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Ana Popovic
In the blues, years or even decades of “payin’ dues” is the norm. Most blues musicians toil in relative obscurity, and those that have been at it a while wear their struggles like a badge of honor. By those standards, Ana Popovic’s rise has been meteoric. Within five years of leaving her native Yugoslavia, the 29-year-old singer/guitarist has played all major European music festivals like Peer, Bishopstock and Notodden. She has shared stages with Bernard Allison, Kenny Neal and Solomon Burke and recorded with hitmaker Jim Gaines. Perhaps most impressive of all is her W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Best New Artist of 2003 – a rare honor for a European blues artist. Read More
Bernard Allison
Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues. Born in Chicago on November 26th, 1965, the youngest of nine children Bernard was first introduced to the roots of black music and the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late great Luther Allison. Like Ken Griffey Jr. hanging out in baseball locker rooms as a youth, Luther’s son was the kid running on-stage throughout the band’s set. Experiences like that profoundly effect one’s aspirations. “That’s when I decided I wanted to be up there like him. I think I was seven.” Read More
Matt Guitar Murphy
http://www.bluzpik.com/mattmurphy
Probably best known for playing behind the Blues Brothers (and appearing prominently in their 1980 hit movie), Matt “Guitar” Murphy deserves enshrinement in the blues-guitar hall of fame anyway. His jazz-tinged, stunningly advanced riffing behind Memphis Slim elevated the towering pianist’s 1950s output for United and Vee-Jay Records to new heights. Read More
Eden Brent
Eden Brent’s piano playing and singing style ranges from a melancholic whisper to a full-blown juke joint holler. She’s simultaneously confident and confiding, ably blending an earthy meld of jazz, blues, soul, and pop as she huskily invites listeners into her lazy, lush world. That world lies just north of Greenville, Mississippi on the two-lane Highway 1, which follows the twists and turns of the river through fecund swampland, time-forgotten plantations, and blink-and you’ll-miss-’em communities like Rosedale, Benoit, Wayside, and Grace before it dead ends into Highway 61 at Onward. It was there that Brent was able to develop her gutsy vocal-and piano chops via family sing-a-longs and a 16-year apprenticeship with the late blues pioneer Boogaloo Ames, who ultimately dubbed his protégé “Little Boogaloo.” Read More
Bill ‘Sauce Boss” Wharton
FROM THE DEEP ROOTS OF THE FLORIDA CYPRESS SWAMP COMES THE SAUCE BOSS. Haven’t heard him play? You’ll never forget him once you do. With his distinctive slide guitar sound, wrought out of his ’53 Telecaster like a man beggin’ for mercy, and slung through a 1948 Fender amp like a dark horse running through the night, the Sauce Boss has a truly authentic sound that leaves you looking for something you thought you’d lost, but in fact you never knew you had. Read More
Victor Wainwright and the WildRoots
Power-house blues, Memphis soul, and roots rock’n’roll. Featuring the high-octane boogie piano and big soul sounds of vocalist and blues man Victor Wainwright, backed by one of the tightest smokin’ bands on the scene; the WildRoots. Read More
Nicole Hart
Coming to national attention in 2008 on the Blues, Roots, Soul & R&B scene, Nicole Hart made an impressive beginning completing three highly successful tours: she was the featured female performer of Jacksonville Beach, Florida’s “Springing the Blues”; the featured female headline act of Laconia, New Hampshire’s Big Three Motorcycle Week; she performed many more prominent festivals, including the Jersey Shore Red Bank Jazz & Blues Fest, among other renowned venues on the national circuit. Her initial independent CD release, “NICOLE HART & THE NRG BAND, LIVE!” received airplay on radio stations worldwide & continues to receive airplay to this day. Read More
Damon Fowler Group
With his hybrid of roots rock, blues, and sacred steel, Florida native Damon Fowler started wowing audiences with his musical exploits as a teenager, building a reputation as one of the hottest young players on the scene. Adding songwriting and vocal skills to his repertoire over the years has brought him many accolades, with critics extolling his originality and maturity as well as his technical guitar expertise. In last year’s “Best of Tampa” poll, Creative Loafing magazine named him “Best Guitarist… And Slide Guitarist… and Lap Steel Player… And Dobro Player.” Read More
Billy Gibson
Billy Gibson, a.k.a. “The Prince of Beale Street,” is a star of the Deep South blues harmonica scene. Raised in Clinton, Mississippi, schooled in the Delta jukes and Beale Street clubs, Gibson beat out the best (including Rick Estrin and Mark Hummel) to claim the 2009 Blues Music Award for “Instrumentalist of the Year – Harmonica.” The award just confirmed what many already knew: Billy Gibson is a dangerous man when you give him the stage and put a harp in his hand.
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