There are many shades of the blues. The modern festival circuit has become a blue rainbow that showcases the music's many hues. Purists may cry foul, but, fact is, there aren't that many legends living anymore, so the blues scene has become bogged down with a plethora of Stratocaster-slinging fellas who rehash the same shuffle grooves and licks lifted from Stevie Ray Vaughan. They have strayed from the music's essence.
Smartly, festival organizers tend to view their events as ways to showcase a variety of acts that have blues as their base — which, of course, leaves a whole lot of stylistic room, seeing as most American popular music is rooted in the blues.
The Tampa Bay Blues Festival is getting in step with this eclectic approach — for the better. In its early years, the event relied a bit too much on an array of post-Chicago six-string stylists, which rendered the programming more homogenous than necessary. This year, the seventh, finds the producers continuing to stretch out, adding a touch of zydeco (Chubby Carrier), a woman singer/pianist (Marcia Ball), a dash of multicultural exoticism (the native American band Indigenous) and — ta-da — Los Lobos, one of the best and most stylistically far-flung rock bands ever.
Set up the event in a field on the St. Petersburg waterfront, slather it all with Florida sunshine, shuttle the acts efficiently on and off the stage — as has been this festival's wont — and you've got quite the weekend pastime, one that will appeal far beyond the cult of blues fiends.
While the Tampa Bay Blues Festival is a terrific party and an effective way to inadvertently pick up a tan, it's still the music that carries the days. The performers, each in their own way, represent the wellspring of American music. But hey, this ain't no history lesson. Time to holler. Time to sway. Time to jump. Time to shake ya ass.
FRIDAY
T.C. Carr & the Catch, 4-5 p.m. In its relatively short history, the blues fest has forged a tradition of showcasing Bay area acts in early time slots. T.C. Carr is a good catch. The ace harp player and his band mix rock, soul and backstreet blues. The top flight ensemble also includes guitarist Lenny Austin, bassist Steve Vitale and drummer Bryan Austin. T.C. and the Catch have been recording with vaunted Memphis producer Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, Tower of Power) for their next studio album, scheduled for a September release.
Chubby Carrier, 5-6 p.m. — In a 2001 fest that boasts its share of variety, Carrier (along with Los Lobos) is the act that strays furthest from pure blues. To be sure, zydeco — the rollicking dance music of southwestern Louisiana — is blues based, but it also incorporates pell-mell polka rhythms, waltzes and such, as well as a lot of French lyrics. And the lead instrument is the accordion, either the smallish button version or the larger piano accordion, which Carrier favors. Carrier is a third-generation zydeco musician. "My grandfather played, my dad played ," he has said. "That's all we do. If you gave me a damn hammer, I wouldn't know what to do with it."
Little Charlie and the Nightcats, 6:30-8 p.m. — This could be the party act of the fest. It's been 25 years since guitarist Little Charlie Baty hooked up with vocalist/harmonica man/songwriter Rick Estrin and blended jump blues and swing jazz with Chicago blues, R&B and rockabilly. They're joined by Ronnie James Weber on stand-up bass and drummer June Core, forming a lean, hard-hitting combo. Playboy once gushed, "This California boogie band rocks the house as if (jump-blues king) Louis Jordan were still on the hit parade. They will startle cynics convinced the white blues circuit is a refuge for know-nothings."
Los Lobos, 8:30-10 p.m. — See main story.
SATURDAY
Rock 'n' Chair Band, 12-12:45 — Fronted by singer/guitarist Paul Purcell, who's been wheelchair-bound since a 1980 car accident (hence the name), Rock 'n' Chair plays blues-funk. Heavy on the percussion and backbeat, with the occasional Latin tinge, the quintet also includes keyboardist Ron Scrimo, drummer Calvin Cratic, bassist John Shinn and percussionist Rikki Hanson. Together about two years, Rock 'n' Chair includes members who have played together in different groups for as long as 15 years. They blend covers and originals.
Indigenous, 1-2 p.m. — Three Sioux siblings and a cousin — all from the tiny reservation town of Marty, South Dakota, — make up Indigenous, a blues-rock juggernaut that has drawn critical raves. As kids, the foursome discovered their dad's musical equipment and treasure trove of records by the likes of Hendrix, Santana, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. Mato Nanji fronts the band with his lauded guitar prowess. "Early on, there was Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton," wrote the San Francisco Examiner in '98. "Then later, Carlos Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Here's a new name to throw on the blues-rock altar: Mato Nanji."
Joe Louis Walker, 2:30-4 p.m. — As a 19-year-old, Walker roomed with Mike Bloomfield in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Instead of becoming ensconced in hippiedom, Walker picked up slide playing from Bloomfield, and in '69 lit out for Chicago to audition with Otis Rush. He didn't get the gig. A bout of self-destructiveness led Walker back to the church in '75, and he stayed with The Spiritual Corinthians for a decade. Returning to the secular world, he bagged W.C. Handy Awards for best contemporary blues artist in 1988, '89 and '90. He signed with Verve in '92 and has unleashed a string of revered albums with such guests as Branford Marsalis, Steve Cropper, Ike Turner, Buddy Guy, Gatemouth Brown, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and others.
Marcia Ball, 4:30-6 p.m. — She's the leggy chanteuse of Gulf Coast rhythm & blues, an estimable singer and pianist who's regarded as one of the top entertainers on the blues circuit. Ball grew up in Texas near the Louisiana border, where the culture stirs a heady brew of country, blues, gospel, New Orleans second line, Cajun, zydeco, rockabilly and swamp-pop. Ball absorbed it all and began her career in Austin as part of a nascent progressive country scene. After a late '70s album on Capitol stiffed, she signed with Rounder, where she has released a string of successful R&B albums since the early '80s. On stage, she plays the quintessential red-hot mama, albeit with a touch of sultry class.
Walter Trout, 6:30-8 p.m. — The fireball guitarist culled a concert album from his Tampa Bay Blues Festival set last year, Live Trout (Ruf), which, of course, endeared him to the event organizers. As a kid trumpeter in Ocean City, New Jersey, Trout scored a backstage meeting with Duke Ellington, where the maestro and several of his famous band members talked to the youngster for a couple of hours about music and life. When Trout saw the Beatles at 13, he picked up acoustic guitar, then switched to electric after discovering Mike Bloomfield. From there, Trout landed gigs with John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Canned Heat, then launched a solo career.
Jonny Lang, 8:30-10 p.m. — He's the youngblood of the fest. Lang burst onto the scene in '97 as a 16-year-old guitar phenom with a maturity that belied his tender years. Since the get-go, he's straddled the rock-crossover fence, opening for Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and Blues Traveler. Lang grew up in anything but a blues hotbed: Castelton, North Dakota. He moved to Minneapolis, where he fronted a hot regional band, and was tabbed by A&M Records for his major label debut, Lie to Me. B.B. King once said, "Jonny Lang's 16, so he's got youth and talent with it. When I was young, I didn't play like I do today. So these kids are starting at the height that I've reached. Think what they might do over time."
SUNDAY
Backtrack Blues Band, 1-2 p.m. — It's been 21 years that the BBB has been house-rockin' the Bay area and beyond. The six-piece outfit clamps down on the Chi-town blues and then stretches into boogie and other realms. BBB has shared stages with B.B. King, SRV, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, Gregg Allman and many more. They've released three albums, the most recent of which, Boogie Shack, came out on Kingsnake in '95. Singer/harmonica man Chuck Ross, who's also the lead organizer of the blues fest, says, "We're basically a bunch of middle-aged guys who never knew when to quit."
Larry Garner, 2:30-4 p.m. — Not long ago, Living Blues magazine awarded Larry Garner, 48, its award for Bluesman Deserving of Wider Recognition. The singer/guitarist, who's also a formidable songwriter, has done 30 European tours, released six CDs. Living Blues stated in 1999, "Rooted in the Baton Rouge blues tradition … Garner has been able to incorporate influences from other genres into his music without compromising its identity as the blues. In the process he has created his own sound."
Lonnie Brooks, 4:30-6 p.m. — Louisiana-born, Texas-bred and Chicago-based, Lonnie Brooks has a booming voice and blistering guitar style, all with a larger-than-life aura symbolized by the hefty cowboy hat he wears on stage. After six-string stints with Sam Cooke and zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, he went solo in the late '60s with his stomping Texas blues sound. He has remained a solid draw on the blues trail ever since. A true road dog, he records infrequently.
Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, 6:30-8 p.m. — There is simply no one in the blues world with better harmonica chops than Rod Piazza. He's equally adept at the raw, crying sound of Chicago-style harp and the uptown, horn-like resonance of the bigger chromatic instrument. He and his Mighty Flyers won the Handy award for Blues Band of the Year in 1999 and 2000. Piazza started his career in the mid-'60s and, due to a brief illness, had to turn down a coveted slot in Muddy Waters' band. Rod's wife, Honey, handles keyboard duties in the group, bringing a blond vivaciousness to the stage as well as revving up the band's boogie quotient.
The Jeff Healey Band, 8:30-10 p.m. — In the late '80s, blind Canadian singer/guitarist Jeff Healey scored a couple of big hits with "Angel Eyes" and "Confidence Man." He wowed audiences with his fleet-fingered guitar prowess, and his unique approach of playing with the ax on his lap. He has not revisited the upper reaches of the charts since, returning to the scene in 2000 after a five-year absence. His latest album, Get Me Some, is more visceral and bluesy than his previous commercially oriented early work.
—Eric Snider
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2001.