They've released the schedule for this year's Mississippi Valley Blues Festival which will be held this year at Le Claire Park in downtown Davenport, IA.
The headliners for this year's festival will be Mavis Staples on Friday, June 30; Dirty Dozen Brass Band on Saturday, July 1, and Delbert McClinton on Sunday, July 2.
The thing about it - I really don't want to see any of the headliners. Mavis Staples may be somewhat famous as part of the renown Staples Singers, but no thanks. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band? As a headliner for the Blues Fest? I guess I don't understand that one. Delbert McClinton I've seen three or four times. I don't really care to see him again.
Who I would like to see are Sonny Landreth, a great slide guitar player who has a somewhat successful solo career and who also plays with John Hiatt quite a bit. I saw Landreth once before at Summerfest in Milwaukee three or four years ago and he was just smoking.
Left to right - John Hiatt, B.B. King and Sonny Landreth
I'd also like to see James "Super Chikan" Johnson, a great Mississippi guitar player who I've heard play on CD, but I've never seen or heard in person. Kenny Neal is playing in the tent area with his brothers on Saturday - but at the same time as Sonny Landreth is playing at the band shell. Oh, man. That's going to be a tough choice.
Kelley Hunt, an up and coming blues pianist who grew up in Kansas City is playing on Sunday, as is the infamous Guitar Shorty. Hunt I'd like to see, but I've seen Guitar Shorty a couple times before. He's good, but nothing special to me.
Kelley Hunt
I still haven't see the full schedule as to who is playing at Summerfest, but they usually don't have those bands listed until May. When we used to go to Summerfest all the time, a lot of the headlining and secondary bands that would play at the Blues Fest in Davenport would usually play in Milwaukee, so we'd see a lot of the music up there that we would have seen in Davenport.
I don't know if we'll go up to Summerfest for a couple days or not - it depends on who will be there and when - and if Cindy want to go. But if we don't go that weekend, we'll probably hang around Davenport and hit a night or two of the Blues Fest.
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