Ruf Records artist: Tasha Taylor - Honey For The Biscuit - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Honey For The Biscuit, from Tasha Taylor and it has a super groove. Daughter of Stax giant, Johnnie Taylor, Tasha has some big shoes to fill and this release shows that she's not following on anyone's coattails. Opening with Feel So Good, Tasha Taylor sets the pace with a a super R&B number featuring Taylor on really nicely phrased vocals, guitar and keys, backed by Nathan Watts on bass, Don Wyatt on Wurlitzer and piano, John Notto and Jon Taylor on guitars and tight horn phrasing by Jamelle Williams, Matthew Demerrit & Lamar Buillary on horns. Wedding Bells is a soulful track with some of my favorite vocals on the release. Painterly instrumental arrangements nicely frame the featured vocals of Taylor. Excellent! Family Tree has a much more laid back R&B feel and features nicely phrased guitar work by Keb Mo. Tom Hambridge penned Weatherman, has a cool funky bottom with a real nice drum beat and again, really nicely orchestrated instrumental backing. Wyatt takes a real nice electric piano solo on this track and brassy horns give the track that extra spark. Soul track, One And Only has a super soul feel and Taylor delivers big time. Vocal harmonies and glistening piano work make this another of my favorites on the release. Little Miss Suzie has a revival sound (hand claps and all) with rich organ work and hot lap steel addition by Robert Randolph. I Knew, another sumptuous soul track, just has a special groove. Horns carefully caress Taylor's vocal delivery making this another of my favorites on the release. Another contribution by Hambridge, How Long, has a country rock flavor with a distinct 2 step feel. Laid back R&B feel on That Man should easily make considerable radio play. Catchy melody, warm, easy rhythm and nicely intertwined vocals make this a pop standout. Funky R&B track, Leave That Dog Alone, features the guitar fire of Samantha Fish. Taylor's vocals are always front and center, but Fish's contributions are hot and sweaty. Places I Miss has a light, jazzy sense and Taylor continues to show her versatility. With breezy, coastal like delivery and crisp guitar highlights this track sails. Don't Rush Off continues in that soft and easy feel with extremely nicely done drum work, supporting Taylor's solid vocals. Wrapping the release is Same Old Thing with an almost Al Green feel. Old school R&B with great horn punctuation and Tommy Castro joining on vocal makes this a perfect choice to conclude a very strong outing by Taylor.



  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

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Provogue Records artist: Robben Ford - Into The Sun - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (March 31, 2015), Into The Sun, by Robben Ford and I really like it! Opening with Rose Of Sharon a smooth bluesy track with a very clean melody, Ford strokes a well articulated solo making very use of single and double time for emphasis. Day Of the Planets actually has an garage rock feel but but delivered on a polished silver platter. Howlin' At The Moon hits the road with a funky staggered rhythm. Brian Allen on bass lays down a nice funky groove with Wes Little on drums and Ford plays off the funk delivering a solo that rides the rumble. Very cool! Rainbow Cover is a straight up rocker with organ highlights and clean guitar riff adornment. Juttified features guests Keb Mo' on vocal and Robert Randolph on pedal slide. An easy blues swing with rolling piano and stylized fiddle set a super floor for Ford to highlight his nicely stylized solo. Breath Of Me featured ZZ Hill on lead vocals for possibly my favorite track on the release. Hill's soulful vocals are nicely complimented by Ford on beautifully clean solo runs. Excellent! High Heels And Throwing Things has an interesting light funky jazz feel with an almost Steely Dan polish. Warren Haynes lends his hand at guitar on the track giving it a feel of it's own. Cause Of War has a low slung, lumbering feel, a solid melody and with a hot guitar riff following each line of vocals. A heavy "bass solid" romp with tight drums makes this track tick. So Long 4 U features Sonny Landreth has an almost Little Feat swampy feel. I particularly like Ford's vocal delivery on this track and Landreth's slide tone really sets this track off. Excellent! Same Train feeds up more of the jazzy funk and it really has a contageous groove. Ford on guitar and lead vocal is chased by a tight harp line which I really like. This track is infectious with Ford really digging in on guitar and Allen and Little holding a tight bottom. Very very nice! Wrapping the release is Stone Cold Heaven and Ford trades hot guitar riffs with Tyler Bryant. This track with it's swampy rhythm gets really steamy with Ford and Bryant trading riffs and rich backing vocals. An excellent completion to a very cool release.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 

Robben Ford - INTO THE SUN - Coming March 31

 

GUITAR LEGEND ROBBEN FORD’S NEW ALBUM INTO THE SUN

 CAPTURES HIS CONTEMPORARY SONGWRITING MASTERY

To Be Released Via Mascot Label Group On March 31^st  

Guest Appearances By Blues Icon Keb’ Mo’, Vocalist ZZ Ward,  

And Fellow Guitar Heroes Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth,  

Robert Randolph and Tyler Bryant 

February 5, 2015 - Guitar virtuoso Robben Ford’s forthcoming new album Into The Sun (Mascot Label Group) shines a bright light on his artful, contemporary songwriting and the stunning playing that’s made him a favorite foil of Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison and other legends.

The five-time Grammy nominee describes the 11-song set as “one of the top recordings I’ve ever done” — a staggering observation considering his extensive discography, which embraces more than 35 albums under his own name and with his various bands. There’s also Ford’s session and sideman work, which includes hundreds of concert appearances and albums by Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Streisand, Charlie Musselwhite, KISS, Ruthie Foster, Jimmy Witherspoon and Rickie Lee Jones. 

Into The Sun, which follows last year’s critically acclaimed A Day In Nashville and 2013’s Bringing It Back Home, explores the breadth of Ford’s sophisticated, visionary writing and playing, creating a new chapter in his brilliant musical history. The album features a coterie of guests: Allman Brothers guitarist and Gov’t Mule frontman Warren Haynes on “High Heels And Throwing Things,” slide guitar guru Sonny Landreth on “So Long 4 U,” Americana and blues icon Keb’ Mo’ and pedal steel wizard Robert Randolph on “Justified,” vocal sensation ZZ Ward on “Breath Of Me," and along with gritty Southern rock newcomer Tyler Bryant on “Stone Cold Heaven.” Niko Bolas, whose credits include Neil Young, John Mayer and Keith Richards, engineered.

“The album is really upbeat,” Ford relates. “It has a positive vibe to it — a good time feel. There are a lot of different rhythms and colors and the way the instruments are used is really different on this. It makes me very happy to have something so diverse.”

Although Ford’s recent releases have been hailed as returns to his musical roots — which go back to his discovery of blues as a teenager in the 1960s – Into The Sun is a clear departure, using tradition as a springboard to incorporate his timeless vocabulary of jazz, pop, blues and rock into a modern framework for his poetic lyrics and the most graceful, emotionally nuanced and melodic vocal performances of his career. 

“This album is obviously of these times,” Ford says. “And the rule during the recording process was to have no lid on things. I’ve worked very hard to master my craft as a musician and a songwriter, but other than relying on my strengths in those areas, I made sure there was room for new ideas and everything my collaborators brought to the music. When you’re open to different concepts and approaches, the most beautiful things can happen.”

All of the music and most of the lyrics from Into The Sun came directly from Ford, but he also collaborated with ZZ Ward on “Breath Of Me” and enlisted the enigmatic Kyle Swan, whose own recordings liberally mix images and styles to build articulate modernist-pop tone poems. That quality reverberates in the four songs Ford co-wrote with Swan, married to the guitar giant’s own deep commitment to narrative. “Working with Kyle was part of my desire to toss up everything and see what might happen, to get a fresh perspective,” says Ford. 

“Justified” is a sheer gas with Keb’ Mo’ and Ford trading tongue-in-cheek vocal lines as Randolph adds soaring pedal steel punctuation over Jim Cox’s purposefully wobbly honky tonk piano. 

Into The Sun was recorded by Bolas, a collaborator of Ford’s since his all-instrumental 1997 album Tiger Walk. “Niko is simply the best tracking engineer I’ve ever encountered,” says Ford. “He gets great sounds instantly.” All the better to capture Ford’s glorious guitar tones, this time derived from four of his go-to instruments: a pair of Gibson SG’s from 1963 and 1964, his beloved 1960 Telecaster and his Gibson B-25 acoustic. As he’s done on every album he’s made since 1983, Ford used a Dumble Overdrive Special amplifier. 

“For me,” Ford says, “it’s all about the art. If you work hard at something you’re going to get better. I honestly think I reached a point with my writing on Into The Sun where I could just go with the flow and bring some of the best songs I’ve ever created to life.”

Ford already has an impressive number of shows lined up to support the album, both in America and overseas. In addition to a lengthy list of tour dates, another notable upcoming appearance will be Robben Ford’s Traveling Dojo Guitar Camp at the elegantly rustic Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY in the Catskill Forest Preserve (about 30 miles west of Woodstock) from August 31-September 4, 2015.  Ford will host guitar enthusiasts and guitarists of all skill levels for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

In addition to his robust profile as a world-class musician, Ford is a highly sought-after educator with a series of acclaimed and groundbreaking interactive videos presented on a variety of formats including disks, downloads and mobile apps.  This Traveling Dojo Guitar Camp will include master classes, one-on-one sessions, landmark live performances with sit-in opportunities, and all-inclusive meal options and lodging accommodations.  Ford will be joined by special guest guitar virtuoso John Jorgenson; as well as Ford’s ace rhythm section (Brian Allen on bass and Wes Little on drums), who will conduct master classes on groove, time, and pocket; and Ford’s friend and trusted guitar tech, Rick Wheeler, a jazz virtuoso, will also conduct sessions on jazz guitar.  One of the most thrilling aspects of the Traveling Dojo Guitar Camp will be hearing these complimentary talents make music together.  A 10% discount off camp registrations is available through February 14.  To get more details on the camp and/or to register, visit: http://www.robbenfordguitarcamp.com/

ROBBEN FORD - INTO THE SUN Track Listing

1. Rose Of Sharon

2. Day Of The Planets

3. Howlin’ At The Moon

4. Rainbow Cover

5. Justified (with Keb’ Mo’ & Robert Randolph)

6. Breath Of Me (with ZZ Ward)

7. High Heels And Throwing Things (with Warren Haynes)

8. Cause Of War

9. So Long 4 U (with Sonny Landreth)

10. Same Train

11. Stone Cold Heaven (with Tyler Bryant)

ROBBEN FORD - INTO THE SUN EPK:

http://youtu.be/9Ud7A8OrU4Q

ROBBEN FORD – TOUR DATES

Feb. 17-21 - Miami, FL / Key West, FL / Nassau, Bahamas - Keeping The Blues Alive Cruise

Feb. 22 - Clearwater, FL - Clearwater Sea Blues Festival - Coachman Park

March 13 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Stadttheater (with hr-Bigband)

March 14 - Rüsselsheim, Germany - Theater (with hr-Bigband)

ROBBEN FORD – INTO THE SUN - 2015 TOUR DATES

April 10 - Ft. Worth, TX - Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival

April 11 - Oklahoma City, OK - Academy of Contemporary Music

April 12 - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads Saloon

April 14 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center

April 15 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall

April 16 - Evanston, IL - SPACE

April 17 - Columbus, OH - Woodlands Park Street Saloon

April 18 - Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater

April 19 - Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theater

April 21 - Syracuse, NY - Wescott Theatre

April 22 - Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall

April 23 - Fall River, MA - Narrow Center For The Arts

April 24 - Beacon, NY - Towne Crier

April 25 - Norfolk, VA - Infinity Hall

April 26 - New York, NY - City Winery

April 29 - London, England - O2 Academy Islington

April 30 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - North Sea Jazz Club

May 1 - Breda, Netherlands - Mezz Concerts & Dance

May 2 - Groningen, Netherlands - Rhythm n Blues Night

May 5 - Leuven, Belgium - Het Depot

May 8 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Tollhaus

May 9 - Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik

May 10 - Cologne, Germany - Kantine

May 12 - Munich, Germany - Technikum

May 18 - Zvecan, Kosovo - North City Jazz and Blues Festival

               Kosovska Mitrovica - Cultural Centre “Trepca"

May 20 - Zurich, Switzerland - Kaufleuten Festival

May 30 & 31 - Oakland, CA - Yoshi’s at Jack London Square

June 2 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre

June 3 - Seattle, WA - The Triple Door

June 26 - Carpentras, France - Auzon Le Blues

Additional dates to be announced soon…

Simi Valley Cajun-Blues Fest feat. Robert Randolph/Swamp Dogg/John Mayall/C.J. Chenier/Canned Heat/Guitar Shorty/Dwayne Dopsie

ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND, SWAMP DOGG, JOHN MAYALL, CANNED HEAT, C.J. CHENIER, GUITAR SHORTY, DWAYNE DOPSIE HEADLINE 25th ANNUAL SIMI VALLEY CAJUN & BLUES MUSIC FESTIVAL, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 24-25  Los Angeles area’s largest Cajun, Zydeco, Blues and Roots Music festival,held over Memorial Day weekend, features two stages, a Mardi Gras parade, kids’ activities, crafts and dozens of food booths  Festival debut of new blues stage booker Martin Fleischmann.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The 25th annual Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival will rock once again at Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, at Rancho Santa Susanna Community Park, 5005 Los Angeles Ave., in Simi Valley. The event features two full stages for each of its musical genres. Music will proceed non-stop each day from 12 noon until 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $22 adults 13+ and $15 children 7-12, are available online at http://www.simicajun.org or at the gate. Parking is ample and free. Fast-moving California Hwy. 118 (Ronald Reagan Freeway) can be taken to the Stearns Street exit; the festival is four blocks south. The blues stage presents its strongest bill ever featuring Robert Randolph & the Family Band, the American funk and soul ensemble led by pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph; Los Angeles-based Southern soul and blues legend Swamp Dogg; British blues patriarch John Mayall; blues revival pioneers Canned Heat; Texas-born bluesman Guitar Shorty; and Blues Music Award-winning singer and guitarist Tommy Castro. The blues stage will also feature Flattop Tom & His Jump Cats, Nancy & the Nightcrawlers, Dennis Jones and Andy Walo. Meanwhile, on the Cajun-Zydeco stage, C.J. Cheneir brings the Red Hot Louisiana Band, assembled by his father, Zydeco king, Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner Clifton Chenier. Veteran Zydeco accordionist Nathan Williams Sr. will appear, as will Nathan Williams Jr. & His Zydeco Big Timers. Dwayne Dopsie, hailing from one of the top Zydeco families in the world, will front the Zydeco Hellraisers. Feufollet presents their indie-rock-influenced Cajun music. Southern California’s own Lisa Haley & the Zydecats, a popular attraction at the festival for many years, will return, as will Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic and the Bayou Brothers. The annual Mardi Gras Parade will take place both days at 4 p.m. About the performers: • Robert Randolph & the Family Band first gained national attention with the release of the album Live at the Wetlands in 2002. The group followed with three studio recordings over the next eight years — Unclassified, Colorblind, and We Walk This Road — which, together with tireless touring and unforgettable performances at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, won them an expanding and passionate fan base. Randolph’s unprecedented prowess on his instrument garnered him a spot on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list, and also attracted the attention of such giants as Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana, who have collaborated with him on stage and in the studio. His new album on Blue Note Records is Lickety Split. • Raunchy, satirical, political, and profane, Swamp Dogg is one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music. The nom du disque of Jerry Williams Jr., an R&B producer and songwriter of the ’60s, Swamp Dogg creates pure Southern soul music anchored on tight grooves and accentuated by horns. His songs are as much about message as music. His albums Total Destruction of the Mind and I’m Not Selling Out, I’m Buying In, both reissued last year, are cult classics. Swamp boasts gold and platinum records for both soul and country covers of his composition “She’s All I Got.” The Northridge resident’s 12-minute live rendition of the Bee Gees’ “Got To Get a Message to You” is not to be missed. A new album is due in the summer 2014. • John Mayall was born in 1933 and grew up near Manchester, England. It was there as a teenager that he first became attracted to the jazz and blues 78s in his father’s record collection. After an early career in design, Mayall assembled the Bluesbreakers which featured such giants of British music as Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Taylor. In 1969 he moved to L.A.’s Laurel Canyon, long a mecca for musicians, where his now U.S.-based Bluebreakers featured Coco Montoya, Walter Trout and Buddy Whittington. Now living short miles from Simi Valley, he continues to record and tour the globe. • C.J. Chenier was born 1957, the son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. C.J.’s father was the first Creole musician to win a Grammy Award. C.J. spent his childhood in the tough tenement housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas. When Clifton died in 1987, C.J. adopted the Red Hot Louisiana Band and recorded his debut album for Arhoolie Records with later recordings on Slash and Alligator Records. His 1995 appearances on the The Daily Show and CNN brought Zydeco music to its widest audiences yet. He accepted a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on his father's behalf in in 2014. • Canned Heat rose to fame because their knowledge and love of blues music was both wide and deep. Founded in 1966 by blues historians and record collectors Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite, the band drew on an encyclopedic knowledge of all phases of the genre and attained two worldwide hits, “On the Road Again” in 1968 and “Going Up the Country” in 1969. Despite the untimely deaths of three of its founding members, Canned Heat has survived under the leadership of Fito de la Parra since the late ’70s. • Guitar Shorty, a.k.a. David Kearney, was born in Houston in 1939, raised in Kissimee, Fla., and now makes his home in Los Angeles. Over the years he’s played behind T-Bone Walker, Willie Dixon, Guitar Slim, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, Sam Cooke and fellow Simi Valley Festival performer Swamp Dogg. His recent albums on Evidence and Alligator albums attest to the high energy level of this survivor of blues’ classic era. • Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers were rated one of the “Top 100 Reasons to Visit Louisiana.” The last of eight children, Dwayne attributes his musical abilities to the influence of his father, Rockin’ Dopsie Sr., a pioneer of Zydeco music.  • Feufollet: In Feufollet’s repertoire, deathbed ballads meet glockenspiels and omnichords, Cajun French choruses are written on iPhones, and indie-rock vibes invade Acadian archives. The Louisiana-based band is deeply rooted in the francophone soil of Louisiana and pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience. They are famous for their renditions of heartbreaking songs and rollicking tunes. • Lisa Haley & the Zydecats: Haley is a fourth-generation fiddler whose maternal family were Irish immigrants, arriving in Roddy Bayou, Louisiana in 1718 to escape a smallpox epidemic. They moved near Hollywood for her mother’s health, where Mickey Mouse Show producer Bob Holoboff offered to make Lisa a Mousekateer. Her parents politely declined, thinking it no life for a young lady. They said the same of Cajun music as a career. Lisa turned down a classical music college scholarship, favoring her more passionate calling: exploring the potential of Cajun and Zydeco potential as a “world music.” The Blues Stage welcomes a new booker this year, Martin Fleischmann and his company, Rum & Humble. For more than 20 years Rum & Humble has played a key role in presenting some of the world’s most celebrated musical talent (Radiohead, Manu Chao, and the Rolling Stones, to name a few) to Los Angeles audiences, in venues ranging from the Echoplex to the Orpheum Theatre to the Hollywood Bowl. The company has co-produced the Santa Monica Pier’s Twilight Concert Series since 2011. In addition, Rum & Humble has collaborated closely and creatively with artists such as Jackson Browne and Paul Oakenfold as well as with a varied roster of corporate and non-profit clients ranging from KJAZZ Radio to the Conga Room nightclub to the National Geographic Society. The festival has received national press accolades: “Everywhere you turned, there was something exciting happening. Put this on your 2013 festival calendar,” wrote Blue Revue editor Art Tipaldi, who made the trek from New England. The Blues Blast writer enthused, “I attend many venues and festivals throughout the year but the ones that seem to impress me the most are the ones that serve the community in some way. I highly recommend you put this on your calendar for next Memorial Day weekend.” And the music industry trade journal HITS added, “As the last strains of (Candye) Kane’s set rang in our ears, we left the grounds fully sated by music, food, drink and, as the saying goes, bon temps.” This family-friendly event boasts a huge kids’ area with bouncers, rock walls, specialty acts, crafts and talent shows. The festival boasts dozens of food booths featuring a variety of fare: authentic Cajun creations and Southern BBQ as well as multi-cultural cuisine. More than 100 craft booths and retailers will be scattered throughout the festival grounds. Tickets may be obtained online at http://www.simicajun.org/2014/tickets.html Support of the not-for-profit Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Music Festival has benefited dozens of local community, national and international organizations, a list of which may be found at < http://www.simicajun.org/2014/whobenefits.html>. Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival web site:http://www.simicajun.org Read the blog:www.cajunbluesblog.com SATURDAY MAY 24th BLUES STAGE 11:30 a.m. TBA 12:15 p.m. Dennis Jones 1:35 p.m. Andy Walo 3 p.m. Canned Heat 4:25 p.m. Guitar Shorty 5:50 p.m. John Mayall CAJUN-ZYDECO STAGE 10:45 a.m. Dance Lessons 11:30 a.m. Bayou Brotghers 12:25 p.m. Lisa Haley & the Zydecats 1:55 p.m. Feufollet 3:25 p.m. Nathan Williams, Big Nate 4:35 Mardi Gras Parade 4:55 p.m. Nathan Williams Jr. & the Zydeco Big Timers 6:25 C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band SUNDAY MAY 25th BLUES STAGE  12 Noon Nancy & the Nightcrawlers 1:20 Flattop Tom 2:45 Swamp Dogg 4:10 Tommy Castro 5:35 Robert Randolph & the Family Band CAJUN-ZYDECO STAGE10:45 a.m. Dance Lessons 11:30 a.m. Bayou Brothers 12:25 p.m. Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic 1:50 p.m. Lisa Haley & the Zydecats 4:20 p.m. Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers 5:45 p.m. C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana band 7:10 p.m. Feufollet

Robert Randolph/Swamp Dogg/John Mayall/C.J. Chenier headline Simi Valley Cajun-Blues Festival 2014

ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND, SWAMP DOGG, JOHN MAYALL, CANNED HEAT, C.J. CHENIER, GUITAR SHORTY HEADLINE 24th ANNUAL SIMI VALLEY CAJUN & BLUES MUSIC FESTIVAL, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 24-25  Los Angeles area’s largest Cajun, Zydeco, Blues and Roots Music festival,held over Memorial Day weekend, features two stages, a Mardi Gras parade, kids’ activities, crafts and dozens of food booths  Festival debut of new blues stage booker Martin Fleischmann.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The 25th annual Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival will rock once again at Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, at Rancho Santa Susanna Community Park, 5005 Los Angeles Ave., in Simi Valley. The event features two full stages for each of its musical genres. Music will proceed non-stop each day from 12 noon until 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $22 adults 13+ ($20 online until May 1) and $15 children 7-12, are available online at http://www.simicajun.org or at the gate. Parking is ample and free. Fast-moving California Hwy. 118 (Ronald Reagan Freeway) can be taken to the Stearns Street exit; the festival is four blocks south. The blues stage presents its strongest bill ever featuring Robert Randolph & the Family Band, the American funk and soul ensemble led by pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph; Los Angeles-based Southern soul and blues legend Swamp Dogg; British blues patriarch John Mayall; blues revival pioneers Canned Heat; Texas-born bluesman Guitar Shorty; and Blues Music Award-winning singer and guitarist Tommy Castro. The blues stage will also feature Flattop Tom & His Jump Cats, Nancy & the Nightcrawlers, Dennis Jones and Andy Walo. Meanwhile, on the Cajun-Zydeco stage, Grammy® Lifetime Achievement recipient C.J. Cheneir brings the Red Hot Louisiana Band, assembled by his father, Zydeco king Clifton Chenier. Veteran Zydeco accordionist Nathan Williams Sr. will appear, as will Nathan Williams Jr. & His Zydeco Big Timers. Dwayne Dopsie, hailing from one of the top Zydeco families in the world, will front the Zydeco Hellraisers. Foufollet presents their indie-rock-influenced Cajun music. Southern California’s own Lisa Haley & the Zydecats, a popular attraction at the festival for many years, will return, as will Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic and the Bayou Brothers. The annual Mardi Gras Parade will take place both days at 4 p.m. About the performers: • Robert Randolph & the Family Band first gained national attention with the release of the album Live at the Wetlands in 2002. The group followed with three studio recordings over the next eight years — Unclassified, Colorblind, and We Walk This Road — which, together with tireless touring and unforgettable performances at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, won them an expanding and passionate fan base. Randolph’s unprecedented prowess on his instrument garnered him a spot on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list, and also attracted the attention of such giants as Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana, who have collaborated with him on stage and in the studio. His new album on Blue Note Records is Lickety Split. • Raunchy, satirical, political, and profane, Swamp Dogg is one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music. The nom du disque of Jerry Williams Jr., an R&B producer and songwriter of the ’60s, Swamp Dogg creates pure Southern soul music anchored on tight grooves and accentuated by horns. His songs are as much about message as music. His albums Total Destruction of the Mind and I’m Not Selling Out, I’m Buying In, both reissued last year, are cult classics. Swamp boasts gold and platinum records for both soul and country covers of his composition “She’s All I Got.” The Northridge resident’s 12-minute live rendition of the Bee Gees’ “Got To Get a Message to You” is not to be missed. A new album is due in the summer 2014. • John Mayall was born in 1933 and grew up near Manchester, England. It was there as a teenager that he first became attracted to the jazz and blues 78s in his father’s record collection. After an early career in design, Mayall assembled the Bluesbreakers which featured such giants of British music as Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Taylor. In 1969 he moved to L.A.’s Laurel Canyon, long a mecca for musicians, where his now U.S.-based Bluebreakers featured Coco Montoya, Walter Trout and Buddy Whittington. Now living short miles from Simi Valley, he continues to record and tour the globe. • C.J. Chenier was born 1957, the son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. C.J.’s father was the first Creole musician to win a Grammy Award. C.J. spent his childhood in the tough tenement housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas. When Clifton died in 1987, C.J. adopted the Red Hot Louisiana Band and recorded his debut album for Arhoolie Records with later recordings on Slash and Alligator Records. His 1995 appearances on the The Daily Show and CNN brought Zydeco music to its widest audiences yet. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. • Canned Heat rose to fame because their knowledge and love of blues music was both wide and deep. Founded in 1966 by blues historians and record collectors Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite, the band drew on an encyclopedic knowledge of all phases of the genre and attained two worldwide hits, “On the Road Again” in 1968 and “Going Up the Country” in 1969. Despite the untimely deaths of three of its founding members, Canned Heat has survived under the leadership of Fito de la Parra since the late ’70s. • Guitar Shorty, a.k.a. David Kearney, was born in Houston in 1939, raised in Kissimee, Fla., and now makes his home in Los Angeles. Over the years he’s played behind T-Bone Walker, Willie Dixon, Guitar Slim, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, Sam Cooke and fellow Simi Valley Festival performer Swamp Dogg. His recent albums on Evidence and Alligator albums attest to the high energy level of this survivor of blues’ classic era. • Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers were rated one of the “Top 100 Reasons to Visit Louisiana.” The last of eight children, Dwayne attributes his musical abilities to the influence of his father, Rockin’ Dopsie Sr., a pioneer of Zydeco music.  • Feufollet: In Feufollet’s repertoire, deathbed ballads meet glockenspiels and omnichords, Cajun French choruses are written on iPhones, and indie-rock vibes invade Acadian archives. The Louisiana-based band is deeply rooted in the francophone soil of Louisiana and pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience. They are famous for their renditions of heartbreaking songs and rollicking tunes. • Lisa Haley & the Zydecats: Haley is a fourth-generation fiddler whose maternal family were Irish immigrants, arriving in Roddy Bayou, Louisiana in 1718 to escape a smallpox epidemic. They moved near Hollywood for her mother’s health, where Mickey Mouse Show producer Bob Holoboff offered to make Lisa a Mousekateer. Her parents politely declined, thinking it no life for a young lady. They said the same of Cajun music as a career. Lisa turned down a classical music college scholarship, favoring her more passionate calling: exploring the potential of Cajun and Zydeco potential as a “world music.” The Blues Stage welcomes a new booker this year, Martin Fleischmann and his company, Rum & Humble. For more than 20 years Rum & Humble has played a key role in presenting some of the world’s most celebrated musical talent (Radiohead, Manu Chao, and the Rolling Stones, to name a few) to Los Angeles audiences, in venues ranging from the Echoplex to the Orpheum Theatre to the Hollywood Bowl. The company has co-produced the Santa Monica Pier’s Twilight Concert Series since 2011. In addition, Rum & Humble has collaborated closely and creatively with artists such as Jackson Browne and Paul Oakenfold as well as with a varied roster of corporate and non-profit clients ranging from KJAZZ Radio to the Conga Room nightclub to the National Geographic Society. The festival has received national press accolades: “Everywhere you turned, there was something exciting happening. Put this on your 2013 festival calendar,” wrote Blue Revue editor Art Tipaldi, who made the trek from New England. The Blues Blast writer enthused, “I attend many venues and festivals throughout the year but the ones that seem to impress me the most are the ones that serve the community in some way. I highly recommend you put this on your calendar for next Memorial Day weekend.” And the music industry trade journal HITS added, “As the last strains of (Candye) Kane’s set rang in our ears, we left the grounds fully sated by music, food, drink and, as the saying goes, bon temps.” This family-friendly event boasts a huge kids’ area with bouncers, rock walls, specialty acts, crafts and talent shows. The festival boasts dozens of food booths featuring a variety of fare: authentic Cajun creations and Southern BBQ as well as multi-cultural cuisine. More than 100 craft booths and retailers will be scattered throughout the festival grounds. Tickets may be obtained online at http://www.simicajun.org/2014/tickets.html Support of the not-for-profit Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Music Festival has benefited dozens of local community, national and international organizations, a list of which may be found at < http://www.simicajun.org/2014/whobenefits.html>. Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival web site:http://www.simicajun.org   SATURDAY MAY 24th BLUES STAGE 11:30 a.m. TBA 12:15 p.m. Dennis Jones 1:35 p.m. Andy Walo 3 p.m. Canned Heat 4:25 p.m. Guitar Shorty 5:50 p.m. John Mayall CAJUN-ZYDECO STAGE 10:45 a.m. Dance Lessons 11:30 a.m. Bayou Brotghers 12:25 p.m. Lisa Haley & the Zydecats 1:55 p.m. Feufollet 3:25 p.m. Nathan Williams, Big Nate 4:35 Mardi Gras Parade 4:55 p.m. Nathan Williams Jr. & the Zydeco Big Timers 6:25 C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band SUNDAY MAY 25th BLUES STAGE  12 Noon Nancy & the Nightcrawlers 1:20 Flattop Tom 2:45 Swamp Dogg 4:10 Tommy Castro 5:35 Robert Randolph & the Family Band CAJUN-ZYDECO STAGE10:45 a.m. Dance Lessons 11:30 a.m. Bayou Brothers 12:25 p.m. Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic 1:50 p.m. Lisa Haley & the Zydecats 4:20 p.m. Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers 5:45 p.m. C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana band 7:10 p.m. Feufollet ###