Amazingly, almost a year has gone by since the last Pittsburgh Blues Festival, and now it's time for another one -- the 15th annual version coming up this weekend -- July 24-26. Where does the time go?
So, starting Friday night, you'll find three days of local and national blues, and some related music, at scenic Hartwood Acres -- a weekend of music designed to benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank -- and of course, the blues is food for your soul, too.
Much of the format will be familiar -- free entry Friday night if you bring a bag of non-perishable food; a $5 donation if you bring your own cooler; lots of vendors and kids activities; a stage for local bands; food and beer sales; and lots of good music.
What's new? Well, the bands will all be new, of course, but festival organizers are planning a new feature this year, "Blues in the Tent Workshops," an interactive blues experience for children (adults are allowed to accompany their children into the tent), designed to provide a look at different styles and types of blues, with daily presentations by area blues performers.
Pittsburgh blues musician Jimmy Adler is organizing and coordinating the event with June Esser. The workshops are sponsored by Fidelity Investments.
Here's a schedule of the Blues in the Tent Workshops, with the performers for each one:
Friday, July 24
Jimmy Adler presents “Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago” 5-5:40 PM
Bubs McKeg presents “Story Telling in the Blues” 6-6:40 PM
Eugene Morgan presents “South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues” 7-7:40 PM
Saturday, July 25
Jimmy Adler presents “Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago” 3-3:40 PM
Eugene Morgan presents “South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues” 4-4:40 PM
Bubs McKeg presents “Story Telling in the Blues” 5-5:40 PM
Bill Weiner presents “Folk Blues for Children of all Ages” 6-6:40 PM
Sunday, July 26
Jimmy Adler presents “Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago” 2:50-3:30 PM
Eugene Morgan presents “South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues” 3:50-4:30 PM
Larry Nath presents “ Turn Around and Testify” 4:50-5:30 PM
Bob and Andy Gabig present “The Influence of Blues in Appalachian Music” 5:50-6:30 PM
Bubs McKeg presents “Story Telling in the Blues” 6:50-7:30 PM
About the presenters (in the interest of full disclosure, this all comes from a press release):
Bubs McKeg
Bubs is a two-time winner of the Blues Society of Western Pa's (BSWPA) International Blues Challenge (IBC) for solo/duo artist. Bub's will be competing for the second year in a row in Memphis, Tennessee as a representative of the BSWPA in January 2010. Bubs has been performing as a blues artist in and around Pittsburgh for more than 30 years. McKeg's workshop is entitled "Story Telling in the Blues" and will focus on how everyone has a story to tell -- whether it's about heartbreak, loss, or simple day-to-day living. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and engage students in a workshop where they can learn how to write their own blues lyrics, and then experiment with those lyrics in a song.
Eugene Morgan
Eugene Morgan is one of this year's recipients of a "Hunger Awareness Award" for years of selfless service as coordinator of his own 15th annual Blues for Food event that benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Eugene has been performing the blues for many years. He was born and partly raised in Ochlocknee, Georgia and moved as a young boy with his family to Harmony, Pa., in the early 1960s. Morgan's workshop is entitled "South Georgia's Back Porch Blues" and will focus on field hollers, and children's singalongs, as well as Eugene's personal experiences with his own family's migration away from the unjust sharecropping of the south. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and engage students in a workshop where they will experience the origins of this music from the eyes of a kid who started out in the sharecropping south.
Jimmy Adler
Jimmy has been playing the blues in and around the Pittsburgh area for more than 20 years. He has also been a high school English teacher for the Pittsburgh Public Schools for 14 years. As a National Certified Teacher and experienced curriculum writer, Jimmy has been able to share his passion of the blues with many students for many years. He is instrumental in organizing and coordinating this first Blues in the Tent event at the 15th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Festival. Adler's workshop is entitled "Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago" and will focus on the legends of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and engage students in a workshop where they will learn about the history of this music and have the opportunity to sing along. Students will also learn about the rhythms of a standard 12 bar blues song.
Bob and Andy Gabig
Bob and Andy Gabig are brothers who are now celebrating 30 years as founding members and performers in Pittsburgh's own Blues Orphans band. A City Paper article by J. E. Rosenfeld states that "Andy and his older brother Bobby grew up in a musical family: Their grandfather and uncles played country and western and Irish music. The brothers have been scholars and players of music all their lives." In addition, the brothers "have performed in the streets of San Francisco, Montreal and New Orleans." This workshop is entitled "The Influence of Blues in Appalachian Music" and will focus on the blending of different cultures to show the connections between artists such as Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Brownie Mcgee and Sonny Terry. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and engage students in a workshop where they will learn about the history of this music and have the opportunity to see the connections between the blues and Appalachian music.
Larry Nath
Larry Nath has been an educator for 12 years and a performing musician for more than 25 years. He has performed both with various bands and as a solo acoustic artist, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica. He has a B.S. in Secondary Education English from Duquesne University, and a Master's degree in English from Indiana University of PA. He currently teaches English, Public Speaking, and Journalism at Indiana Area Senior High School in Indiana, Pa. Nath's workshop is entitled "Turn Around and Testify" and will focus on using the standard blues format as a form of expression and communication. Participants will examine the basic call and response format through its use by many popular Blues artists ranging from Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, to Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn then construct their own call and response verses drawing inspiration from personal experiences. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and demonstrate how personal experiences are communicated using folk and blues structures. Emphasis on the blues' unique tendency to "testify" to the joys and sorrows of the human experience makes this presentation both entertaining and enlightening, leaving participants with a newly heightened sense of the expressive and communicative power of the blues.
Bill Weiner
Bill Weiner is a scholar of the history of old blues styles. He has been playing country blues (or "folk blues" as it is often called) for 45 years. He has taught classes at the Calliope Folk Music Society and The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Bill started a band (The Monongahela Sheiks 1998-2008) from the students of his classes. Weiner's workshop is entitled "Folk Blues for Children of all Ages" and will give a brief explanation about the meaning of folk blues music. The focus will be on rhythm and melody as well as the idea of the one-man band, demonstrating how people put their experiences to music. This 40-minute presentation will educate, entertain, and engage students in the rhythms and melodies of the music. Participants will learn how music changes (from non-electric to electric) as well as the structure of acoustic blues.
The organizers say that the workshops "are designed with the intention of educating children of all ages about the history and importance of blues music as America’s living legacy to the world."
The blues could use a few new young fans. Sounds like a good idea.
Here's the schedule of national artists for the weekend:
Friday, July 24 (gates open at 4:00 pm)
Eric Lindell
Cyril Neville & Tribe 13
Saturday, July 25 (gates open at 1:00 pm)
Shannon Curfman
Shawn Kellerman
Curtis Salgado
Los Lobos
Sunday, July 26 (gates open at 1:30 pm)
Deb Callahan
JJ Grey & Mofro
Robert Cray Band
Local bands set to appear are: Glenn Pavone & the Cyclones, Jill West & Blues Attack, Felix & the Hurricanes, Ron Yarosz & the Vehicle, Eugene & the Nightcrawlers, Jimmy Adler Blues Band
Posted
Jul 20 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Jim White