Appearing June 16th Will Be...

At 12 noon - doing a 1 hour set:

 

For more information go to: www.cdbaby.com/ garrycogdell or www.digistation.co "In the early nineties Garry was fronting the band ‘The Hambone Sweets’ and during that time they released a very fine album of originals and covers entitled “Bury the Bone” and sadly since then he has only sporadically released a small number of high quality CD e.p.’s. This time around his new album contains wholly original material. The fourteen numbers on the album are in fact a retrospective of seventeen years of writing, recording, producing and ultimately performing. A common thread running through the album is the thoughtfully intricate mixture of Mississippi hill- country, down-home and delta blues, of which Garry has over the years been playing, crafting and continuously honing with a passion. He and his music have now, finally evolved together into a rich tapestry of highly evocative acoustic, electric and steel picking for the twenty-first century; whether the message in the music focuses on everyday humdrum activities or political and ecological issues, the music is always fresh and invigorating. With the passing of years Garry’s voice has slowly evolved into a warmly rich and extremely mellow timbre; which perfectly compliments his exquisitely inventive playing. Whilst still in his teens Garry watched transfixed a performance given by the legendary ‘Sleep ‘John Estes and after that performance Garry hoped that with practice, one day he might be as good. Well, I think that one can now say that he is definitely on his way. A very fine album indeed."  ~Brian Harman

         




          Garry's singing and guitar playing draw deeply from the music of the Mississippi Delta, Chicago, Texas and sometimes even London, England in the 60's. His masterful slide guitar, fluid, flat and finger picking in the hammer-stroke style in several guitar tunings confirm his depth of knowledge and understanding of the subtleties and strengths of the best of the Blues guitarists. Commenting on Garry's playing; Philadelphia's Jerry Ricks said, "He's so good it's scary." Garry has opened the show for Jimmy "Fast Fingers" Dawkins, Muddy Waters, Noble "Thin Man" Watts, George Thorogood, John Hammond, Satan & Adam, Sapphire and many more. 
          "The Sessions" which occur monthly at the St. Georges Country Store are the brainchild of Bluesman Garry Cogdell. Here he creates a Delta Blues experience rarely duplicated outside the French Quarter of New Orleans. The vibes that reverberate to all who listen leave little doubt that Garry loves the originality and authenticity of the Delta Blues greats that came before him. "The Sessions" dispels any thought that Delta Blues is a dying art form. Garry Cogdell's original tunes would make the patriarchs of this art form proud. The format of 'The Sessions' first allows the audience to immerse themselves in an acoustic set of Cogdell's exceptional Delta Blues music, displaying his virtuoso as a vocalist and hammer stroke style guitarist . His original songs intuitively encompass all the hallmarks of those who inspired him. The Sessions then transition into an evening of Cogdell combining his talent with the many notable musicians that share his love of blues from the Delta. The result is a communion of sorts; where the musicians’ love of this music style blends with the listener’s joy of witnessing the extraordinary event called ‘The Session.s.
          Regionally, the Cafe at the Saint Georges Country Store has gained a distinctive
reputation. It not only strikes patrons as being a quirky, quaint, New Orleans style bar and restaurant but a listening room that caters to the serious music lover. Garry Cogdell is the personality that has made it so.

          Click the picture above for Garry's website.

At 1:15 - doing a 1 hour set:

         

with Special Guest Johnny Neel Johnny Neel is a Grammy award nominee recognized in the music world for his work with the Allman Brothers, Lonnie Mack and Gov't Mule, among others. In addition to his soulful vocals, harp, piano and B-3 proficiency, Johnny is an accomplished songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by the likes of the Allman Brothers, Joe Louis Walker, John Mayall, Irma Thomas, Ann Peebles, Marie Osmond, the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt. Born and Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Johnny Neel cut his first single at the age of twelve, as Johnny Neel and The Shapes Of Soul. As an adult, the Johnny Neel Band had a strong following up and down the East Coast and released two well-received independent albums. Neel moved to Nashville, the premiere song writing city, in 1984, where he immediately became recognized as an "A" session studio player. Others began to notice Neel’s songwriting talent and decided to take advantage by recording his songs on their albums. Performing with various bands in area clubs drew the attention of former Nashville resident Dickey Betts, who asked Neel to join his road band, and begin working on Dickey's solo LP for Epic Records. That relationship led to seven cuts on the "Pattern Disruptive" LP including the Top 10 AOR hit, "Rock Bottom." Neel's talented keyboard and harp playing on that album convinced Gregg Allman to ask Neel to tour with his road band. More recently, some of Neel penned songs have been recorded by Travis Tritt, Montgomery Gentry and Delbert Mc Clinton.  As a man with boundless energy, Neel still manages to juggle studio work, local club gigs, road work and hit song writing, and somehow between the chaos maintains his sanity. “They say that you can’t do it all; Hell, I’m trying to prove ‘em wrong.”

       Lower Case Blues is a power trio originating from Newark, Delaware. The band has been together for seven years and features Jake Banaszak (lead guitar), B.J. Muntz (bass and vocals), and Rick Webster (drums).

          Lower Case Blues has many influences ranging from blues greats like Buddy Guy, Tinsley Ellis, SRV, Albert Collins, Big Joe Turner, and Muddy Waters to others such as Bootsy Collins, The Allman Bros., Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and Victor Wooten. LCB focuses on playing original music with a reasonable amount of covers thrown into the mix to pay tribute to there inspirations. The band always plays with feeling and improvisation… you’ll never hear a song played the same way twice.

          Some of LCB’s accomplishments include…

-Was selected "Best Band in Delaware in 2009" ... Delaware Today Magazine
-Opened for acts such as Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, .38 Special, John Corbett, Michael Burks, The Junco Pardners, Los Lonely Boys, Jakob Dylan, and Robert Randolph..
-Backed up funk guitar great - Leo Nocentelli (The Meters) @ Dogfish Head Brewery in 2010
-Was accepted into the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in 2008.
-Was voted Best Blues Band in Delaware by Out ‘n’ About Magazine.
-Won award for Best Americana Band in April 2007 at the Delaware Music Festival.
-Won “Battle of the Blues” for local radio station 98.5 Big Classic Rock.
-Recorded and performed with producer and keyboardist Johnny Neel (formerly of the Allman Bros.)

Johnny Neel will be appearing with lcb as their special guest at this event!
          Click picture above for lower case blues website.

 

At 2:30 - doing a 1 hour set:

WINNER OF JSJBF BEST SELF PRODUCED BLUES CD 2008. Dave Fields' Time's a Wastin' CD will electrify you with his high energy brand of New York City blues. Fields delivers a riveting performance combining explosive guitar playing, a voice as smooth as silk and songs that will keep you coming back for more! "Dave Fields new album is filled with mostly upbeat, uptempo original songs and hot driving guitar playing. This is Dave's third CD, released last year. It is available on CD baby along with his second CD (which was released in 2007). If you want to hear a rocking bluesman who is an ultimate professional that can also win you over with his shuffling laid back stuff, go get this CD. I did and I am glad I did!" Steve Jones Crossroads Blues Society

At 3:45 - doing a 75 minute set:

The debut solo CD of Memphis vocalist and harmonica player Brandon Santini is Songs of Love, Money and Misery. Former frontman of the Blues Music Award nominated band Delta Highway, Brandon has produced a CD with a vintage sound that takes the blues to a further place. This long awaited and highly anticipated debut album by Santini features eleven smoking tunes that take the listener on a journey down a weaving blues highway with hard driving, electric blues, funk and jazz! There was no better title for this review than Santini’s own actual album title to encapsulate a luscious and lively new blues record. Love, money and misery: it’s everything that makes our musical world go round and Santini’s got all three on his new 11-track record. But Santini plays his own kind of southern blues. It’s not the melancholic yearning that comes from Louisiana, it’s not the down ‘n dirty sound that Georgia or the Carolinas might provide. Santini’s harp playing makes it a blues as bright and vibrant as Beale Street itself is on a sultry Saturday night. As his website will tell you: "With tasteful speed and licks, he combines his respect to traditional blues with a present colorful style of playing."

  

 

 

 

 

          There are many different opinions as to what the future of blues harmonica will be. Memphis based Brandon Santini is undeniably a worthy player to keep an eye on as the next decade unfolds. His name is worthy of conversations that involve Jason Ricci, Billy Gibson, Dennis Gruenling, Rick Estrin and other frontline harmonica players that have become part of a new wave in the blues world. With tasteful speed and licks, he combines his respect to traditional blues with a present colorful style of playing. Raised in North Carolina, Brandon relocated to Memphis in 2003 where he began to absorb the sounds and culture of the Delta, honing his craft night after night, sweating it out in local Beale Street clubs just like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, & B.B. King. 
          For seven years, Brandon fronted the Blues Music Award nominated band Delta Highway and has toured relentlessly throughout North America and has visited seven foreign countries (including a 2009 Bluzapalooza tour to Cairo, Egypt) bringing his distinct voice and playing style to music lovers everywhere throughout the world!
          Click picture above for the Brandon Santini website.

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At 5:15 - doing a 75 minute set:

Here’s a cool album from a guitarist who arrived at the blues in a most unusual way. The California-born, Arkansas-raised JP Soars – a resident of South Florida since 1985 – spent years touring in heavy metal bands, and now, as well as his love for the blues plays the ‘gypsy jazz’ material of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli. Soars had success in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2007, backing Dave Shelley, and this year his own band, The Red Hots, took home some top honours, with him winning the Albert Kings Blues Guitar award – confirmation of his rising stock as a bona-fide bluesman. This 12-track debut album, “Back Of My Mind”, features a mix of original self-penned songs and some copper-bottomed blues classics, with Soars gravelly voice and fine guitar being backed by a most sympathetic band – with the ‘ace in the pack’ being the marvellous saxophone of Terry Hanck, who excels throughout. Mention must also go to Billy Burns tough harmonica on some tracks. ~GRAHAME RHODES

          Fiery guitarist J.P. Soars and his swinging band the Red Hots took first place in the 25th annual International Blues Challenge, held in Memphis in January 2009, beating out over 160 other contestants from around the world. Soars also individually won the event's Albert King Award, which established him as the best guitar player in the competition. They've recently released their own self-produced album, Back Of My Mind, which features plenty of Soars' incendiary fretwork on a mix of original tunes and inspired covers. Until they secure a label deal, J.P. Soars & the Red Hots remain the best unsigned band in the blues.
          Soars is clearly a talented young bluesman with a feel for a variety of blues styles, and has put together an album that showcases many skills -- songwriting, arranging, guitar playing (he also won the Albert King Award for best guitarist, and that shows off nicely here).The CD is "Back of My Mind," and it's a fine showcase for Soars' multiple skills. "Call My Baby." It's original, but could just as easily have been written by Willie Dixon. I like this guy a lot. His vocals have a gritty feel, and both his covers and originals show a strong sense of where the blues have been, and maybe where they're going. As the Albert King Award indicates, he's a strong, tough guitar player with great chops. Give him a listen. I think you'll like what you hear.
          His debut release, Back of My Mind, focuses on the blues, and it’s a keeper. Soars’ guitar work is dynamite and his gravelly vocals suit his material well. From the sound of things, Soars has a bright future that might not necessarily be limited to the blues side of things.  He’s a very versatile guitarist who is well-versed in several different genres. Back of My Mind is a remarkable first release that blues fans need to check out. 
          Click picture above for the JP Soars website.

Headliner At 6:45 - doing a 90 minute set:

Bernard Allison: HIStory

     Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues. Born in Chicago on November 26th, 1965, the youngest of nine children Bernard was first introduced to the roots of black music and the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late great Luther Allison. Like Ken Griffey Jr. hanging out in baseball locker rooms as a youth, Luther’s son was the kid running on-stage throughout the band’s set. Experiences like that profoundly effect one’s aspirations. “That’s when I decided I wanted to be up there like him. I think I was seven.”
     “I didn’t start to play ‘til I was maybe 10 years of age” Bernard recalled “I picked up the guitar and listened to his records.” While Luther was absent, his record collection played a major role in shaping the son’s direction. Bernard listened to his dad’s influences like Magic Sam, Otis Rush, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and B.B. King. He also got into the next generation that followed, people like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, and Jimi Hendrix.
     Bernard made his first appearance on record at age 13, when he played on a live LP his father recorded in Peoria, IL. “When we moved to Peoria, Dad came home preparing to do his live album in Peoria, I hooked up the amplifier and guitar in the basement and started playing his first record, Love Me Mama, note for note. He freaked out and said tonight you’re gonna record with me. That was my first recording. I played “You Don’t Love Me Know More” and “Sweet Home Chicago.”
     Luther brought Bernard my first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, and told him to first get an education. At 18, Bernard joined his father on-stage at the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival. Then, one week he graduated from high school, Bernard got a call from Koko Taylor asking to be her lead guitar player.
     He joined Koko Taylor’s Blues Machine for three years. “Koko and Pops Taylor taught mew the do’s and don’t’s of the road. Bein’ really careful and watching people. They were like my mom and pops. It was a great education, I was able to tour the world and see different cultures. We backed Willie Dixon, Koko was the only group I played in besides my father.”
     The 1980’s became Bernard’s classroom as both learner and teacher. Relationships in the 80’s with Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan expanded Bernard’s guitar foundation. For a year and a half, Bernard lived and played in London, Ontario. Then, in 1989, Bernard flew to Europe to record with his father, was asked to lead the band, and, like his father, adopted permanent residence in Europe. A recording of the furious collaboration between Luther and Bernard at the 1989 Chicago Blues Festival can be heard on the Luther Allison album Let’s Try It Again, on RUF Records.
     One year later, Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title The Next Generation. Allison followed that in 1993 with Hang On, then Funkifino, No Mercy. Bernard’s other titles during the 1990’s included Born With The Blues, Keepin' The Blues Alive, and Times Are Changing. In the new millennium, Bernard’s recordings  include Across The Water, Storms Of Life, Kentucky Fried Blues, the highly personal Higher Power, and Energized, a live recording and DVD from a 2005 show. 
     One look at that DVD and it’s obvious that Bernard has inherited Luther's knack for igniting audiences; but he's no clone of his famous father. He is definitely blazing his own path with a style that reflects a unique mix of traditional and modern influences. The Allison torch has been passed, and it's clear that Bernard takes his role as its bearer very seriously. He's assumed the challenge of keeping the blues alive and growing - a commitment he renews every time he takes the stage.
     “I’m gonna try my best to pick up where he left off, but I can’t be Luther Allison, I can only be myself. In the beginning everyone expects me to be exactly like him, but we are two different musicians.”
     As a true “son of the blues,” Bernard possesses the requisite guitar feel and vocal intonations necessary to push his blues into the next century. He knows the energy level necessary to hold audiences and combines a enough showmanship and spontaneity to push the performance in fresh, innovative directions each night.
     “In order for anything to expand, you have to take a risk,” says Bernard. “Blues is about experimenting and getting your feelings across to someone else. And if you want to keep it going, people are going to have to give it all a chance because we’re losing all our creators. Because I’ve been taking risks on every album I’ve recorded, this record is just a logical progression from everything else I’ve done. Instead of playing rippin’ 12 bar blues guitar over and over, there are bluesy songs, soul, funk, R&B songs and a couple of rock things which shows the overall musicianship of Bernard Allison.”
     That musicianship is no clearer than on his current record, Chills And Thrills. After 17 years of recording experience, Bernard has perfected his sound. Instead of just using his guitar, Bernard has become mature the artist who uses the full palate of musical colors in his band to paint his stories.
     If there ever was a CD for all occasions, this is it. It’s got the chill songs to curl up with on a rainy day, or the thrill music you’ll blast when you’re driving late at night. By adding the rhythm guitar of Bernard’s guitar soulmate Eric Gales, every song explodes into a guitar player's head trip. The title cut opens the record with Bernard’s trademark funk meets blues sound. that signature sound permeates other tunes like  “Compromising For Your Need,” “Heart of St. Paul,” and “Groove With Me,” Bernard’s treatise on the modernesque blues he’ll continue to play around the world. But Bernard’s got so much more. On “So Devine” Bruce McCabe’s piano and Jose James’ alto sax steals the show. On “Just Me And My Guitar,” Bernard shows off the frantic slide techniques he learned in the 1980’s from Johnny Winter. For slow  blues, Bernard and pianist Rusty Hall turn in a first rate guitar and piano performance on “That’s Why I’m Crying.”  But any fan of Bernard Allison knows that every show or record comes with one of his father’s songs. Here, Bernard reprises Luther’s 1980’s tune “Serious,” played with Bernard’s errie, Luther-like vocal attack. In addition, Bernard strips “Serious” down to just piano and guitar in his after hours styled closer.
     Amid all the daily pop culture pressures to be the next American Idol why does Bernard stay rooted in the blues? “The blues is my roots. Regardless of how far outside of the blues I reach for tones, I can’t ever leave the blues. Whenever I play, all those guitar parts are Luther Allison coming through me. My dad was the same way, he wasn’t all blues. He loved Otis Redding or Chuck Berry. I’m just showing where my influences come from. And respecting the people who got me to this point.”

Tickets:  $25 in Advance -- $35 Day of Festival
(Click to order Tickets Online)

The Following Organizations are Sponsors of this Event:

 



 

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