The Chris Avey Band, 2 p.m.
The Mississippi Valley Blues Society is pleased to welcome the Quad Cities' own Chris Avey Band to this year's Blues Fest. Due to a scheduling conflict with a paid gig, the Chris Avey Band elected to enter (and won) the Des Moines preliminary round of the Iowa Blues Challenge, rather than the local round. A few weeks later, they were back in Des Moines for the finals, where they again came out on top against some heavy competition. That victory earned them an impressive prize package, including a slot in the IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, and the right to represent the state of Iowa in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next year.
Brothers Chris, on guitar, and Mark Avey, on bass, initially gained local notoriety years ago with the Twin Towers Band and their hard-rock alter ego, Blue Ash Ink. After playing locally for several years and two entries into the Iowa Blues Challenge, Chris relocated to Phoenix. While there, he took advantage of the thriving big-city blues and R&B scene to hone his chops. In addition to fronting his own band for a while, he played with several of the premier bands in Phoenix, including Southwestern blues icon Big Pete Pearson, who is also booked for the fest this year. Although there's no evidence that Chris sold his soul while he was down there, he returned after a few years with even more impressive licks than when he left.
Rounding out the lineup are Chris Ryan on harp and Bryan West on drums. Chris is a student and devotee of the West Coast sound of George "Harmonica" Smith and Rod Piazza, and Bryan has been a regular on the local blues scene with numerous bands over the years.
- Steve Pedigo
Alexis P. Suter, 4 p.m.
When
she takes the stage there's a change in the air as if something
explosive is about to happen. And then comes that voice!
Alexis P. Suter's voice is a force of nature. Thunder rumbles,
lightning bolts from the sky, sparks fly everywhere! Her
larger-than-life stage presence radiates with the power of a
white-hot supernova to the farthest niche of performance space. You
will be moved immediately, and you will be moving!
When she sings the blues, you know it's genuine; you know she's
been there.
Although her career is relatively new, Alexis has already toured nationally and internationally, including radio and television performances, and has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in blues. Born in Brooklyn, Alexis came from a strong musical background. Her mother was a music teacher and an accomplished singer who worked with notables such as Harry Belafonte, Mahalia Jackson, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Her mom would have Alexis sing in recitals and gospel plays, and it wasn't long before Alexis realized that it was music and sharing it with others that fed her soul.
She told BluesWax this year: "I started in church with my mom from age three on, and I've been at it ever since. Church played a very big role in my musical development, with a lot of hooping and hollering, then I did some house music, which is where I met our background singer Vicki Bell and our drummer Ray Grappone, so we've been together for a real long time now, except we are now doing the blues, a soul blues, and we are like family."
Alexis regularly performs live at the Levon Helm Midnight Ramble Sessions in Woodstock, New York. She has just released a CD/DVD package, Live at the Midnight Ramble.
- From the artist's Web site
John Nemeth with Junior Watson, 6 p.m.
A
critically acclaimed harmonica player, Nemeth is even better-known
for his soul-drenched vocals. He's got that classic sound of the
blues belters of the '40s and '50s, even though most of his
offerings are contemporary originals.
Nemeth's origins are an unlikely breeding ground for such an impressive blues talent. A native of Boise, Idaho, he grew up singing in a Catholic church and started playing in local bands as a teenager. In 2002, he became the featured artist in guitar-player Junior Watson's band, and he recorded his debut album Come & Get It with them in 2004.
The album received rave reviews. When Nemeth signed a recording agreement with Blind Pig Records in 2006, label head Jerry Del Giudice expressed "how impressed I was with John's performance the one time I got the chance to see him. In our nearly 30 years in the business, we have never before offered a new artist a recording contract on the strength of one performance."
Junior Watson, who's playing guitar with Nemeth, is a star in his own right. Watson is a consummate bluesman whose solos with their fluid phrasing run from West Coast and Texas to Chicago styles. Watson started playing professionally about 30 years ago, which would be around the time John Nemeth started walking. He was a founding member of California's Mighty Flyers with Rod Piazza, and then was with Canned Heat for 10 years and five albums. He went on to record with a pantheon of blues stars including Big Mama Thornton, Janiva Magness, Charlie Musselwhite, Snooky Pryor, Sonny Rhodes, Jimmy Rogers, George "Harmonica" Smith, Kid Ramos, and the Thunderbirds' Kim Wilson.
It only took two appearances at the local music venue Blueport Junction to convince the MVBS Entertainment Committee to book these guys for the 24th-annual IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. Catch their set and find out why.
- Steve Pedigo
Denise LaSalle, 8 p.m.
Denise LaSalle, the Queen of Soul Blues, was born on July 16, 1939, in LaFlore County, Mississippi, the youngest of eight children. When she was 14 she moved to Chicago and was determined to finish school. She began in her career by writing poems and manuscripts as a fiction writer. She also sang in her church choir for many years.
Denise LaSalle joined an all girl group called The Sacred Five, and they performed all over Chicago. During this time she held many different jobs: cake decorator, hostess, and dry cleaner. During the time she worked as a hostess at a local night club, she began giving her songs to the musicians, and one day a Chess executive listened to her songs and signed her. But they never recorded her. Meanwhile, Denise was sitting in with local musicians around the Chicago clubs. It was then that she began recording on her own label, Crajon Records.
LaSalle launched Tennessee's first African-American-owned and -operated radio station. WFKX-FM. Denise also founded the National Association for the Preservation of the Blues.
Her latest album is Pay Before You Pump, featuring the song "Mississippi Woman."
- Amanda Coulter
Tinsley Ellis, 10 p.m.
Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Tinsley Ellis is no stranger to the blues. His first release was Georgia Blue in 1988 on the Alligator label. Tinsley has also recorded for the Capicorn and Telarc record labels. He returned to the Alligator label with his first live album, titled Live Highwayman. His latest release is Moment of Truth.
Tinsley's guitar work can go from frenzied, blazing licks to soulful ballads. Born in Atlanta in 1957, Tinsley grew up in southern Florida and first played guitar at age eight. He found the blues almost immediately.
At age 14, Tinsley sat in the front row at a B.B. King concert, being totally mesmerized by B.B.'s playing. When B.B. broke a string, he changed it and handed the broken string to Tinsley. From that moment on, Tinsley's fate of playing the blues was sealed. He has now spent years of almost nonstop touring and has released a total of 10 albums. You don't want to miss this great artist.
Whether you're in the front row or a little farther back, I believe you will also be mesmerized by Tinsley's playing, just as he was as a young teenager at B.B. King's show.
And yes, Tinsley still has that string from B.B.
- Steve Heston
