Summertime Blues, Volume 3
Still more chances for a big dose of blues
by Dave Leucinger

And so it goes...The success of the first midwestern blues festivals a decade ago has attracted more start-up festivals in the past few years, giving blues fans multiple options for their summertime weekends. We'll still have one more round of festival listings next month, but for now, here's this month's examples of blues next door.

Festival: Prairie Dog Blues Festival
Date(s): July 30 - 31
Location: St. Feriole Island, Prairie du Chien, WI
Admission: $13 adv./ $15 gate (per day); $25 adv./ $30 gate (2 days); $35 adv. $40/gate (2-day, 4 person campsite)
Telephone /  Web Address: (888) 567-1567 or (608) 326-5117;
www.prairiedogblues.com
Artist Lineup: Friday night's headliner is Magic Slim, with Lamont Cranston, Sally Weisenburg & the Famous Sidemen, and Ross William Perry. Saturday's headliner is Otis Rush, with Kelley Hunt, Walter Trout & the Free Radicals, Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin' Altar Boys, Delta Drifters, Mama's Worry, and Kenning & Arvey
What to watch for: Magic Slim and Otis Rush alone are worth the two-day ticket; Trout's assertive guitar work won many fans (myself included) at Mississippi Valley earlier this month.

Festival: Chippewa Valley Blues Festival
Date(s): August 6 - 8
Location: Maple Manor Motel Festival Grounds, East Clairemont Ave. & Highway 53, Eau Claire, WI
Number of Years: Second Annual
Admission: Three Day Pass: $40 (advance); daily tickets $12/advance, $15/gate.
Telephone / Web Address: (715) 552-1998 or (715) 855-1440;
www.bis-net.net/cvblues/bluesfest
Artist Lineup: Friday's headliner is Carey Bell, preceded by Deborah Coleman, Big George Jackson, and DeBluesiac. Saturday's headliners are the Kinsey Report, preceded by Renee Austin, Skeeter Lewis, Sparky & the Wipers, the Ozone Rangers, the La Croix/Stanton Blues Band, C.C. Ryder, and DeBluesiac. Sunday wraps up with Lamont Cranston, with Howard "Guitar" Luedtke & Blue Max, Ronnie baker Brooks, UBX, and De Bluesiac.
What to watch for: There are some solid performers (Coleman, Bell, Brooks, and Luedtke) in what may be a pretty relaxed event. Not bad for the second year.

Festival: Bluesmore '99
Date(s): August 7
Location: Brucemore Mansion Grounds, First Avenue Lawn - downtown Cedar Rapids, IA
Admission: $8/advance, $10/gate
Telephone / Web Address: (319) 362-7375;
www.lcbs.org/pages/bluesmore99
Artist Lineup: Lonnie Brooks, Deborah Coleman, Shane Johnson's Blue Train.
What to watch for: Brooks delivered a knockout punch at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport earlier this month, and should be geared up for a return to the tall corn country. The festival is in the grounds of Brucemore Mansion, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site built in the mid-1880s.

Festival: Bayfront Blues Festival
Date(s): August 13 - 15
Location: Bayfront Festival Park, at S. Fifth Avenue West at Lake Superior, Duluth, MN
Number of Years: Fourteenth Annual
Admission: $50/three day advance passes; no at-gate ticket sales anticipated - admission is limited.
Telephone / E-mail / Web Address: (715) 394-6831 ext. 101; bayblufe@computerpro.com; www.bayfrontblues.com
Artist Lineup: Friday's headliner is still TBA, but the other solid performers include Joe Louis Walker, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, Tinsley Ellis, Hadden Sayers, Lazy Lester w/ Teddy Morgan, and the Delta Resonators. Saturday's headline performance is also a TBA; the performers with earlier shows include Tab Benoit, Beau Jocque & the Zydeco High Rollers, Mike Morgan & the Crawl, Shemekia Copeland, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, Big Walter Smith, and the Busters, Sunday wraps up with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, preceded by Chris Duarte, Earl Gaines and Roscoe Shelton, Rusty Zinn, Mick Sterling & the Stud Brothers, Shannon Curfman, and the Minneapolis Gospel Sound.
What to watch for: Big festival on the biggest of the Great Lakes. The performances bounce from stage to stage, with a short pause between each show. After hours, there's a Block Party with some of the festival artists ($5/night; with special guest Honeyboy Edwards on Friday night), or you can take a late night train ride or boat cruise with music (the Saturday night cruise includes Minneapolis rockabilly kings, Jack Knife & the Sharps). Lots to do in an incredibly scenic location.

Other Blues Festivals Ahead! These include the Madison Blues Festival and the Big Bull Falls Blues Festival in Wausau (both are on August 27th and 28th - don't do this to us next year, folks); the Berghoff Blues Festival in Monroe September 18, and the granddaddy of the Delta, the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, October 7-10. More in the next issue.