
mighty Mississippi River. You might ask
what these changes have to do with our
mission of “keeping the blues alive”; I
know I did. By adding features such as the
Quad City Symphony performance and
the Red, White, & Boom fireworks show,
we hope to broaden both our fan and our
funding base. Accomplishing that will
allow us to continue to bring you to the
blues for at least another 25 years.
So please relax and enjoy all that the
Fest has to offer, and remember the old
saying: “There are only two kinds of music:
good music and bad music.” Here at the
Fest, I can guarantee it will all be good.

Thanks,
Bob Covemaker
President, Mississippi Valley Blues Society
| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA

 
by Mike Schulz
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |

Daughter of the Blues

Shirley King: Friday, 10:30 p.m., Tent Stage

“I
started gravitating toward the blues in Lemme!!!’” – King was finally given her chance on
about 1969,” says 60-year-old vocalist the venue’s stage in 1990, and chose, as her debut,
Shirley King. “What happened was I’d to cover Muddy Waters’ blues classic “Got My Mojo
moved to Chicago from California – I’d been staying Working.”
with my dad and came back to stay with my mom “It was this basic song that I had heard them
– and I was supposed to be getting married to a playing there over and over,” she says, “and so I kind
boyfriend I’d been liking ever since I was small. So of felt like, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ And I busted up
I pretty much followed him here to Chicago to get there – I was so happy to be on the stage – and all I
married ... and he decided he’d had a change of mind, could do was see the way people were looking at me.
and wanted to marry my girlfriend. They told them who I was, and that really made ’em
“So I think that must’ve pushed me over to the ready for me. ‘B.B. King’s daughter?! Oh, Lord! Yeah!
blues!” exclaims King, with a deep laugh, during our I bet she can get down!’
recent phone interview. “Because, man, I got it then!” “And I got up there on the stage, and I couldn’t
Did she ever. For nearly 20 years now, the remember no words,” King continues, laughing.
Chicago-based King has been a staple at area blues “I just kept singing, ‘Got my mojo working, but it
clubs; a popular touring artist who has performed in just don’t work on you!’ over and over. And then,
Canada, Italy, France, and even Iceland; and a darling when I was just too far from getting the song, I just
of blues fans and critics, with Prevue magazine started dancing and shaking my hips and moving
describing her as “a musical gem” and the Web site fast. And the crowd went crazy! I don’t know what I
MNBlues.com lauding, “King sings with passion, did right!”
energy, and power.” Clearly, though, she did something right. “When
But what’s surprising about King’s reminiscence is I got through,” says King, “people told the owner,
everybody was here in Chicago, coming through
that she didn’t get the blues before that heartbreak of ‘Doc’ Pellegrino, ‘You’ve got the hire her. This
to perform, and I’d always be one of the regular
her youth, considering that her dad is the King of the woman is good.’ And of course, people saw the
dancers.”
Blues himself – B.B. King. advantage of having me there, what with the name
Laughing, she continues, “I was even part of the
“I was like most kids,” says Shirley, who was born and stuff. So he came over and talked to me, and
little go-go team that was the opening act along with
and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas. “I didn’t like he said, ‘Well, I don’t fire nobody to hire nobody
another warm-up act – the Jackson 5. When they
the blues. It was a music that I felt had nothing to do – that’s not my rules here – but if somebody leaves
took off and became that famous, I was like, ‘How
with me. For young people, we thought blues was or something, I will call you.’
did that happen?! We was on the stage side by side!’”
old-folks music, and when you heard your parents “Well, somebody must’ve wanted to leave,” she
Realizing, though, that show dancing was
listening to it, you were like, ‘Ye-e-e-ech!’ adds with a laugh, “because I got a call maybe a
“nothing you can do for a lifetime,” King says that
“And I doubly hated it,” she continues, “because it month or two later to come to work. And I pretty
“after 21 years, I figured, ‘Hey, I’m ready to do
kept taking my father away from me” whenever the much had a steady gig there for about three years.”
something else now,’” and began considering a career
legendary musician was called on tour. “So I didn’t That gig subsequently led to many, many more.
as a vocalist in the genre she had previously shied
have any attachment to the blues. At all. None.” “In those days, anybody who was anybody would
away from.
That changed, however, both with the loss of come to the Kingston Mines. So by me working
“I went to clubs,” she says, “just watching different
King’s beau (and, one presumes, her girlfriend), and there, I was getting exposure almost like a booking-
blues people. And I saw that you can do the blues
with her gradual immersion in Chicago’s blues scene, agent set. I was able to go to Europe, get a record
’til you pass on away. I would follow Koko Taylor
following her late-teen years spent pursuing an deal, and do a CD [Jump Through My Keyhole] all in
around, I would be up with Lonnie Brooks, Buddy
acting career in California. my first year of singing, you know?”
Guy ... you know, all the blues people. I just hung
“Here in Chicago, there were blues clubs all over And while King acknowledges that having B.B.
around clubs seven nights a week – just sit there until
the freaking place,” says King, “and that was the way King as a father certainly hasn’t hurt her career any
the clubs closed – just to figure out what to do.
to work if you wanted to make some money. So I (“With the Kingston Mines situation,” she admits, “it
“Because I wasn’t developed as a blues singer,”
stayed on in Chicago, and started making friends, helped like crazy”), she believes that what audiences
King continues. “I didn’t know a lot of words to
and started getting involved in the nightlife.” respond to in her blues performances isn’t heritage
different blues songs, I didn’t know how to end songs,
Yet despite her lineage and musical talents – “All so much as presence.
I didn’t know how to tell people my key ... . Man, I
growing up,” she says, “I always knew how to sing” “I’m able to maintain a stage like nobody’s
didn’t know a lot of stuff. I was very much learning.”
– King didn’t initially set out to become a blues business,” says King with a laugh. “I control the stage.
And most of her blues education, she says,
vocalist. Instead, “I started dancing professionally. I And people like that, you know? They’re used to
came from the famed Chicago nightclub Kingston
was a regular dancer for show clubs and everything people getting up there singing, but when you can
Mines. “That was a late-night place where everybody
all over the city of Chicago. In those days, every actually perform on that stage – dancing, shaking it
was at that time,” says King. “All of the people that
cabaret club, every social club, did their own shows. – that tells people, ‘Hey, I’m here for you to watch.’
were trying to make a name for themselves, they
“And I had a bomb of a body,” says King with a “I wasn’t a seasoned singer when I started,” she
would work the Kingston Mines. And the crowds
chuckle, “and people liked that, so I was able to do continues. “I was very new to it. But I was able to be
were just fantastic in those days. They loved the
pretty good.” an entertainer. And that’s what I still am today. I tell
entertainment.”
While dancing in blues and R&B clubs, King says people all the time, ‘If you come to see me, you’re
After months of soaking in the styles of Kingston
she “got the chance to meet all the bigger stars that not coming to hear a record. You’re coming to see
Mines performers – months spent, says the vocalist,
I hadn’t met” via her famous father. “Joe Tex, Little a show. So buckle your seats, ’cause I’m gonna take
“like a little hungry dog with his tongue stuck
Milton, Bobby Bland ... . I mean, during those days, you for a ride.’”
out: ‘Can I sit in and sing a song? Can I? Can I?!

“Pretty Close to Pop”
Mud Morganfield: Friday, 7 p.m., Bandshell
M
ud Morganfield has this to say
about being the son of Muddy
Waters, who also sired (in a less
literal way) Chicago blues: “It’s a curse,
and then sometimes it’s a blessing. Because
people begin to
compare you.”
Don’t feel
too sorry for
Morganfield,
though. His career
is built on re-
creating the Muddy
Waters sound, and
he’s almost begging
for the comparison.
“I wanted to
represent my dad’s
music, and what
he stood for,”
Morganfield said
in a recent phone
interview. “It came
natural to me. ...
People think maybe I was somewhere in
the basement studying it, and listening to
recordings. You can’t get that close with that.
I do what I do because I’m his son. That’s
just all there is to it.”
Although he’s played music most of
his life – starting with the drums his
father bought him each Christmas, and
then graduating to bass – he only began
a professional career in the past five
years, when he was already past age 50.
Morganfield said that after Muddy Waters
died in 1983, he began visiting his son in
his sleep: “It started with me having dreams
about my dad – reoccurring dreams, same
thing. [He] never would talk to me, but [he
was] always just there playing and singing.
... Maybe he wanted me to do something.
And here I am.”
When he appears at the IH Mississippi
Valley Blues Festival, expect a mix of old
and new. “I try to mix it up, with a few of
mine and a few of Pops’,” Morganfield said.
He declined to name his favorite Muddy
Waters songs. “All of ’em,” he said. “He
was my dad. Even on them that some
people think he didn’t do well on, I love
’em. Anything that came out of my father’s
mouth, I loved ’em. I love him.”
Morganfield said that when he’s
performing his father’s music, he feels close
to him. “Unbelievable. It’s just like he comes

by Jeff Ignatius
| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
inside of me or is sitting right next to me,”
he said. “Always. I can’t hit those kind of
notes and do that kind of blues like that ... .
It has to be God and my dad.”
In reviewing Fall Waters Fall,
Morganfield’s
debut, STLBlues.
net noted that
he “possesses a
singing voice that
is very reminiscent
of his father’s,
especially when
singing in a lower
register. Mud
can definitely
channel the elder
Morganfield’s
enunciating, of the
way Muddy would
‘hit’ (or stress)
certain syllables
for emphasis or
emotional impact.”
The CD of his own songs, Morganfield
said, was an attempt to craft an identity
distinct from his father’s. “My dad came up
in one era, and I came up in another era,” he
said. “I have my own blues, too.”
He also has a live album, and he’s
preparing for a new studio CD. “I’m
trying to establish myself now as my own
bluesman,” he said. But he stressed that
Muddy Waters will always be a touchstone:
“Quote me on this: There will always ... be
something in my work pertaining to my
dad. Always. ... I’m going to always put some
of my dad’s stuff somewhere in there.”
But Muddy Waters hasn’t returned to his
dreams, Morganfield said. “He hasn’t done
that,” he said. “Since I started this career,
actually. Sometimes I look for that.
“My dad was always on the road. And he
didn’t get a chance to really be right there.
I saw more of my Pops going to work to
support us than I saw him in his face.
“I wish he could come to me sometimes
now still. Kind of explain to me. Sometimes
I get discouraged. I get blues like anybody
else. I need that kind of guidance and
talking.”
But Morganfield said he doesn’t doubt
that he’s effectively capturing his father’s
spirit: “I’ve heard way worser, and I’m going
to leave it at that. I’ve been told it’s pretty
close to Pop.”
 
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Harmon-izing
Zac Harmon: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Bandshell
G
rowing up in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s
and ’70s, guitarist and vocalist Zac Harmon
says, “The thing about the blues is that it
wasn’t something you heard and said, ‘Oh, I like that.’
It was part of the culture, so when I started playing, it
was only natural that that’s what I played.
“Blues was like air,” he adds. “And if you breathed,
you was gonna get it.”
With JazzNow.com lauding his “soulful vocals and
breathtaking showmanship” and the Edmonton Sun
describing him as “the closest the blues gets to a heavy-
metal star,” it’s clear that Zac Harmon got it good
... even if it did take a while for people to realize it.
Following two decades as a Los Angeles-based studio
musician, writer, and producer, Harmon released his
first solo CD – Live at Babe & Ricky’s Inn – in 2002,
and four years later, at age 49, received the Blues
Music Award for best new blues artist.
“It’s kind of funny,” says the musician, during our
recent interview, of his relatively late emergence in
the blues spotlight. “Folks sometimes say, ‘Oh, wow
– he’s an overnight success!’ But overnight in the
music business can sometimes be 20 years.”
He laughs. “That’s a lo-o-o-ong night.”
The son of a blues-harp-playing father and pianist
mother, Harmon says he began his own musical
education on the violin at age six, and became
fascinated with the guitar at nine, much to the
annoyance of one of his siblings.
“My sister had a guitar, and I would wait until she
went to sleep at night, and I would slip her guitar and
play. And she finally caught me one night, and the
house exploded,” he says with a laugh. “So my mom
decided she would buy me one.”
And it wasn’t long after securing a guitar of his
own – “around 1968 or ’69” recalls Harmon – that his
adoration for the blues was solidified. “My mother
took me to a show at the Mississippi Coliseum,” he
says. “I think Bobby Rush was the opening act, but
the show featured Little Milton Campbell, B.B. King,
Albert King, and Albert Collins. And I just left there
scarred for life.”
Yet while he continued to hone his blues skills,
Harmon says that, as a youth, he didn’t seriously
consider pursuing a career in music. “I didn’t know
what a professional musician was,” he says. “It wasn’t
like I knew successful musicians or anything, you
know? I just wanted to play, and it didn’t make any
difference where I played, or who I played for, or
whether I was getting paid or not. I mean, money was
kind of like a secondary blessing that happened to
come along.”
The first of such blessings came, says the musician,
“when I graduated high school. I went on tour with
Dorothy Moore, who had a big hit record then called
‘Misty Blue.’ And then, when the tour was over, I got a
call from Little Milton Campbell, who was one of my
idols. He called because he had heard me out on the
road and was impressed, and he was like, ‘I want you
to join my band.’”
That opportunity, however, wasn’t in the cards. “The
deal that I brokered with my mother,” says Harmon,
“was if she would just let me go out on the [Dorothy
Moore] tour, then I promised, when the tour was over,
I would go to college. So when Little Milton called me,
I had to tell him that I couldn’t play because my mom
wanted me to go to college. And the first thing he said
was, ‘By all means, you go to college. If I had known
that that’s what you were going to do, I never would’ve
called you.’
“And that kind of encouragement from him kind of
sealed the deal for me,” he continues. “To go ahead and
finish college before I went out to pursue my career.”
Majoring in economics and accounting, Harmon
received his degree from Jackson State University in
1980, even though, as he says, “I had no intentions of
doing anything other than music.” Happily, though,
when he decided to seek employment in music rather
than finance, he did so with his parents’ approval.
“My mother and father said, ‘This is what you want
to do? Okay. But you cannot do it here, because the
industry is not here. The industry is in Los Angeles
and New York. So if you’re going to do this, that’s
where you need to be.’”
New York – or rather, near New York – was
Harmon’s first destination. “I went to Philadelphia,” he
says, “because I had a girlfriend who was good friends
with some of the folks at Phila International Records.
“But when I got there, it was in the middle of
winter, and there was snow, and cars were sliding
everywhere ... . I was just not accustomed,” Harmon
says with a laugh. “I’m a Southern boy, you know? So I
was like, ‘You know what? Uh uh. I can’t do this.’”
California’s climate, says the musician, proved
much more fitting, and between 1981 and 1985, he
worked a day job, spent evenings playing guitar as
a studio musician, and even found time to earn an
MBA from Malibu’s Pepperdine University. “I had a
full plate of things,” says Harmon. “And around 1985, I
finally started making more money playing that I was
working my job, so I was able to stop the day job and
by Mike Schulz
concentrate solely on music.
“I was very, very lucky,” he adds. “Having that blues
base really helped me a lot because a lot of guys wanted
me playing on their records because I had that feel, that
Southern-blues kind of feel, which worked for what
they were doing musically in L.A. at that time.”
From his tenure as a studio musician, Harmon
went on to a career as an L.A.-based songwriter and
producer, collaborating with such blues and R&B
artists as Karyn White, Freddie Jackson, and Black
Uhuru, whose Harmon-produced Mystical Truth
album received a Grammy nomination in 1994.
And while the musician says he was grateful for his
success during the late ’80s and through the ’90s,
“the only thing I wasn’t really happy about was that
my own career as a blues artist was kind of on hold.”
That changed, says Harmon, when “the
landscape of music changed” at the beginning of
the 21st Century. “The whole session scene was
pretty much gone because rap music came in and
took over, and it was either you were gonna get with
that, or find something else to do.
“And at that time in Los Angeles,” he continues,
“gangster rap was real popular. And because, I
guess, of my Southern roots and the fact that I’m a
Christian, I just could not bring myself to be part
of some of the things that they were saying. It just
didn’t work for me. I couldn’t be on a record that
had to have the tag of ‘Parental Advisory,’ you know?
“So in 2002, I finally said, ‘You know what? I’ve
played on or written or produced or been a part of
over 100 records. Not one have I done on me. So I’m
going to do a record on me. I’m gonna go into a club,
and I’m gonna do a show, and I’m gonna record the
show. And I’m gonna put it out – no overdubs, no
nothing – and just be who I am and what I am. And if
nobody buys the record, that’s fine. But I’m gonna do
what I came here to do.’”
The result was Live at Babe & Ricky’s Inn
– described by MNBlues.com as “an excellent debut
CD” – and as Harmon says, “The record really took
off, you know? Blues folks were digging it, and one
thing led to another, and two years later I won the
IBC [International Blues Challenge] award” for Best
Unsigned Blues Band. “And here I am today.”
Harmon’s busy touring schedule, which he says
keeps him on the road roughly 30 weeks per year, has
also found him in Canada, France, Italy, northern
Africa, and Iraq, where the musician performs blues
standards and compositions from his post-2002 CDs
The Blues According to Zacariah (2005) and From the
Root (2009). And while he says that he’s “so excited
and so happy” to be in this year’s IH Mississippi Valley
Blues Festival lineup, Harmon hopes, and expects, that
his audiences might be even more excited and happy.
“The only thing I can say,” states the musician, “is
that people need to get there on time, and they need to
take a good, deep breath before we start. Because they
won’t be able to exhale until we finish.”
Reader_RWBoom:Layout 1 6/15/10 1:30 PM Page 1

| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
GIMME’ THAT

OM
BO
BO
B O
O
O
M
M
S at u r d ay
! 2010

July 3
America’s Birthday Party

Davenport and Rock Island Riverfront

Events begin at 1 p.m.

Fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.

FREE!
HOSTED BY:

For more details, go to www.redwhiteboom.org

 
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Boundless Blues
Ana Popović: Saturday, 2:45 p.m., Bandshell
I
t might seem strange for a European to be born
into the blues, but that was the case for Ana
Popović.
“This is the only thing that I remember as
far as music growing up in Serbia,” said the
Belgrade-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist
in a recent phone interview. “We never listened
to Serbian music, and basically none of the
European stuff ... .”
The blues came
both from albums – “I
learned a lot of English
from the records,” she
said, and “I sang those
songs way before I
could imagine and
understand what they
were talking about” –
and home jam sessions
led by her father. (She
eventually wormed
her way into those
sessions because she
learned slide guitar.)
Her first concert
(at age 13) was Tina
Turner, and one
can hear the vocal
influence in the fiery
defiance and soul of “Wrong Woman,” from her
2009 album Blind for Love. Pair that with the
subdued, quiet confidence of the same record’s
“More Real,” and it’s evident that this is an artist
capable of nearly boundless blues. It’s overstating
her skills, but think Turner paired with Stevie
Ray Vaughan and you’ll get some sense of this
woman’s multifaceted attack.
The 34-year-old Popović – a nominee for “best
new artist debut” in the 2003 W.C. Handy Blues
Awards – said that the aim with her albums is
to provide a well-rounded batch of songs over a
variety of genres.
“I like to have a little bit of each style on the
record ... ,” she said while on vacation in France.
And while her own songs have increasingly
dominated her albums – she wrote or co-wrote
all the songs on Blind for Love – she plans for
her next studio album to be split evenly between
originals and covers. (She’ll be recording in
November, and in the meantime a live CD/DVD
filmed at a medieval Italian castle is due this
summer.)
She said she’s now going through recordings by
Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James,
looking for relatively obscure tracks that she could
do for the next album. She called her approach
“going a little bit back to the roots.”
by Jeff Ignatius
That’s partly reverence for her blues elders, but
she also considers covers complementary to her
own songwriting. She featured Snooky Pryor’s
“How’d You Learn to Shake It Like That?” on
2007’s Still Making History because “I don’t even
think I can write that song that way,” she said.
Popović isn’t giving herself enough credit.
Blind for Love has a wide breadth and deep skill,
and she never sounds
like she’s stretching or
beyond herself. It’s rare
that a singer and guitarist
doesn’t out of necessity
lean heavily on one or the
other skill, but both her
instruments are capable
of carrying any song, and
the result is an album
with a lovely balance
between hard and soft,
fast and slow, emotion
and technique.
Cautioned by her
father about the perils of
betting on a music career
– specifically of reaching
middle age still waiting
for a big break – Popović
learned graphic design,
and she studied jazz for three years at conservatory.
The goal, she said, was to develop her own sound
rather than just copying her forebears. She got that,
but she quit her studies before they were finished.
“I went really far from where I came from,” she
said. “I was starting to play too many notes. And it
didn’t really make a lot of sense with where I came
from. It was stopping to be groovy and bluesy,
because that’s what these studies do to you.”
Many performers go to conservatory as hard-
rock or blues players, but “at the end, they were
all mixed up,” Popović said. “Not good enough
to become great jazz guitar players, but these four
years they lost what they were actually good at. I
promised this wasn’t going to happen to me.”
While her performing schedule contributed to
her choice to abandon her studies, Popović appears
to have a healthy awareness of herself and the
music business. “Don’t waste your four years [at
conservatory] trying to be John Scofield,” she said.
“The most important time of your life and your
career is actually the 20s. That’s when you really
need to make your sound and style. Don’t waste
it on style you’re not going to be making money
with.”
And she said that she has always been willing to
give up her music career if it didn’t work out.
But, she noted, “that point never came.”
| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA

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2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Just Keep Saying “Yes”
Ruthie Foster: Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Tent Stage
T
he numerous plaudits for singer/songwriter
Ruthie Foster include O magazine calling her “a
blues powerhouse” and Paste magazine raving,
“There’s no denying the power of Foster’s monstrous
voice,” and she received a 2009 Grammy Award
nomination for her CD The Truth According to Ruthie
Foster – which is about as confident a title as one could
imagine.
Yet during our recent phone
interview, the Austin, Texas-
based musician admits that
power and confidence were by
no means inherent traits.
“I knew early on that I wanted
to be in music doing something,”
says Foster of her professional
goals, “but being a singer out
front was not my idea of what
I wanted to do. I wanted to be
support. For anyone. I was kind
of shy, so I didn’t really see myself
doing what I’m doing now.
“So yeah, I wanted to be in
music, but to this capacity?” she
continues. “I just kind of learned
how to be out in front of people
and how to entertain. You know, you just keep saying
‘yes,’ and all these opportunities come up.”
Foster (who doesn’t reveal her age) says her first
opportunities arose during her upbringing in the
central-Texas town of Gause – estimated population:
400 – where the future blues headliner’s love of music
developed through piano and guitar lessons and
“mostly the church. My mother, and her mother, and
all my aunties and uncles, they all sang and worked in
the church.”
Her solo debut, at age 14, even took place in her
uncle’s church choir. “That was intimidating,” Foster
says, “because I grew up around all these great singers
– lots of cousins – and I didn’t want to be a solo singer.
But I kind of got pushed in that direction. It was kind of
my turn to do it.”
Following that performance, says Foster, “I knew
that going to school for music was a major part of what
I wanted to do, because I was really kind of excited
about teaching.” And after high-school graduation, she
enrolled in Waco’s McClennan Community College,
and took courses in music, audio engineering, and
voice, where she was “immersed in every genre there
is. I was actually classically trained, learning how to
sing in French and German, doing arias and all of
that.”
Her evenings, however, soon became focused on
an altogether different style of singing, after friend Joe
Silva asked her to join his ensemble as a lead vocalist.
“I went to school and ended up in this blues band, of all
things,” says Foster with a laugh. “That definitely kept
my voice teacher on edge.”
Foster’s stint with the Waco-based Joe Silva Band
was her first serious exposure to the genre she’d later
make her name in. “I had no idea what the blues really
meant,” says the musician of her early performances
with the group. “But I learned that it’s what Buddy Guy
used to say – blues is about feelings. And the older I
got and the more I sang, the more I could put my own
feelings into singing blues.”
She stayed with the band through graduation, but
then decided to do something
unusual for a newly minted
graduate with lead-vocalist
credentials and an adoration of
music: She enlisted in the Navy.
“I was so immersed in music
from a young age,” she says,
“and in college, you know,
forget about it – when you’re in
music school, that’s all you do
is practice and perform. And I
think I wanted a break. I wanted
a break from music, and I had
always wanted to be in the
military.”
During her first year in
the Navy, which Foster spent
stationed in San Diego,
the musician says she “kind of floated around at a
helicopter squadron, ordering parts. Kind of like Radar
on M*A*S*H, where you’re kind of a do-it-all person
because you don’t really have a destination as far as
what you want to do yet.” Yet while Foster may have
enlisted, in part, to escape the world of music, it wasn’t
long before music found her.
“My company commander had a party,” she says,
“and there was a band there, a makeshift band, where
he played guitar, and a couple other guys played
drums. They were doing a blues number, and I was
like, ‘Well, you know, I sing a little bit ... . Can I do
something?
“And I did Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Red House,’” Foster
continues. “And my company commander pulled me
aside the next day, and he demanded that I go try out
for the Navy band. He said, ‘Why are you here?’”
Laughing, Foster adds, “So I was busted.”
Her tenure with the Navy band (for which she
served as a percussionist) found Foster stationed in
Charleston, South Carolina, touring the southeast, and
traveling to such locales as Puerto Rico and Iceland.
She also joined, as a vocalist, the Navy ensemble
Pride, which Foster describes as “a top-40, funk-band
branch of the military band. Those guys are the best
musicians I have ever played with, and I’ve played with
a lot of great musicians. They’re very, very sharp, and
can read and write their asses off.”
Armed with a newfound passion for music, Foster
finished her four years in the military and, after a
brief stay in Charleston, set off for New York City. “I
wanted to do music on my own terms,” she says of the
by Mike Schulz
decision. “You know, I didn’t want to run away from
music anymore, and New York was definitely where I
needed to be.”
Foster admits that New York “kicked my butt”
but adds that “I kicked back,” and she was eventually
contracted as a songwriter for Atlantic Records.
“Atlantic was a great umbrella to be under while I
figured out what I wanted to do, genre-wise,” she says.
“If I wanted to play guitar, or just sing in front of a
band, or what. So I did that for three years, and I wrote
with some great people.” Foster also continued to
perform, frequently playing small clubs and venues in
Greenwich Village, “in places that Bob Dylan played
in. It was beautiful. I was livin’ the dream.”
In 1993, though, she opted to relocate yet again
– this time, back to her home state. “My mother [who
passed away in 1996] wasn’t doing too well,” Foster
explains, “but I was also homesick. Really homesick.
So homesick that the only thing I wrote about in New
York was Texas.”
And it would be hard to argue that her return hasn’t
been a boon to Foster’s professional success, as her
1997 debut CD Full Circle – and the three albums that
followed – were all produced there.
“For a first project,” says the musician of Full Circle,
“I think it was great. You know, it was all home-done. I
had friends to take the [CD cover] picture, I had friends
do up the artwork ... . It was done well, and it was a
relatively easy process ... although the people behind it
would probably say it wasn’t, because they know how
much I really don’t like going into the studio.”
Foster laughs. “When it’s my project, I kind of have
to be dragged. I love doing projects with other people;
it’s just when it comes time to making decisions, it’s
really good for me to have a great producer.”
Which, says Foster, is exactly what she got in Chris
Goldsmith, who produced her fifth CD The Truth
According to Ruthie Foster, described by Blues Revue
magazine as “a full-on blast of soul and blues.”
“I don’t know how it happened,” she says of the
CD, Foster’s first to be produced outside of Texas, in
Memphis’ legendary Ardent Studios. “I have to give
it all to Chris. How he managed to get [the late blues
pianist] Jim Dickinson to come up was just beyond
me. But he did. He wasn’t feeling very well, but he
got in there, and he gave everything that he was. And
Robben Ford played guitar. He only had about two
days he could spare before going off to Italy on tour.
And Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns came in
and just laid down some brilliant stuff.
“It was just incredible,” she says. “A really good
experience. And that’s what keeps me doing [music].
It’s really about just getting up and creating, you know?
Even if it’s just journaling – that turns into a song for
me a lot of times.
“Music is very much still exciting for me. And if it
doesn’t get that way, I just stop, and I do something else
for a while.”

Right Place, Right Time
Kim Massie: Sunday, 7:30 p.m., Tent Stage
“Y
ou know the saying that
you got to be in the right
place at the right time?”
singer Kim Massie asked in a recent
phone interview. “It wasn’t until I
came to St. Louis where it was like,
‘This is the place I’m supposed to be!’
Everything started to happen. One
thing led to another.”
Kim Massie is not a household
name, even in the context of the
blues. She has become an institution
in the great blues and jazz city of St.
Louis over the past 10 years, twice
winning the Riverfront Times’ female-
vocalist-of-the-year award, and she’s
the featured artist twice a week at
the blues club Beale on Broadway.
Yet she rarely performs outside of
her hometown – trips to Hungary, Seattle, San
Francisco, Kansas City, and Washington, D.C., but
no tours. St. Louis is a place like Chicago or New
Orleans where blues musicians can find enough
work that they don’t have to leave.
Mike and Nanci Livermore of the Mississippi
Valley Blues Society’s Entertainment Committee
“discovered” Massie in St. Louis and were so
impressed with her show that they suggested
the committee get her for the 2010 festival. The
committee loved her powerful, soulful singing,
which STLBlues.net described as “the voice of God
with growling nuances of Etta James.”
Although Kim lived in the St. Louis area until
she was nine, she spent the next three decades in
Lorain, Ohio, a town west of Cleveland. In both
places she participated in gospel and school choirs.
“I’ve been singing since I was two years old, and
always loved music,” she recalled. “I started singing
in church like a lot of black entertainers. But I had
such a passion for the music it went farther than
just gospel music.”
She was a single mother of three in the ’80s
and hit the karaoke circuit, winning a state and
a national competition by the mid-’90s. But she
was never able to make a living from her music.
“Cleveland had its own things going on,” she
said, “but I don’t think that was the right place
for me. Lorain is 25 minutes west of Cleveland. I
lived there for 33 years, and nothing ever seemed
to actually work out there. When I moved back
here to St. Louis [in 1999] – when I moved back
to this area to live with my mom – that’s when
things really started happening for me musically
speaking.”
A friend heard Kim singing karaoke and
suggested she go to a certain club, and the people
there told her to go to BB’s Jazz, Blues, & Soups, a
club near the Soulard district famous for its blues.
That’s where Kim met Oliver Sain, the Mississippi-
born saxophonist and bandleader who came to St.
Louis in 1959 and never left.
“Oliver Sain asked me to sit in and sing a song
or two with his band, and I met all the musicians.
It just kinda snowballed, where someone told me
go sit in with this band or go sing over there. And
I was just amazed at how close-knit the whole
family was in St. Louis to let me come in and be
a part of this. In St. Louis people come into town
on business, and of course they want to hear some
blues. Even the hotel people and the food-service
people were telling them to come see me!”
One of the people who heard Kim singing
with Oliver Sain in 1999 was Bud Jostes. He
opened Beale on Broadway in 2000 at the same
intersection as BB’s and asked Massie to play
there one night a week. Now she performs twice
a week, finally making a living from her singing.
“He’s very supportive of me, very protective of me,
treats me very well,” Kim said of Jostes. “I don’t
stay anyplace that I’m not treated well. And he has
enabled me to do whatever I want to musically
speaking.” While her specialties are blues, gospel,
and R&B, Kim also sings some pop, rock, and
country tunes, depending on her audience.
Kim has a regular backup band that gives her
the freedom to switch gears musically. They’re
called the Solid Senders, named by Jostes. “I never
have a song list on stage – you will never see
that,” Kim said. “I have a song list like a reference
list, because we’ve done so many songs I can
hardly keep up with it. During the course of an
evening I will be asked to do the whole gamut of
different genres of music. So over the years I’ve
gone through my share of musicians to where
11
by Karen McFarland
| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
the group I have now is absolutely
perfect for what I do. I have keyboard,
bass, drums, guitar, and saxophone.
We know enough music to keep our
audience happy.”
Make no mistake, most of the genres
Massie plays are blues-related. In 2003,
Kim was one of seven lead singers in
a St. Louis production of the musical
showcase It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues –
giving the history of the blues through
song – and the next year she joined
the Kansas City cast. The experience
gave Massie a new appreciation for the
blues: “It was so exciting to be a part of
telling the story of where blues came
from. That’s something that the young
folks need to learn about.
“The executive director ... , he heard
me at the Beale in 2002. A production was coming
through and he needed one more singer; I was
the one he contacted. ... We did songs from Ray
Charles and Howlin’ Wolf, and the list goes on and
on.” There are actually more than 40 songs in the
production., from field hollers and spirituals to the
electrified blues of the postwar era.
Yet one of Kim’s fondest memories is of a
different stripe: singing with Cyndi Lauper. “In
2007 on the Fourth of July I opened for her,”
Massie said. “Well, she heard me singing and
asked me if I would sing with her. We had a quick
rehearsal, and I sang some of her number-one
songs like ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun.’ We did
‘Time After Time’ and we actually sang ‘At Last’
– we did that together. It was a lotta fun!”
Of course, “At Last” is a song made famous by
Etta James. But Kim is particularly fond of the
Queen of Soul. “My favorites are Aretha Franklin’s
‘Drown in My Own Tears’ – that’s a song I found
out was originally done by Ray Charles, but I first
heard Aretha sing it – as well as ‘Chain of Fools.’”
Kim has a live CD that’s a tribute to Aretha, in
addition to a live jazz album, her latest (A Lady
by Choice) that features blues-related fare, and an
upcoming gospel CD titled Inspired.
But despite citing Aretha and Ray Charles
– soul artists coming from a gospel tradition
– as her major influences, the blues played a key
role in Massie’s development. “I remember as a
young child my father playing Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
records and B.B. King,” Kim said. “I’ve heard
those songs over the years and they always stuck
with me. I’ve sung those songs for so many years,
and now as an adult I get to honor those people
that have enabled me to make a living singing. It’s
just awesome!”
 12
by Jeff Ignatius
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |

“I’ll Take All the Help I Can Get”

Tommy Castro: Sunday, 8 p.m., Bandshell

A
t the 2010 Blues Music Castro won the contemporary-
Awards in May, Tommy blues-album and B.B. King
Castro and his bandmates accolades at the Blues Music
walked away with four awards: band Awards in 2008, and Hard
of the year, contemporary blues Believer earned strong reviews.
male artist, contemporary blues About.com called it “a white-
album (for Hard Believer), and the hot collection of spirited,
big one – B.B. King Entertainer of unpretentious performances, each
the Year. song approached by Castro and
In a recent phone interview, his flamethrower band with the
Castro sounded genuinely grateful ferocity of a hungry heavyweight-
and surprised. “You need a shot class prizefighter.”
in the arm,” he said. “It was a big Half the songs on Hard Believer
night for us.” And with a charming are originals, and I generally prefer
lack of vanity, Castro offered two those to the covers. “Monkey’s
explanations for his four-for-four Paradise” has a particularly
night specifically, and for his success strong groove, “Make It Back to
generally. Memphis” is joyous roadhouse,
“I got opportunities to have a and “Trimmin’ Fat” has a light
career playing blues, I think, before touch with the sad realities of the
I was really ready for it,” he said. economy as well as the live-music
“When Blind Pig signed me [in the business: “He could hardly even
mid-1990s], I didn’t have any songs. look me in the face / And he said,
... I’ve been learning how to do this ‘Karaoke really packs this place.’”
while I was doing it. ... I think that Castro and his band nail
over a period of time we’ve gotten a Allen Toussaint’s “Victims of the
little bit better at making records.” Darkness,” with great alchemy
He credited having a good band, a between the horns, the guitar,
good producer, and good songwriter and Castro’s roughly warm voice
partners. “My talent might lie in – which the All Music Guide
surrounding myself with all the compared to “a cross between
watching cliff-diving, or any other dangerous
right people to help me do what I do best,” he Delbert McClinton, James Brown, and Bob
sport? ... That element of danger involved. ...
said. “I have my little thing that I do. I’m a fairly Seger.”
“I saw the look on people’s faces when the jam
proficient songwriter, I’m a good singer, and a And there’s no denying that Castro and his
would happen [on the cruises], especially when
good guitar player. I don’t think I’m great at any band play the covers with conviction, whether
the really great shit would happen. I thought,
of those things. ... I’ll take all the help I can get.” the lounge-jazz strains of Jeff Turmes’ “The
‘There’s got to be a way to create something like
The California-based Castro will have plenty Trouble with Soul” or the Godfather of Soul-like
this on the road.’”
of help at the IH Mississippi Valley Blues treatment of Wilson Pickett’s “Ninety-Nine &
The tours started a few years ago with Magic
Festival, as the Tommy Castro Band will be One Half.”
Dick, pianist Deanna Bogart, and guitarist
backing separate sets by its leader, guitarist Castro admits that many people – including
Ronnie Baker Brooks. Castro said the goal is
Debbie Davies, harmonica player Magic Bruce Iglauer, head of Castro’s new label
always “a well-rounded show. Everybody did
Dick, and shouter Sista Monica as part of the Alligator – advised him against doing Bob
something different, but when we jammed
Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue. That closes Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” because it had
together, there was some magic there in that
the festival’s bandshell stage on Sunday and will been overdone. But Castro was undeterred.
original lineup.”
culminate with a jam featuring all the artists. “I remember hearing Bob Dylan do it, and
While Castro’s band gets quite a workout, he
Jams have long been a part of the Legendary thinking to myself, ‘Look at those big gaping
said it’s simply good business. “It adds dates to
Rhythm & Blues Cruise and its earlier holes there where there should be a ... big Albert
the calendar, basically,” he said. “You have a kind
incarnation, but it was Castro’s idea to try it on King guitar lick in between those choruses.’”
of music that appeals to a pretty small section of
land as part of a tour. The singer and guitarist has certainly earned
the population. Not everybody in the world is a
“Some of the best stuff out of people happens the deference to make records however he
blues fan. You’ve got a strong following, a faithful
under those circumstances,” Castro said. “And pleases. And in Alligator, he’s found a label
following ... . We offer people a lot – a really
also there’s the possible train wreck that could with a refreshingly artist-centric attitude about
strong show to get them to come out. ... They get
happen at any time. We’re all professionals, and the music business. Castro said that Iglauer
a chance to see four national acts at once, one
it’s not likely to happen, but it can happen at understands that concerts are the lifeblood of
night. We’re giving them a lot for their money.”
any time. ... There is a chance, the possibility not only performers but also their labels: “The
Make no mistake: Castro is a draw all on
for things to go terribly wrong at any second. way to sell the most records is to get people to
his own. In addition to this year’s awards haul,
That makes it exciting. Why do people enjoy my shows.”
 13

| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
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 14
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Friday, July 2: Bandshell (“Blues in the Blood”)
Every act on both stages Friday is a descendant of a blues legend.
The Kinsey Report, 5 p.m.
MySpace.com/kenkinsey
The Kinsey brothers – guitarist/vocalist Donald,
drummer Ralph, and bassist Kenneth – developed
their funk-oriented
blues sound from a
lifetime of working
together on stage
and in the studio.
Their father and
musical mentor, the
late Mississippi-born
Lester “Big Daddy” Kinsey, introduced his sons to
gospel and blues early on. As youngsters, they saw
firsthand the emotional power of music in their
grandfather’s church in Gary, Indiana. By the time
Donald was 13, he was an accomplished guitarist
who performed with Big Daddy around Gary.
During the late 1960s, Big Daddy began taking
the family act on the road. In 1972, Albert King
recruited Donald as his rhythm guitarist.
In 1975, Donald and Ralph formed the heavy-
metal group White Lightning, cutting an album for
Island Records and touring nationally. At an Island
Records reception in New York, Donald met reggae
superstar Bob Marley, who in turn introduced
him to Peter Tosh. Tosh invited Donald to sit in
on the recording of Legalize It. After touring with
Tosh for a year, Marley asked Donald to overdub
some guitar parts for Rastaman Vibration. Donald
moved to Jamaica in 1976 and toured with Marley.
The Kinsey Report came together in 1984,
with Donald returning home to join Ralph in re-
forming the family band with Big Daddy. Youngest
brother Kenneth took over the bass slot. The band,
Big Daddy Kinsey & the Kinsey Report, combined
the sons’ rock-influenced sound and their father’s
Mississippi Delta-blues roots. The Kinsey Report’s
debut album for Alligator Records, 1988’s Edge
of the City, led to three Blues Music Award
nominations. Downbeat declared: “The band is
telepathically tight, and its impact is devastating.”
And that description stands true today for the
Kinsey Report – the brothers plus guitarist Nick
Byrd – with their mix of fiery guitars, funky
rhythms, streetwise lyrics, and boundless energy.
– Karen McFarland
To read a 2008 River Cities’ Reader article on the
Kinsey Report, visit RCReader.com/y/kinsey.
Mud Morganfield, 7 p.m.
MudMorganfieldSite.com
His real name is Larry Williams, but this
firstborn son of blues icon Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) was raised with the
names “Mud Jr.” and “Little Mud.” Now 56, Mud
Morganfield has a voice that’s uncanny in its
resemblance to his father’s.
Similar to the early life of Muddy Waters, Mud
Morganfield was a truck driver with a passion for
music. In his spare time, Mud Morganfield would
sing with local soul groups. But it wasn’t until after
the funeral of his father in 1983 (where he met his
half-brother Big Bill Morganfield for the first time)
that Mud Morganfield immersed himself in the
blues. He performed in the clubs of Chicago’s South
Side but has otherwise kept a low profile.
In July 2007 Mud stepped out into the limelight
playing a show with Big Bill Morganfield at the
Muddy Waters Memorial Festival in Westmont,
Illinois, and then went on to his own set at the
Chicago Blues Festival in 2008. This was followed
by sold-out tours of Europe and South America.
Mud Morganfield takes pride in re-creating the
sound of his father. So be prepared for a set of deep
Chicago blues when Mud Morganfield hits the
stage. He’s bringing a great band of bluesmen from
Chicago to play with him, including Eddie Taylor
Jr. on guitar, Harmonica Hinds, and Kenny “Beedy
Eyes” Smith (son of Willie “Big Eyes” Smith) on
drums. – Karen McFarland
Bernard Allison, 9 p.m.
BernardAllison.com
In keeping with our “Blues in the Blood” theme
night, Bernard Allison is the son of the late, great
Luther Allison. Bernard was born in Chicago on
November 26, 1965, the youngest of nine children.
Running around the stage as his father played had
a profound effect on Bernard. He states that he was
about seven years old when he decided he wanted
to be like his father. He didn’t start playing ’til he
was roughly 10 years old.
Bernard made his first appearance on record
at age 13, when he played on a live LP his father
recorded in Peoria, Illinois. Luther bought Bernard
his first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, but also told
him to get an education first. Bernard joined his
father on stage at the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival.
One week after graduating from high school,
Bernard got a call from Koko Taylor asking him to
be the lead guitarist in her band. He played with
Koko’s band for three years. Then in 1989, Bernard
recorded with his father in Europe and lived there
for a while, playing in his father’s band. Luther and
Bernard both can be heard tearing it up at the 1989
Chicago Blues Festival that was released on Luther
Allison’s album Let’s Try It Again on Ruf Records.
One year later, Bernard released his first solo
album, appropriately entitled The Next Generation.
I don’t mean to slight any other blues performers,
and there are thousands
of great musicians, but
Luther Allison is in my
opinion the greatest blues
performer that has ever
graced a stage! Bernard
has definitely inherited
some amazing genes
from his father, and even
though he doesn’t like to be compared to his father,
he doesn’t have to be, because he is getting great on
his own! – Steve Heston
Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, 11 p.m.
LilEdAndTheBluesImperials.com
Lil’ Ed, although small in stature, is a true
giant of the blues, and among the very last
authentic West Side Chicago bluesmen. His band
includes himself on lead guitar, his half-brother
James “Pookie” Young on bass, Mike Garrett on
rhythm guitar, and Kelly Littleton on drums. Lil’
Ed’s storybook rise in the blues world has taken
him from working in a car wash to entertaining
thousands of his fans all over the world, leading to
an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien
(in a hilarious film with Lil’ Ed teaching Conan
how to play the blues).
Lil’ Ed was born in Chicago on April 4, 1955,
and was surrounded by the blues growing up. He
was playing guitar, drums, and bass by the time
he was 12. Along with Pookie, Ed received lessons
and support from his famous blues-playing, slide-
guitarist uncle, J.B. Hutto. Ed says that J.B. taught
him everything he knows and wouldn’t be where
he is today without him. Ed met up with Alligator
Records President Bruce
Iglauer at a time when
Iglauer was looking for
local talent for an anthology
of some of Chicago’s
younger blues musicians.
The band showed up
expecting to cut two songs;
they had never been in a
recording studio before. After doing those songs,
the place was jumping with excitement. Lil’ Ed had
the engineer and all of the Alligator staffers begging
for more, and Iglauer offered the band a full-album
contract on the spot. The end result was 30 songs in
three hours with no overdubs and no second takes.
If you want to see a band that is guaranteed to get
you up on your feet dancing, then you don’t want to
miss Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials! – Steve Heston
To read a 2005 River Cities’ Reader article on Lil’
Ed, visit RCReader.com/y/liled.

Friday, July 2: Tent (“Blues in the Blood”)
Every act on both stages Friday is a descendant of a blues legend
Alvin “Little Pink” Anderson, 5 p.m.
LittlePink.20m.com
Alvin “Little Pink” Anderson is the son of
Piedmont blues giant Pink Anderson. Alvin was
born on July 13, 1954, in Spartanburg, South
Carolina, and by the age of three was performing
with his father as a tap dancer and singer in the
medicine shows that traveled throughout the South.
It was also at this early age that Pink Anderson
started teaching Alvin to play the acoustic guitar. By
the time Alvin was 13, he was touring with Clarence
Carter – until his age was discovered!
Over the next few years, Alvin assimilated his
father’s guitar style, and Little Pink was making a
name for himself on the local scene playing both
electric and acoustic blues. But by 18 he was in
prison for the first of two times; he was 20 and still
in prison when his father died in 1974. In 1994
Alvin was back in prison for three years for an
illegal-driving charge, but that stay helped him to
put his life in perspective. He was determined to
follow in his father’s footsteps
by devoting his life to playing
and writing about the blues.
After interviewing Little
Pink, Ray Stiles of Blues on
Stage had this assessment: “In
the short time I spent with
Anderson I found him to be
very honest and open in expressing his feelings. He
is also totally committed to the music he grew up
with. ... Anderson said he is an Albert Collins freak
and showed us what he meant with his scorching,
staccato-like licks on guitar. He is an excellent
musician with a powerful, soulful blues voice. His
playing combines both traditional and modern
blues, and he played an electrifying version of ‘The
Sky Is Crying’ that left the late-night audience
screaming for more.”
Anderson will also present a workshop at 2:30
p.m. on Saturday. – Karen McFarland
Caroline Shines, 6:30 p.m.
CarolineShines.com
Friday at the Blues Fest is called “Blues in the
Blood,” because sons, daughters, and relatives of
blues legends will be performing.
There is no better example than
blues and gospel singer Caroline
Shines, the daughter of blues
guitarist and singer Johnny
Shines, best known for the three
years he spent performing and
touring with Robert Johnson (whom most blues-
music historians argue is the most celebrated figure
in the history of the blues). Johnny Shines was a
very original slide guitarist who influenced artists
such as B.B.King, who once claimed: “Johnny
Shines was the best guitar player who ever lived.”
Johnny Shines performed at the 1989 Blues Fest
right here in LeClaire Park, which is one of the
reasons the MVBS can rightfully claim that this
blues festival is “where legends come to play.”
Growing up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Caroline
Shines says she learned about all types of music
and how to sing from her father. Early on, Caroline
and her mother sang in the choir at Morning Star
Baptist Church, which Johnny attended when he
was not traveling.
Caroline’s first professional singing was for the
Tuscaloosa Talent Search. When she auditioned,
after hearing her sing only one verse, the person in
charge hired Caroline on the spot! Now Caroline
spends quite a bit of her time performing and
conducting Blues in the Schools workshops with
Debbie Bond and the Alabama Blues Project
begun by Willie King. Caroline performed with the
Alabama Blues Project during a week’s residency
in the Quad Cities in November 2006. At Mojo’s
during that visit, Caroline let it all hang out and
showed blues fans how to holler the blues! This is
what blues fans can expect to hear when Caroline
Shines takes the stage in the Tent on Friday night.
– Jimmie Jones
Lurrie Bell Chicago Blues Band, 8:30 p.m.
Lurrie.com
When the Entertainment Committee heard
Lurrie Bell’s latest release, we agreed unanimously
that we wanted him to play the
Fest. Guitarist/vocalist Lurrie
is the son of famed Chicago
harpmeister Carey Bell, who’s
often compared to harmonica
powerhouses Little Walter and
Sonny Boy Williamson. Be
prepared to be mesmerized by some deep Chicago
blues when Lurrie and his band take the stage.
Born December 13, 1958, Bell was raised in a
Chicago household steeped in blues, with regular
guests to the house including Eddie Taylor, Eddie
C. Campbell, Jimmy Dawkins, Eddy Clearwater,
Big Walter Horton, Sunnyland Slim, and Muddy
Waters pianist Lovie Lee. Lurrie started playing
guitar at the age of six; when he was eight, he went
to live down South with his grandparents and
played in the church.
Back in Chicago in his teens, Lurrie joined up
with Billy Branch and Freddie Dixon to form the
Sons of Blues. They performed at the Berlin Jazz
Festival in 1977, and then recorded three cuts for
Alligator’s Grammy-nominated Living Chicago
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| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
Blues series. Lurrie’s guitar talent and knowledge
of different blues styles was noted by publications
such as Rolling Stone and the New York Times. At
20, Lurrie was asked to join Koko Taylor’s band,
and he traveled with her for several years.
Battling and defeating some personal demons
kept Lurrie out of the studio and off the road for
a period in the ’80s and ’90s, but he returned with
four CDs for Delmark and then an Alligator release
in 2004 – an acoustic duet with his father that
was nominated for a Blues Music Award for best
acoustic album.
The year 2007 was a hard one for Lurrie; he lost
his life partner, photographer Susan Greenberg,
to cancer in January, and then Carey Bell passed
in May. But also that year, Lurrie was nominated
for a Blues Music Award for guitarist of the year.
– Karen McFarland
Shirley King, 10:30 p.m.
MySpace.com/theshirleykingband
Being the blues-singing daughter of B.B. King
has earned Shirley King the title “Daughter of
the Blues,” but she is an outstanding singer and
performer in her own right. And she’s bringing a
topnotch band from Chicago with her to our fest
– so you don’t want to miss this set!
Her father’s career exposed her to the company
of great singers. Born and raised in Memphis,
Shirley began singing in the church choir at age
nine. When she was 13, she met another music
legend: Etta James. Young Shirley was so impressed
by Etta’s performance that she made Etta her
musical role model. Ruth Brown and Mahalia
Jackson were also influences.
When Shirley was growing up, she studied
acting and dancing as well as singing, giving her
the skills to be a dynamic singer. She’s an all-
around entertainer, which comes from her years
as a stage baby watching such talents as James
Brown, Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke. From all
of them she learned that there’s more to being an
entertainer than just being a singer or musician.
Shirley came late to performing the blues, first
trying it on in 1990. Within six months she was a
regular at Kingston Mines in Chicago. And once
B.B. caught Shirley’s act, he lent her his full support
to her carrying on the blues tradition. Shirley’s noted
for her high-energy stage presence, and her blues
range from traditional to gospel to R&B to soul.
Shirley has sung at major blues clubs and
festivals worldwide. She has performed with her
father, Bobby Bland, Albert King, Little Milton,
Tyrone Davis, Otis Clay, Jerry Butler, Koko Taylor,
Lonnie Brooks, Eddy Clearwater, Billy Branch, and
many others. – Karen McFarland
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2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Saturday, July 3:
Bandshell
Steady Rollin’ Blues Band, 1 p.m.
Just five weeks after winning the Quad Cities
round of the Iowa Blues Challenge, the Steady Rollin’
Blues Band emerged victorious from the final round
of the state challenge in Des Moines on May 22. The
prize package includes studio recording time and a
slot at the IH Mississippi
Valley Blues Festival for
July 3, as well as money to
help support the band’s trip
to Memphis next January,
when they will represent
Iowa in the International Blues Challenge.
Steady Rollin’ is made up of seasoned pros who
have been part of the Quad Cities music scene for
more than 15 years. The Steady Rollin’ Blues Band
plays every Thursday night at Rascals in Moline.
Their music is good to dance to and features different
styles of blues, from jazz to funk to R&B, Memphis
to Chicago, with covers of artists such as Tyrone
Davis, Bobby Bland, and Marvin Sease. Craig Bentley
is on guitar, Perry Hultgren on keyboards, Jimmy
VanHyfte on drums, Tom Norman on bass, and
Jimmie Lee Adams on vocals.
Five bands from across the state competed in the
final round of the Iowa Blues Challenge. Trouble
No More, the Bob Pace Band Featuring Steve E.
George, Bella Soul Blues Revolution Featuring Tina
Haase Findlay, and Stoney Ground were the other
performers that gave the Steady Rollin’ Blues Band
a run for their money. Steady Rollin’ follows in a
tradition that has seen the Quad Cities entrants in the
Iowa Blues Challenge walk away with the top prize,
including the Avey Brothers Band in 2008 and 2009.
– Karen McFarland
Ana Popović, 2:45 p.m.
AnaPopović.com
Ana Popvić was born on May 13, 1976, in Belgrade
in the former Yugoslavia, the first daughter of Milutin
and Vesna Popvić. Her father is a guitar/bass player,
and Ana grew up listening in on many blues and soul
jam sessions he hosted. Inevitably Ana was bitten by
the guitar bug. Her parents paid for private lessons
when her father realized that her natural gift of
playing went beyond his own abilities.
In 1995, Ana formed her first band, Hush, and had
frequent appearances at festivals and on television
in her home country. With the fall of communism,
musicians were allowed to travel more freely, and
they start playing blues festivals in Greece and
Hungary. In 1999, Ana was studying music at The
Conservatory in the Netherlands and formed a Dutch
band that became popular on the Dutch and German
blues scenes.
In October of 2000, Ana traveled to Memphis to
record Hush!, her first release for Ruf Records. She
joined artists such as Bernard Allison, Eric Burdon,
Walter Trout, Popa Chubby, Jimmy Thackery, Taj
Mahal, and Buddy Miles on a Jimi Hendrix tribute
CD titled Blue Haze. In 2001, Ana appeared as a
special guest on tour with Bernard Allison, and in
2002 Ana was part of the European Jimi Hendrix
tribute tour with Walter Trout.
In 2006 Ana was invited to be on the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues Cruise, the first European artist to
be offered a spot on the cruise with her own band,
and in 2009 she was invited back to the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues Cruise again. We feel very honored
to have this talented musician on our stage. – Steve
Heston
Zac Harmon, 4:30 p.m.
ZacHarmon.com
The Entertainment Committee is made up of
members with varying tastes in blues. So it’s rare for
us to agree when we listen to solicitations for the Fest.
But that’s what happened – we agreed! – when we
listened to Zac Harmon.
Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Harmon
is a disciple of the Farish Street blues sound. (Farish
Street is universally recognized as the home of many
great blues legends, including Elmore James.) During
the ’50s and ’60s, Harmon hung out at his father’s
pharmacy on Farish, soaking up the aura and sounds
of the musician customers while developing his skills
as a guitarist, organist, and vocalist. Like many, he
honed those skills while at church.
Harmon’s early years included stints as guitarist for
Z.Z. Hill, Dorothy Moore, and Sam Myers. Sam along
with Mel Brown played a significant role in Harmon’s
development, guiding his progress through rock and
roll to the true blues.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1980 to pursue a career
in music, Harmon worked as a studio musician
and began to make a name for himself as a writer/
producer, crafting songs for such varied notables as
Evelyn “Champagne” King, the Whispers, and the
O’Jays. He produced songs on the Mystical Truth
album for Black Uhuru that received a Grammy
nomination in 1994.
In 2002, Harmon decided to pursue his longtime
dream of recording his first blues project. The
result, Live at Babe & Ricky’s Inn, was an electrifying
testimonial to the blues, featuring eight original songs
that truly embody the Mississippi blues sound.
Sponsored by the Southern California Blues
Society of Los Angeles, Harmon & the Mid South
Blues Revue went on to win the Blues Foundation’s
2004 International Blues Challenge as “best unsigned
blues band.” – adapted from ZacHarmon.com
Vasti Jackson, 6:15 p.m.
VastiJackson.com
“Vasti Jackson is the real deal! He plays the blues,
he sings the blues, he writes the blues, he produces
the blues, and yes, he feels the blues. When you
understand the blues, the blues like Vasti has had
since his Mississippi childhood, you know that there
are no boundaries to the music.” – Art Tipaldi (Blues
Revue magazine)
“Vasti is one of the most talented and creative
bluesmen of the younger generation. He is a
masterful guitarist with a deep knowledge of blues
roots, and a terrific live showman.” – Bruce Iglauer
(Alligator Records)
If you’re ready for some soulful, down-home blues,
make sure you catch Vasti Jackson’s set! Maybe you’ve
already heard him live: He was the leader of Louisiana
pianist Katie Webster’s band in the 1980s and early
’90s. Vasti grew up in McComb, Mississippi, and he
played his first professional gig at 15. In the late ’70s
he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he studied
music at Jackson State. Once in town, Jackson began
working with gospel groups
including the Williams Brothers
and the Jackson Southernaires
and soul and blues artists Geater
Davis, Tommy Tate, and Sam
Myers, as well as his own funk
and R&B group, Wisdom.
After a short stay in L.A.,
Jackson returned to Jackson, where he became the
musical director for Z.Z. Hill just on the cusp of Hill’s
huge success with Down Home on Malaco. Jackson
played guitar on the Malaco records of Latimore,
Denise LaSalle, Bobby Rush, and Johnnie Taylor. He
also drew on his formal musical training in writing
horn and string arrangements for the label, and co-
produced Rush’s Grammy-nominated CD from 2000,
Hoochie Man. Jackson recently worked on records
by Cassandra Wilson and Michael Burks, as well as
New Orleans-based Henry Butler and John Cleary.
– adapted from VastiJackson.com
Quad City Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m.
QCSymphony.com
At first blush, the pairing of the Quad City
Symphony Orchestra and the IH Mississippi Valley
Blues Festival seems reminiscent of The Odd Couple.
Neat and pristine, typified by tuxedos and centuries-
old compositions, the symphony appears a stark
contrast to blues – a genre derived from African-
American work songs, spirituals, and field hollers.
But passion, with all its infectious qualities, has a way
of smoothing out the differences.
Quad City Symphony Orchestra musicians travel
from Denver, the Twin Cities, and throughout the
Midwest to perform. If a 1,600-mile round trip
doesn’t speak to dedication, then the countless hours
of rehearsal and years of practice required to reach
this caliber of musicianship do. In the same vein, the
IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival is the longest-
running volunteer-produced festival in the country.
For the core group of organizers who make up the
Mississippi Valley Blues Society, this isn’t a day job
but rather one they do on nights, weekends, and
holidays. They’ve survived floods, rain, sweltering
heat, and budget constraints to produce one of the
most highly respected blues festivals in the nation.
Both the symphony and the Mississippi Valley

Blues Society strive to enrich people’s cultural lives
through performance, education, and enhanced
appreciation of their respective art forms. “This is a
great opportunity for us to introduce new fans to the
blues,” said blues-society President Bob Covemaker.
“For us, the fest has always been about diversity,
and what better way to diversify than to include the
symphony?”
The symphony, led by Conductor and Music
Director Mark Russell Smith, will include in its blues-
inspired Patriot Pops set “St. Louis Blues,” composed
by W.C. Handy – the “Father of the Blues” and among
the most influential American songwriters.
The Quad City Symphony performance is
presented by Red, White, & Boom! and its sponsors:
Genesis Health System, the Riverboat Development
Authority, and IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union.
– Laura Ernzen
Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys,
10:30 p.m.
RosieLedet.net
Rosie Ledet is definitely worth waiting for, so
be at the Bandshell at 10:30 for the Saturday-night
finale and wear your dancin’ shoes! I have been a
huge Rosie Ledet fan for many years, since the first
time I saw her perform at Gumbo Ya Ya. Rosie’s
show was hot! She had the entire crowd dancing
and partying to her zydeco beat. What a party band!
Those of you who saw Rosie Ledet on the Tent Stage
at our festival a few years ago know what I mean.
She had the Tent crowd worked into a frenzy that
night!
At the age of 16 Rosie Ledet
heard Boozoo Chavis play at a
zydeco dance, and her fate was
sealed. She taught herself to play
the accordion, began writing
music, and started playing around
Louisiana and Texas. Soon Rosie’s
accomplished accordion playing
and her sultry, bluesy voice combined to make
her a rare gem in the zydeco world. Affectionately
referred to as the “Zydeco Sweetheart,” Rosie fronts
the Zydeco Playboys: Andre Nizzari on guitar,
Pernell Babineaux on bass, Kevin Stelly on drums,
and Damon Dugas on rubboard.
Rosie’s dance-friendly tunes, like all authentic
zydeco, are rhythm-oriented and continue the
zydeco-party-music tradition of Clifton Chenier and
Queen Ida. Rosie has said that she thinks of zydeco
as “sped-up blues,” and bluesy heartfelt zydeco
music is what this singer and accordion player
knows best. She is one of the few younger zydeco
musicians today who still writes and sings much of
her own material in Creole French. One of only a
handful of women in zydeco, Rosie Ledet’s warm
stage presence combined with her infectious zydeco
beat make her irresistible to audiences everywhere.
At 4 p.m. on Saturday, you can see Rosie at a
free workshop, where she’ll demonstrate zydeco
accordion. – Ellen Clow
Saturday, July 3: Tent
Little Brother Jones, 1:30 p.m.
LittleBrotherBlues.com
I must start out this bio admitting I
have not witnessed this gentleman in
person. Sometimes it is better that way. I
do know by listening to
his CDs and reading his
stories that this guy is
going to be the real deal.
This guy is a bluesman
in every sense of the
word. This is going to
be another one that you will be saying,
“Where do they find these folks? Little
Brother Jones is great!” Well, thank Bob
Covemaker for this one.
It seems Doug Jones was drawn to
the early blues style from the beginning.
He has studied his craft very well, and
it shows in his songs that he writes and
performs. He combines exceptional
lyrics with an authentic tone that he has
developed and honed over time. This is a
guy you possibly could hear on the corner
if you went back in time and walked down
the street. I think I would just sit on down
and listen for a while – probably for a
long while. Little Brother Jones plays to
your soul. He plays that old-time country
blues while keeping with Piedmont style.
I usually don’t compare these guys to one
another, but to give everyone an idea, it
has been written by Cora Mae Bryant that
“he plays that song just like I heard Tampa
Red play it. He’s got it right.” Be looking
to hear some great music from the old
acoustic-guitar collection this guy has.
And don’t forget that Little Brother
Jones will present a workshop on Sunday
at 5:30 p.m. He’ll concentrate on Georgia
pre-war blues. – Michael J. Livermore
Olga Wilhelmine with Cody
Dickinson, 3:30 p.m.
LaOlga.com
Two newcomers to the Fest this year
will be Olga Wilhelmine
and Cody Dickinson.
While it is true they are
new to our fest, they are not
new to the blues.
Olga, originally hailing
from San Francisco,
currently resides in New Orleans. A multi-
talented artist, she is equally adept as a
musician or as an actress. As a musician
she has proven herself a writer, any style
from pop to straight-up hill-country
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| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
blues. As an instrumentalist she’s mastered
guitar, piano, and violin to name a few, and
as a vocalist she has a soulful voice. Among
her many early influences are such notables
as Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Junior
Kimbrough, and Memphis Minnie. A more
recent friend and mentor was the late, great
Jessie Mae Hemphill, whose likeness graced
the front of last year’s Fest shirt.
Joining Olga for both her Tent-stage and
workshop performances
will be none other than
Memphis resident Cody
Dickinson. Cody, best
known for his role as the
drummer with the driving
beat behind the North
Mississippi Allstars, is a
multifaceted artist as well.
In addition to his work
with the Allstars, he is an accomplished guitar
player, songwriter, and producer. Much in
demand, Cody somehow finds time between
the 180 or so live shows he performs each year
to work on several studio projects as well.
Together these two “newcomers” bring a
vast variety of talent and influences that will
not only prove to be entertaining but will
show that the blues can be both unique yet
respectful of the traditional artists of the past.
Their workshop at 1 p.m. on Saturday will
focus on the hill-country blues of northern
Mississippi. – Bob
Covemaker
Little Joe McLerran
Quartet, 5:30 p.m.
LittleJoeBlues.com
I first heard Little Joe
McLerran as the winner
of the solo/duo competition at the 2009
International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
But he also comes highly recommended by
Blues Sis Jeanie Webster of Tulsa, Hawkeye
Herman, and Vicki Price. Bob Kieser of Blues
Blast notes: “Little Joe plays Piedmont blues
and since the death of John Cephas may be
the heir to the crown of ‘the best’ around. For
a guy that is only 25 years old, he oozes with
talent.”
Besides winning at the International Blues
Challenge, Little Joe (he stands six feet tall!)
has issued four albums, toured throughout
the U.S. and Europe, and recently was listed
by Roots Music Report as the most-listened-
to blues player in America. Even at age 25,
Joe is a veteran of blues music; at age nine
he was playing the blues with his brother
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2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Jesse in Boulder, Colorado, shopping malls.
When he was 15, the McLerrans moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Joe took the name
“Son Piedmont” and his brother became
“Washboard Jesse.” A regular Sunday-
afternoon gig at the River’s Edge Bistro in
Tulsa led to more restaurant jobs and private
parties, as well as the Oklahoma Blues
Festival.
But Jesse died in an accident in 2003, and
that devastated Joe. Eventually Joe returned
to performing, working his way up through
coffeehouse jobs to blues festivals and tours –
sometimes solo, occasionally fronting groups.
This spring, the Little Joe McLerran Quartet
(Little Joe on guitar, his dad Robbie Mack on
bass, Ron McRorey on drums, and BlueSKool
star David Berntson on harmonica) toured the
Saudi Arabia peninsula for three weeks as part
of the U.S. State Department’s Rhythm Road
program bringing American music abroad.
They performed concerts as well as playing in
schools. I’m sure they’ll have many stories to
tell! – Karen McFarland
Ruthie Foster, 7:30 p.m.
RuthieFoster.com
If you’ve never seen Ruthie Foster live,
here’s your chance to catch the “it” singer of
the blues with her band. Her 2009 release,
The Truth According to Ruthie Foster,
was nominated for a Grammy for Best
Contemporary Blues Album. Last year she was
on tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama, so
that should give you an idea of what Ruthie’s
all about. Ruthie’s music has been called a
hybrid of blues, gospel, roots, and folk; her
strong, pure, soulful voice has actually been
compared to that of Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha
Franklin.
Geoffrey Himes in the Washington Post
gives this description of seeing Ruthie live:
“When Ruthie Foster performed at the South
by Southwest music conference two weeks
ago, the short, dreadlocked singer demanded
attention with the sheer power of her mezzo-
soprano. With an acoustic guitar strapped
around her neck and singing the Lucinda
Williams song ‘Fruits of My Labor,’ Foster
resembled a folk singer on the verses. But
when she tilted back her head and belted out
the chorus, she revealed her background in
the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
in Caldwell, Texas.” He also points out that
Ruthie’s blend of singer/songwriter folk music
and African-American gospel is similar to
what distinguishes Odetta and Richie Havens.
On The Truth According to Ruthie Foster,
the heat of soul music burns at its core. It
was recorded in Memphis with a small city
of notable musicians who began work on the
day of Isaac Hayes’ funeral, trying to convey
the energy of Ruthie’s performances, cutting
almost everything live, going for feeling above
all else. Blues Revue notes that “the truth,
according to this remarkable album, is that
Ruthie Foster is one of America’s finest soul-
blues artists.”– Karen McFarland
Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues,
9:30 p.m.
BillyBranch.com
Billy Branch has performed for MVBS
at two festivals and four blues educational
residencies during the past 10 years and has
proven to be a most exciting, dedicated, blues-
loving performer and educator.
William Earl Branch was born in Great
Lakes, Illinois – just
north of Chicago
– on October 3,
1951. However,
he was reared
in Los Angeles.
Billy returned to
Chicago to attend
the University of
Illinois, where he
eventually graduated with a degree in political
science. Billy spent a great deal of time at
legendary blues clubs such as Queen Bee’s
and Theresa’s Lounge, where he learned from
all-time-great harp players such as Big Walter,
James Cotton, Junior Wells, and Carey Bell.
Billy first gained recognition for his
harmonica playing in 1976 as the result of a
harmonica battle at the Green Bunny Club,
when he beat Chicago legend Little Max
Simmons. Not long after, Billy replaced Carey
Bell in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All Stars,
a real blues-education gig for Billy that lasted
six years.
During the ’70s, Billy formed the “Sons of
Blues” featuring Lurrie Bell (son of Carey) and
Freddie Dixon (son of Willie). They toured
Europe, played at the Berlin Jazz Festival, and
recorded for Alligator Records’ Grammy-
nominated Living Chicago Blues series.
For more than 30 years Billy has been
passing on the blues tradition through his
Blues in the Schools program. During that
time he has taught in the Chicago school
system as part of the Urban Gateway Project.
Billy will display his blues-educational skills
and Chicago harp playing at a free workshop
Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m.; harps will be
provided to attendees. – Jimmie Jones
Sunday, July 4:
Bandshell
The Jimmys, 2 p.m.
JimmyVoegeli.com
As luck would have it, when the
Entertainment Committee was looking
for a
regional
band for
the opening
slot on
Sunday at
the Fest,
across our
collective
desk came
a disc by The Jimmys. Not only was the
music rollicking, dance-worthy blues, but
the band had horns – something missing
from other acts at the Fest.
The Jimmys are a powerhouse, nine-
piece band influenced by different styles
from raw Chicago blues to second-
line New Orleans funk. With touring
experience throughout the U.S. and
Europe, this Madison, Wisconsin-based
band has garnered international acclaim.
The heart of the band is Jimmy
Voegeli, who is probably best known for
his keyboard work with the Westside
Andy/Mel Ford Band but has been a
mainstay on the Wisconsin music scene
thanks in large part to his supreme skills
on Hammond organ. Voegeli is also a
songwriter and arranges the horn charts
for the band.
Good vocals, horns, Hammond B-3 –
the blues will be jumpin’ early on Sunday,
so make sure you’re there for the fun!
– Karen McFarland
The Shawn Kellerman Band, 4 p.m.
ShawnKellerman.com
The Shawn Kellerman Band is the
ultimate power trio! Toronto guitar
wizard Shawn Kellerman is truly the
hardest-playing blues guitarist around!
Those words are not exaggeration to
those who have seen the band live. Shawn
continues to build on his past experiences
and push the boundaries of traditional
blues into modern territory by adding
some soul, funk, and rock influences. The
band has become a Quad Cities favorite
after all its road visits here, and now we’re
proud to bring the Shawn Kellerman
Band to the 2010 Blues Fest.
According to his MySpace page – citing
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| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
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2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
as influences Albert King and Albert Collins
– Shawn understood from the beginning
that true blues is passed down directly from
today’s masters to the next generation.
So he spent five years in Mississippi and
Washington,
D.C., living,
playing, and
touring with
such notable
blues artists as
Mel Brown and
Bobby Rush.
Shawn was a
regular on blues
stages playing
the Chitlin’
Circuit and has performed hundreds of
international gigs in more than 20 countries.
These years on the road gave birth to
Shawn’s trademark stage presence, a high-
energy assault on the audience that is as
much felt as heard. Over the years Shawn has
also earned the status of a highly respected
guest artist for numerous live shows and
recording sessions. In 2005 Shawn was
invited to play at The House of Blues 80th-
birthday celebration for B.B. King. Shawn
performed on Bobby Rush’s 2007 CD Raw
that won a Blues Music Award for Best
Acoustic CD.
During the past two years he has
concentrated on touring with his own trio,
The Shawn Kellerman Band, and we are the
luckier for that. – Karen McFarland
Reba Russell Band, 6 p.m.
RebaRussell.com
I first heard of Reba Russell as a backup
singer for Jimmy Thackery. Then one time in
Memphis, I heard her live! What a great voice
she has – Reba reminds
me of Bonnie Bramlett
(remember On Tour
with Eric Clapton?)
and Tracy Nelson
– and what a tight
band backing her up!
(Wayne Russell, bass;
Robert “Nighthawk”
Tooms, keyboards
and harmonica; Josh
Roberts, guitar; and
Doug McMinn, drums.) All in the name of
Memphis blues – that soul-inflected, sometimes
funky, sometimes a little country brand of
roadhouse, hard-drinkin’ rhythm and blues.
Art Tipaldi of BluesWax put it this way: “I
have been listening to Memphis singer Reba
Russell since 1995. My first glimpse of her was
on Beale Street at the Black Diamond on a
Wednesday night. As she belted out the blues,
James Cotton came running in. He and Russell
did a half-hour of rockin’ blues. Since then, I’ve
been hooked on that voice. And every trip to
Memphis means scouring the papers to see if
Reba’s performing during my short stay.”
On the Memphis scene for more than 25
years, Reba has won three Premiere Vocalist
Awards from the Memphis chapter of the
National Association of Recording Arts &
Sciences and released five independent CDs in
the past seven years. Reba also works regularly
in Memphis studios as a background vocalist.
Her credits include working with B.B. King,
Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tracy Nelson,
Debra Coleman, and Bernard Allison, as well as
appearing on U2’s Rattle & Hum.
In reading Reba’s short bio on her Web site,
I can say she loves to party and jam – like the
time on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
with Jimmy Thackery, or in Eureka Springs with
Debbie Davies (who will follow Reba on stage at
our Fest). I think she’ll make something happen
at the after-fest showcase, if not before. – Karen
McFarland
Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue
Featuring Tommy Castro, Debbie Davies,
Magic Dick, & Sista Monica, 8 p.m.
TommyCastro.com
DebbieDavies.com
MagicDick.com
SistaMonica.com
Band of the Year – Tommy Castro Band! B.B.
King Entertainer of the Year –Tommy Castro!
Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year – Tommy
Castro! Contemporary Blues Album of the Year
– Hard Believer!
Come join the big party at the Bandshell and
congratulate these
2010 Blues Music
Award winners!
The Tommy
Castro Band is here
in LeClaire Park as
the host band of the
Legendary Rhythm
& Blues Revue,
an offshoot of the
Legendary Rhythm
Sista Monica
& Blues Cruise. The
Revue has been touring for a number of years
now with different artists featured, but always
anchoring the gig is the Tommy Castro Band.
A press release from Alligator Records
describes Castro’s sound: “Singer, songwriter, and
guitarist Tommy Castro is famed not only for his
hard-hitting, impassioned vocals, soaring guitar
work, and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound,
but also for his striking, original songwriting
and exhilarating stage show. According to
The San Francisco Chronicle, ‘Castro navigates
seriously funky Southern soul, gritty big-city
blues, and scorching rock. ... His silvery guitar
licks simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.’
The Philadelphia Inquirer declared, ‘Castro plays
infectious, roaring
roadhouse romps with
incendiary licks and a
touch of New Orleans
soul.’”
According to her
Web site, in 1988
Debbie Davies was
recruited by Albert
Collins to join his
band the Icebreakers,
Magic Dick and for the next three
years she was a featured
guitarist performing behind one of the most
innovative bluesmen of all time. “I stepped
through a door into the real blues world when
I joined Albert’s band,” Davies says. Guitarist
Coco Montoya has said, “Debbie is one of the
direct links to the originators of this music. She
knows what the blues is all about, and you can
hear it in the passion of her playing.” Harmonica
genius Charlie Musselwhite adds, “Debbie is an
incredible guitarist who plays with great taste
and can cook like mad. Debbie plays from the
heart, and her heart has a lot to say. She inspires
me.”
Magic Dick (a.k.a. Richard Salwitz) is best
known for his many years as the harmonica man
in legendary blues/rock band The J. Geils Band,
which he co-founded in 1968. As a member of
that group, he toured the world extensively for
more than 15 years, headlining stadiums and
festivals and releasing 14 successful major-label
albums on Warner Bros. and EMI, culminating
in the certified-platinum album Freeze Frame,
which spent 70 weeks on the national Billboard
album charts, including four weeks at number
one.
You may have heard Sista Monica Parker sing
on our Bandshell many years ago. If so, you know
she’s got a powerful voice and a commanding
stage presence, whether she’s belting out blues,
crying out soul, or shouting out gospel. Her
current “ministry” is a gospel choir she started
in her hometown of Santa Cruz. Two years ago,
the cancer survivor ran a newspaper ad to attract
singers who might like to learn techniques of
gospel music as it has traditionally been sung in
African-American churches, and the choir is still
going strong at 50 voices.
Each act in the Revue will perform a 30-
minute set, followed at the end by an all-inclusive
jam! What a great way to salute America’s
birthday! – Karen McFarland

Sunday, July 4: Tent
Bill Sims Jr. & Mark LaVoie, 2 p.m.
BillSimsJr.com/billmark
Bill Sims Jr. (guitar and vocals) and Mark
LaVoie (harmonica) call themselves the
American Roots Blues Duo. Bill is from New
York City, and Mark lives in Vermont. They
have been working together for more than
15 years, mostly in Vermont. In the early
’90s while working in Burlington, Vermont,
Bill met Mark and they became fast friends
after discovering their shared love of acoustic
blues.
Bill Sims Jr. played on the soundtrack
of American Gangster, starring Denzel
Washington. And
he was a music
technical advisor
for the movie
Cadillac Records.
Bill taught actor
Jeffrey Wright
(who played
Muddy Waters)
how to play in
the blues style that Muddy was playing when
Alan Lomax discovered him in 1940. Bill
also plays guitar in the Stovall Plantation
scenes, and he has a part playing bass in
Muddy Waters’ band and a part playing
piano in Howlin’ Wolf ’s band.
Mark LaVoie is a master harmonica player,
and is a protégé of harmonica virtuoso
Sonny Terry. He was Sonny’s driver in the
summer of 1976 and performed with Sonny
Terry and Brownie McGhee. For more than
30 years Mark Lavoie has been performing
and teaching, showing his passion for and
commitment to blues harmonica. He is a
Hohner endorsee; he enjoys spreading the
word about harmonica music and is an
active member of national groups working to
preserve and promote the harmonica as an
accessible, inexpensive instrument.
I saw the duo two years ago at the third-
annual Delta Groove All-Star Blues Revue in
Clarksdale, Mississippi. When they finished
the last song of their showcase, the audience
gave them thunderous applause, and MC
Randy Chortkoff said, “Now that’s some real
blues!”
Sims and LaVoie will also host a workshop
at 4 p.m. Sunday. – Karen McFarland
Dave Riley & Bob Corritore, 3:30 p.m.
MySpace.com/daverileybobcorritore
The Mississippi-meets-Chicago pairing
of Dave Riley (guitar and vocals) and Bob
Corritore (harmonica) began when they met
at the 2004 King Biscuit Blues Festival in
Helena, Arkansas, and became fast friends
and musical collaborators. You might
remember Bob from 2008, when he played
the Fest as part of Big Pete Pearson’s band
from Phoenix; he also conducted a Fest
workshop. The duo has two albums: 2009’s
Lucky to Be Living, and the Blues Music
Award-nominated Travelin’ the Dirt Road
from 2007.
Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dave
spent his early years learning gospel. Barely a
teenager, he moved to Chicago and ended up
living on the West Side near Maxwell Street,
where he was steeped in the blues. It wasn’t
until he met up with Delta-blues legends
Sam Carr, Frank Frost, and John Weston that
Dave revitalized his career in the mid-’90s;
they formed a musical bond that would lead
Dave back to the Delta and back into blues
full-time.
Growing up in Chicago, Bob Corritore
fell in with the blues early on, taking up
harmonica at age 13. A student of Big Walter
Horton, Louis Myers, and others, Bob played
around Chicago with, some of the greatest
of that city’s bluesmen until relocating to
Phoenix in 1981. He now hosts the weekly
radio program Those Lowdown Blues on
KJZZ in Phoenix and is the owner of the
Rhythm Room. As a recording artist, Bob
appears on 33 CDs, including his solo album
Bob Corritore’s All-Star Blues Sessions on the
HighTone label.
Dave Riley and Bob Corritore play blues
deeply rooted in the Chicago and Mississippi
styles that represent their upbringings. Dave’s
gritty Mississippi voice, articulate blues
guitar, and rowdy, personable, original songs
combine with Bob’s passionate, full-toned
harmonica to spell out down-home blues!
21
| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
Riley and Corritore will also conduct a
workshop at 1 p.m. Sunday. – adapted from
MySpace.com/daverileybobcorritore
The David Boykin Expanse, 5:30 p.m.
MySpace.com/davidboykinexpanse
Some of the blues fans who come to
LeClaire Park might wonder why jazz bands
perform at the festival. When the MVBS
was formed in 1985, the bylaws that were
approved included the statement: “The
objective of the society is to educate the
general public on America’s sole, original art
form, blues-related music.” Gospel, hip hop,
jazz, R&B, rap, rock and roll, and zydeco
are all blues-related musics. And there are
many types of blues, among them Chicago,
Delta, Kansas City, Piedmont, soul, Texas,
West Coast, and Memphis. The MVBS
Entertainment Committee tries to bring as
many of these
blues-related
musics to the
festival as we can.
David Boykin
comes from
a long line of
great Chicago
tenor-saxophone
players, including
Gene Ammons,
Johnny Griffin,
Eddie Harris,
Clifford Jordan, Von Freeman, and Fred
Anderson. Partly from listening to them
and other greats such as Sonny Rollins and
John Coltrane in person and on records, and
being exposed to other music and life on the
South Side of Chicago (where he has lived
all his life), David Boykin developed his own
style and sound on the tenor sax.
David Boykin organized his current
band, Expanse, in the late ’90s. At the
same time, he was featured in flutist Nicole
Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble. From the
very beginning back in the ’90s, The David
Boykin Expanse has performed regularly at
Fred Anderson’s legendary Velvet Lounge.
David Boykin has performed at festivals and
clubs throughout the U.S., France, Russia,
and Dakar. The David Boykin Expanse has
recorded 10 CDs.
David Boykin is the director of the
Creative Music Ensemble at DuSable
Leadership Academy and is a professor at
Roosevelt University in Chicago. – Jimmie
Jones
 22
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA |
Kim Massie, 7:30 p.m.
KimMassie.net
Kim Massie is coming from the great blues
and jazz town of St. Louis. She has been singing
with her wonderful voice in clubs there for
quite some time now. In this writer’s opinion,
if you like a real soulful and full voice, this is
where you find it. She has seemed to develop
her singing in the gospel choirs. I have been
fortunate to hear her sing live on a couple of
occasions while passing through the St. Louis
area. When she starts on some of those songs,
it’s just powerful. When she sings that Robert
Johnson tune “Come on in My Kitchen” or, of
course, “Amazing Grace,” she just has the voice.
Like a good friend of mine once said: The most
important blues instrument is the voice. That
isn’t to say that we leave out the band that backs
her up; she has a tight three- or four-piece that
backs her up and knows where to go with her
at any given time. I will be looking forward to
hearing her in a beautiful setting here and also
watching the guitar player that I have seen with
her. I believe he is just waiting to show us his
stuff with that thing in our park. – Michael J.
Livermore
Hubert Sumlin. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.
The Nighthawks with Hubert
Sumlin, 9:30 p.m.
TheNighthawks.com
HubertSumlinBlues.com
It never ceases to amaze me how the music
of the Nighthawks can lift my soul. They’ve
been road warriors for more than 35 years now.
They’re my homeboys from the D.C. area. I
remember seeing them just after Mark Wenner
(tattoos and harmonica) and Jimmy Thackery
formed the band in 1972. Thackery and the
other two original members are gone now, but
the Nighthawks live on, still performing their
Chicago-meets-rockabilly style of blues. The
current lineup of the Nighthawks is bandleader
Wenner on harp, guitar wizard Paul Bell, eclectic
Johnny Castle on bass, and Thackery’s longtime
The Nighthawks
drummer Mark Stutso.
The Nighthawks have played with so many
blues legends. I know Muddy Waters is among
them, and I saw them play with J.B. Hutto back
in the mists of time. Before Thackery left in
1986, they had toured the world and recorded
numerous albums, including the bestselling Jacks
& Kings with Pinetop Perkins, Luther “Guitar
Junior” Johnson, Calvin Jones, and Bob Margolin.
In early 2009, satellite-radio blues guru Bill
Wax heard that the Nighthawks were doing some
acoustic shows and suggested the band come in
to cut some live tracks. The result is Last Train
to Bluesville, an album that includes covers of
Muddy’s “Can’t Be Satisfied” and James Brown’s
“I’ll Go Crazy.” It’s just that kind of variety that
has kept the Nighthawks in touch and in tune
over the years. They were playing roots music
before the term was invented.
The Nighthawks have performed with Hubert
Sumlin many times before. Placed 65th on
Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitar
players of all time, Sumlin is a living legend.
He grew up playing his guitar with harmonica
great James Cotton. In 1949 at the age of 18, he
became Howlin’ Wolf ’s lead guitarist, a position
he held down for the next 25 years, except for
a six-month stint in Muddy Waters’ band. He
has played with Pinetop Perkins, Willie Dixon,
the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, and countless
others. He counts among his biggest fans Jimmy
Page, Carlos Santana, and John Mayer, as well
as Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, both of
whom play on About Them Shoes, Sumlin’s 2003
Grammy-nominated album. From Jeff Beck to
Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan – all have
cited Sumlin as a major influence on their work.
Muddy Waters sideman Bob Margolin has
said: “When Hubert Sumlin plays guitar he takes
you to his World of Blues Feeling – from despair
to ecstasy, from delicate grace to raw power,
from lost to found. Though he’s influenced and
inspired many of the most famous guitar players,
Hubert owns the magic. His style is original and
personal and instantly recognizable.” Amen to
that! I just keep thinking of Hubert’s intro to
“Killing Floor.” – Karen McFarland
BlueSKool and
Workshop Artists
David Horwitz, Workshop at
2:30 p.m. Sunday
Photographer and educator David
Horwitz of Tucson, Arizona, has been
traveling to clubs and festivals for decades
in search of great blues music for his ears
and visual images to capture on film.
Winner of the 1999 Blues Foundation’s
Keeping the Blues Alive Award for
Photography, David has spent more than
25 years capturing moments of the blues
masters. His works have appeared in
countless publications. – Ann Ring
David Berntson, BlueSKool
2:30 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m.
Sunday
CrossroadsLearning.org
What would the IH Mississippi Valley
Blues Festival be without blues educator
and harpist David Berntson? Three words:
David brings it. Originally hailing from
Galesburg, Illinois,
this Tulsa, Oklahoma,
blues-club founder,
prevention educator,
and drug/alcohol
counselor continually
shares his enthusiasm
and passion for the
blues with young
people and adults.
David presents Blues
in the Schools at a number of schools,
including alternative schools for at-risk
students. Look out when he digs out his
gigantic harmonica. His passion and love
for kids is unstoppable, and he leaves kids
of all ages with something more than
what they came with.
David is an endorsee for Hohner
harmonicas and has taught harmonica
classes through adult continuing
education at Tulsa Community College
for more than 10 years. He also teaches
children’s harmonica classes for the Tulsa
parks-and-recreation department.
The Mississippi Valley Blues Society
thanks its educational sponsors for
their continuing support: the Riverboat
Development Authority, The Lodge,
KALA-FM, Illinois Arts Council, Alcoa,
and the River Music Experience. – Ann
Ring
 23

| 2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA
Charles “Wsir” Johnson, Johnson. Nate was so impressed with Johnson’s
Hal Reed & Ellis Kell, BlueSKool artistry and teaching abilities that we contacted
3:45 p.m. Saturday and Sunday BlueSKool 5 p.m. Saturday and
Johnson to see if he could do a mini blues-
EllisKell.com 2:30 p.m. Sunday education residency in the days before the Fest.
Blues harpist, guitarist, singer, bandleader, WsirArts.com Johnson will be spending three days at the
and educator Hal Reed was born in Charles “Wsir” Johnson has an infectious Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in
Mississippi just a few miles from the Delta, excitement about the blues and education. As a Rock Island, helping the kids to each make a
where he grew storyteller, musician, and cultural historian, he diddley bow and learn how to play it. A didley
up influenced by shows the roots of the blues in a way that kids bow is a one-stringed instrument made out of
his grandfather, leave wanting more. common materials; it mimics the instruments
a talented For part of the Blues in the Schools program made in the South by virtually all bluesmen
Southern-folk- in Durham, North Carolina, Johnson guided starting out in the 20th Century, with a piece
blues artist who, youth in making more than 60 diddley bows. of baling wire nailed to the side of a house
in addition to The same with a blues summer camp in or porch and then tightened so that it can be
inspiring young Mississippi. In 2008, he was invited to make plucked for music.
Hal’s love for more than 80 diddley bows at the Chicago The Education Committee is excited to
the blues, taught Blues Festival. That’s where Nate Lawrence welcome this educator and instrument-maker
Hal the need to of the MVBS Education Committee first saw to BlueSKool! – Karen McFarland
pass it on from

100s of Blues LPs and CDs!

generation to
generation.
In 2009 and
also in 2007, Hal Reed was MVBS Blues
in the Schools artist-in-residence along
with guitar player Donald Kinsey. Their
“Generations of Blues” program was popular
in the schools and all the public venues they
played.
Hal Reed is also a veteran musician
on the Quad Cities scene. He’s fronted
various bands, and took one of them to the
International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
This is Hal’s third year moderating the

: theraggedrecord
Winter Blues Kids performance at BlueSKool Check out our
along with Ellis Kell. For a third year, Hal Ebay store
was one of the instructors at the River Music
Experience’s Winter Blues program this past
December.
Ellis Kell is a guitarist and vocalist as
well as a songwriter. His Ellis Kell Band has
been going strong for 20 years. The Ellis
Kell Band won the 1994, ’96 and ’97 Quad-
City Times reader-poll award for favorite
musician/band, the 1995 Oil music magazine
people’s choice award for blues band, and the
2000 Dispatch/Argus reader-poll award for Blues too
favorite local CD release. That’s not all. They
also won the 2003, ’04, ’05, and ’06 blues-
band titles in the River Cities’ Reader’s Best
of the Quad Cities poll. And they’re not just
local favorites. The Ellis Kell Band has been
featured on the nationally syndicated radio
programs The House of Blues Radio Hour and
The Red Rooster Lounge. Performances by:
Ellis is also the director of programming Iowa Blues Challenge Winners
and education at the River Music Experience,
July 16
where he was one of the major architects of 5:30-9:30 AVEY BROTHERS
the Winter Blues program for kids, as well 329 E. 4th St.
July 17
as organizer and instructor for the program’s
5:30-9:30
MARK SELBY Waterloo, Iowa
319-291-2038
third year. – Karen McFarland
2010 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival • July 2-4 • LeClaire Park, Davenport IA | 24