The festival
kicked off with the Marcus King Band
followed by a female band of local DC musicians put together
specifically for this performance called the
Sisterhood of Soul. Then a last minute
substitute band, The Record Company, replacing the
previously booked Davy Knowles. The
highlight of these opening acts, in
fact one of the true high points of the whole festival, was the
performance turned in by Little Margie Clark of Sisterhood of Soul. The little
old lady (formerly of the 60s group
The Jewels) packed a powerful voice. And when she ad libbed some serious scat
she blew the lid off that place! Man, I can’t even tell you what language she
was signing in!! The most outstanding
version of an improvised scat vocal I’ve ever heard on a record or in person…
and that’s counting Ella Fitzgerald! The
horn section for Sisterhood of Soul was outstanding. I really wish they’d
have turned those horns loose on their
set finale Turn On Your Lovelight.
The meat of the lineup started when Tommy Castro and The
Painkillers took the stage at
mid-afternoon. The set they played was clearly the
best I’ve ever heard Tommy play. I’ve
seen him at least 7 or 8 times and have not come away impressed. This time I came away singing his praises. He dropped his horn section a couple years
back and his new lineup has taken some time to come together. But they
are a tight outfit now! The highlight of
his set was his cover of the Wet
Willie standard, Keep On Smilin’.
The
Painkillers were followed by Bobby Rush making his second appearance at the festival.
His was the usual standard
entertaining Bobby Rush set full of good music and a few laughs.
Next up was Beth Hart who has the most amazing voice. Extremely powerful. She was holding the mic at her waist and it was picking up her voice like other singers who are damn near swallowing it! I did not know what to expect from her as my only exposure was on some duet performances she recorded with Joe Bonamassa. But she wowed me and pretty much everyone within earshot, which probably included some fishermen way out under the Bay Bridge!
Immediately
after Beth Hart concluded her set the
thunder and lightning rolled in bringing some heavy rain with it. This delayed the
start of the Gregg Allman set by
more than an hour and 15 minutes.
Finally, with lightning still off in the
distance and the crew squeegeeing
water off the stage,I left for the evening.
By all accounts those who stayed were thoroughly impressed with Gregg’s
band and his set. Everyone
mentioned his tribute to Dickie Betts and the
quality of musicianship the whole
band displayed.
Day two
started off the way day one ended
with cloudy skies and spitting rain. But
by the time the
Chesapeake Bay Blues Band took the
stage it had cleared. They are another “festival specific” band featuring Mark Wenner
on harp and vocals and Tommy Lepson on keys. It essentially consisted of what
amounted to the “Old Nighthawks,”
guys who once played in the
Nighthawks of the 80s, 90s, and
early 2000s. They ripped through a very
hot set of blues standards in which everyone got a vocal or two and they set the
bar higher for the remainder of the day.
Next up was Jarekus
Singleton. I was looking forward to
hearing him as I had heard mixed reviews on his first album and wanted to make
my own decision. Some folks said he was great and the
new savior of the blues. Others
said he was a highly overrated product of the
music industry hype machine. I found neither to be true.
A lot of folks really enjoyed his set.
I found it to be excessive and self-indulgent. He has talent and a big upside. But he is far from being the future of the
blues.
Mingo
Fishtrap wrapped up the afternoon
with a mixed bag set that was well received.
Their set included everything from a New Orleans second line to country blues to
straight ahead gut-bucket. And then the rain came.
As Shemekia
Copeland took the stage she
announced “Here I Come! And Here Come The rain!”
Shemekia is the absolute
Queen of the Chesapeake Blues Fest
and has appeared more times than any other
artist. The fans love her and she loves
playing this festival. It was the usual high energy, superb performance we’ve come
to expect from Shemekia. As always she
paid tribute to her father Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, but this weekend she also paid tribute
to the late B.B. King who had passed
just two days day before.
The artist I
most wanted to see was Charlie Musselwhite.
I had never seen him perform and I was not disappointed. In fact, I liked seeing him live more than I
liked him from listening to his albums.
He had an outstanding playlist of his older stuff, newer stuff, blues
classics. A thoroughly enjoyable set.
Jonny Lang
came on. Pleased many people with his
guitar antics. He was largely
popular. I have however grown weary of
his faux ”pain with every note” stage act.
He is another hugely talented
guitarist who can’t decide whether
he wants to play rock, blues, prog, or Christian music. All I can say is constant thrashing may
entertain some, but it becomes tiresome to me.
And finally the incomparable Buddy Guy closed out the show. His
was a rip snortin’, hell raisin’, string stetchin’ masterful performance. It was his usual act complete with a walk
through the audience during an
extended version of “Slippin’ Out,” The
entire set was done with precision, and on this night, extreme passion. I think Buddy felt the
need to set the record straight
about who the premiere guitarist at
that festival was and was also feeling a pain in his heart about the loss of his friend, BB King. Those elements combined to yield the best performance I’ve ever seen of Buddy
Guy. Ironically the
first time I saw him perform was as part of BB King’s Blues Revue (with Koko
Taylor) back in the early 90s and
thought his performance that night could never be matched (he absolutely cut
Eric Johnson’s head off that night!).
When Buddy brought out his young protégé Quinn Sullivan to help close
out the festival I believe we came
closer to seeing the future of the blues then
than ever.
As I’ve
probably said in previous reviews, this festival has probably one of the most beautiful settings as any in the country. It’s
right on the Chesapeake Bay with the Bay
Bridge as a
backdrop. The festival is non-profit and
all proceeds go to charities that actually get the
money! It’s a good time, it’s a good
place and it’s a good cause. If you ever
get the chance to come on down to my
place, the largest estuary in the United
States, please check out this festival.
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