"The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society (PBPS)
is excited to announce the line up of outstanding artists who will appear at
the 29th Annual Carolina
Blues Festival in association with YES! Weekly. The all-day
event is being held under the big tent at Barber Park Amphitheater, 1500
Dans Road, Greensboro, NC, May 16, 2015.
We are also developing associated blues events during the week before the
Carolina Blues Festival and have many shows on schedule for the week of May 9
through May 16.
Shemekia Copeland - While only in her early
30s, two-time GRAMMY® nominee Shemekia Copeland is already a force
to be reckoned with in the blues. She’s opened for the Rolling Stones,
headlined at the Chicago Blues Festival and numerous festivals around the
world, scored critics choice awards on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times and The Times of London), shared the stage
with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Mick Jagger, and Eric Clapton,
and has even performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. Heir to
the rich tradition of soul-drenched divas like Ruth Brown, Etta James and Koko
Taylor, the singer was presented with Taylor’s crown by her daughter, Cookie,
on June 12, 2011 at the Chicago Blues Festival and given the honor of the new
“Queen of the Blues” by official proclamation of the City of Chicago and the
State of Illinois.
Copeland’s passion for singing, matched with her
huge, blast-furnace voice, gives her music a timeless power and a
heart-pounding urgency. Her music comes from deep within her soul and from the
streets where she grew up, surrounded by the everyday sounds of the city –
street performers, gospel singers, blasting radios, bands in local parks and so
much more.
Devon Allman - The dirty blond hair is the same, the body
posture is also the same, and there are touches in the voice that have a
similar genetic connection, but Devon Allman has toiled long and hard to
establish his own musical identity, separate from his mega-famous dad, Gregg
Allman. In fact, Allman, who was raised by his mom (Shelly, not Cher) in Texas,
took up the guitar on his own, and did not meet his father until he was 15
years old.
I was 15, and I sent him a really short letter
saying, "Hey, it’s me. Here's where
I'm at. I'm playing guitar. I got a
phone call three days later," says
Allman. Growing up with his mom, Devon was listening to anything on the radio
he could find. Often it was the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix. My earliest years and can remember listening
to music at the age of four or five. Something would come on the radio and I
would always ask my mom who it was. She would say, "That's John Lennon or
that's Styx." One time Midnight Rider came on, and I asked her, "Mom who s
that?” and she said “That’s your
dad."
This young Allman did not come on the music
scene riding the coattails of a famous parent. Allman has been living his own
musical life for decades. After playing in local bands and working in Guitar
Center in St. Louis, Allman formed Honey Tribe in 1999. One part blues, one
part rock, and one part jam, Honey Tribe was named the 1999 Jam Band of the
Year in St. Louis.
Larry McCray - Larry McCray is one of a handful of talented
young blues performers leading the genre across boundaries and into the new
century. McCray's savage blues-rock guitar and warm, soulful vocals have drawn
attention worldwide.
McCray's hard work paid off when he became the
first artist signed by Virgin Records' blues division - Pointblank Records. In
1990, they released his debut, "Ambition," which was well received by
the U.S. and European press.
1993 saw the release of McCray's second album,
Delta Hurricane, which was recorded in Memphis with the notoriously funky
Uptown Horns. The guitarist's gut wrenching rendition of Warren Haynes' power
ballad, "Soul Shine," opened many ears to McCray's talent and
diversity.
In 1998, Born To Play The Blues moved the story
of McCray's broadly appealing music forward another giant step. Bold, brawny,
often dazzling guitar lines are matched with confident, soul-drenched vocals.
Understated funk rhythms and crunchy rock riffs meet searing slow blues and
booty-bumping shuffles.
Roy Roberts – Roy Roberts became hooked on music while
growing up in a small town in Tennessee, listening to blues and R&B on
radio stations WLAC out of Nashville. Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to
Do” was the clincher and at the age of 14, Roy worked on a nearby farm to earn
the money for his first guitar, a mail order Sears Silvertone.
When he turned 18, he moved to Greensboro, North
Carolina to live with an uncle. There he had another inspiration to become a
professional musician, when he and a carload of friends happened upon a
nightclub where Jerry Butler was performing and making quite an impression on
the ladies. Roy sharpened his skills while playing in makeshift bands until he
landed a job with local hero Guitar Kimbers’ Untouchables. Before long, Roy was
backing up major artists who came through town. One of those artists, Solomon
Burke, took young Roy under his wing after letting him sit in as a bass player
during a local gig. He was soon handling the guitar chores behind the future
soul legend on tour. Roberts subsequently picked up touring gigs with such
luminaries as Eddie Floyd, “Little” Stevie Wonder, Dee Clark, and Otis Redding,
while fronting his own band, The Roy Roberts Experience, on the regional club
scene and Southeastern beach town circuit.
Roy began to cut records in the mid-sixties, staying
mostly behind the scenes as a session man. The tragic death of Otis Redding
inspired him to step up to the microphone with a song dedicated to the late
crooner. The record was released on Nina Simone’s NinaAndy label and backed by
an ace studio band. Roy followed this successful effort with a string of 45’s
that carried him well into the seventies. During the disco years, Roy turned
his talents to country music, touring with the great O.B. McClinton and
releasing a number of country records. After a brief hiatus from the music
scene, he heard a young Robert Cray singing the blues on the radio. “That cat’s
got my style,” he declared, and got the blues fever once again. Besides
recording his own material on Rock House, Roberts has produced albums for the
label by Priscilla Price, Lou Pride, Chick Willis, Skeeter Brandon, Floyd
Miles, Eddie Floyd, and many more. Roy continues to record and produce records
for his label, and tours the U.S. and Europe regularly. After receiving
numerous awards, Roy has earned his place among the finest artists playing
blues today.
The Bush League - The Bush League was
founded on a front porch in 2007 not too far outside Richmond, Virginia, by
dynamic vocalist JohnJason “JohnJay” Cecil and the heartbeat of the band,
self-taught bassist Royce Folks. They are joined by Michael Burgess and Brad
Moss on guitar with Wynton Davis keeping time on drums. The Bush League has
sported many faces and played many different styles of music but the unifying
force is the collective love of the Blues, particularly the soulful groovin’
Hill Country Blues of North Mississippi. Taking that Hill Country base and
drawing upon individual influences of rock, soul, funk, and gospel The Bush
League meshes those genres to create their own sound that pays homage to
traditional blues but with a modern feel. Fat Possum Records’ “You Better Run:
The Essential Junior Kimbrough” was the band’s first exposure to Hill Country
Blues and heavily influenced The Bush League’s first original song, “Don’t
Touch My Liquor”
Over the years, The Bush League has been playing
the Blues and paying its dues on the 21st century version of the “Chitlin’
Circuit”, playing bars, restaurants, private parties, wineries, weddings, in
front of the bathroom at the VA State Fair, and various festivals throughout
the Mid-Atlantic. For 156 straight weekends, The Bush League played anywhere
that would book them, seeing these gigs as opportunities to further hone and
evolve their signature sound as well as introduce the world to a version of
blues that many had never heard.
Peter May - Peter May, the son of a Dixieland-style,
trumpet-blaring preacher and a hymn-singing, piano-playing teacher, plays
original and classic blues, and gospel.
Emphasis is on his North Carolina Piedmont style. Trips to the Delta literally and
metaphorically, infuse his personal style with an edge of raw desolation. His
classically trained hands mete out precise fingerstyle blues, while his voice
belts out something between a holler and a howl.
The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society also announces partnership with The
Healing Blues Project and the Interactive Resource Center.
In December of 2013 Social Practice Artist and assistant professor of art at Greensboro College Ted Efremoff received an email from Open Art Society soliciting proposals for an art installation in Greensboro NC storefronts based on the theme of “Blues”. These installations were meant to promote the annual Carolina Blues Festival held each May by the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society in Greensboro, NC.
In conceptualizing
the project Efremoff became interested in identifying those people in
Greensboro NC who were indeed experiencing the Blues. He became interested in
pairing people experiencing homelessness, PTSD, abuse, and other trauma with
local Blues Musicians who would work with them to create songs.
Efremoff pitched the
idea to David Fox – a professor of music at Greensboro College and a prolific
performer, composer, and bandleader with a wide range of experience in
producing and promoting American Music. Efremoff and Fox created a proposal
that was accepted by the Open Art Society.
Fox reached out to the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society to both pitch
the Healing Blues Project to us and see if we could assist in providing names
of songwriting musicians that might be interested in donating their time and talents
to the project. Fox began to contact this extensive network of Piedmont, NC
musicians in order to create songs. Early in the process Fox and Efremoff
decided to pair up “storytellers” with “songwriters” and to copyright the
collaborative songs in both parties names. They determined to create a Healing
Blues CD that would feature the songs.
Since it’s inception last
Spring, The Healing Blues project has continued to proliferate. After creating
15 songs from the lives of storytellers experiencing homelessness, the
musicians went into the studio to record and compile these works to CD. After paying the storyteller, all proceeds
raised by the sale of the CDs and Healing Blues tee shirts have been donated to
the Interactive Resource Center, now at well over $10,000. This project is
planning to go into Volume 2 of The Healing Blues to continue the momentum of
Volume 1 and to continue to bring awareness to the plight of the homeless
population.
The Piedmont Blues
Preservation Society has been involved with the Healing Blues project since
last year’s cold February days. PBPS has been involved on several levels with
the The Healing Blues project and are announcing our partnership with The
Healing Blues and Interactive Resource Center as we are “Shining the light on
homelessness and the work of the
Interactive Resource Center through the Healing Blues Project.”
For more information
about “POP: Downtown Greensboro”: http://bit.ly/1hEAPh8
The Healing Blues
Project: http://thehealingblues.org
To listen to samples
or Buy the CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thehealingblues
Interactive Resource
Center: http://gsodaycenter.org
For Carolina Blues
Festival tickets or festival updates, go to: http://fest.piedmontblues.org
About the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society
From our love of music and our belief that music is best
shared in a community, came the founding of the Piedmont Blues Preservation
Society in 1985. Our non-profit organization works to cultivate and preserve
the tradition of blues music. Our mission is to help the youth of our community
discover the wonder and joy of music by raising awareness and providing music
education to our community."
- A Press Release
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