Story: The 2011 Tampa Bay Blues Fest hits the waterfront this weekend with Robert Cray Band, Trombone Shorty, James Hunter, Tab Benoit & the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, and many others!

Vinoy Park has served as the scenic waterside setting of innumerable festivals over the years and among its longer-lived ones is the Tampa Bay Blues Fest, a spring music tradition since 1995. Organizers of the 2011 edition are testing out a few fresh themes, the first represented in the “Best of the Fest” lineups on Friday and Saturday that feature performers who’ve appeared at TBBF over the last decade and were selected as favorites in an informal survey of local blues fans, musicians, promoters and other music scene folks. For Sunday’s festivities, the focus shifts to the Crescent City with a “Celebrate New Orleans” showcase that pays homage to NOLA musical traditions old, new and somewhere in between the two for what could turn out to be a truly magical Sunday staging culminating in an all-star jam headed by Tab Benoit himself.

This mini-guide features some fest highlights along with the complete fest schedule and info about related events and after-parties to help you navigate through the blues-saturated weekend.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

Janiva Magness [pictured right, photo by Jef Jaison] is only the second woman to ever win the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award. After the release of 2010’s The Devil Is An Angel Too – her ninth album and second on respected blues label Alligator Records – the LA-based R&B songstress is a nominee once again, not to mention a contender in three other categories as well with her potent, low-slung soul and hip-swiveling blues. Magness is a captivating performer known for electrifying live shows and powerhouse singer whose rich and resonant earthy-sultry vocals have earned her comparisons to anyone from Etta James to Janis Joplin. Her band includes multi-instrumentalist husband Jeff Turmes, who plays acoustic and electric bass and guitars, and baritone and tenor saxophones. (4:30 p.m.)

Full Friday schedule: Mike Zito (12:30 p.m.), Michael Burks (2:30 p.m.), Janiva Magness* (4:30 p.m.), Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers (6:30 p.m.), The Robert Cray Band (8:30 p.m.)

This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.