28
Jun
2005
The Mercury Brothers - 2 p.m.
The Mercury Brothers are Memphis-bound in early 2006 to compete in the International Blues Challenge after winning the local blues challenge and the Iowa Blues Challenge. With Ric Burris as an excellent frontman, the Mercury Brothers bring their Chicago-style blues to the bandshell stage with many of their original songs.
Ric was born in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, but was raised in the Quad Cities and at 11, he taught himself harmonica. He has previously played with local bands such as Dead Beat Daddies, the Blue Fins, and Twin Towers. He's shared the stage with Ellis Kell and Coco Montoya. "I love what I do and want to devote my life to music," says Ric.
Wade Braggs is a very talented, soulful blues guitarist. Wade was born in East Moline and teaches guitar. Before the Mercury Brothers, this self-taught musician was previously with the band Hal Reed & Bad Luck and has played with big names such as Billy Branch, Little Jimmy Reed, Kinsey Report, and E.C. Scott.
Mark Avey is locally born and raised. He taught himself how to play guitar and has been playing the bass for the past six years. He is an extremely solid bass player who has played with local bands such as Blue Ash Ink, Twin Towers, and Illegal Alley. Mark has been on stage with many greats including Walter Trout, Bernard Allison, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and Corey Stevens.
Self-taught and versatile, drummer Daniel Rangel started playing at the young age of three and now plays music for a living. Daniel has played many years with his grandfather's and uncle's band, Los Mocambos. Daniel is a gifted drummer who has played with Smooth Groove, Bump City, Hal Reed & the Mob, John Resch & the Detroit Blues, and Claudie Smith, and he has toured with E.C. Scott. Daniel says, "All musicians influence me, but my biggest influence was my mom, Patty."
- Denise Schroeder
Nora Jean Bruso - 4 p.m.
What do you think when you hear someone say a singer is "the next queen of the blues"? You think "shameless hype," don't you? But what if Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry says it along with Jimmy Dawkins and the magazine Blues in Britain and Jeff Harris from (http://www.BadDogBlues.com) and Michael Cloeren, director of the Pocono Blues Festival? Then you start to pay attention when Koko Taylor says, "Nora Jean sounds just like I did when I was her age." Then you'll want to hear her and find out what all this hype is about. Go ahead, you won't be disappointed.
Nora Jean Bruso grew up with the blues as the daughter of sharecropper musicians on a plantation outside Greenwood, Mississippi. Nora Jean started singing in Chicago in 1976 and joined the Jimmy Dawkins band for a world tour. Since her family was more important than fame, she left the blues "fast lane" in 1991 to concentrate on raising her two sons.
Billy Flynn asked her to sing on a CD he was making in 2001, and when the recording session was over, she realized she had to return to the blues. She quickly accelerated back into the "fast lane." The Chicago Sun-Times called her performance at the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival "show-stopping."
I'm not into royalty, but I'm sure I'll be tipping my hat to the lady on the bandshell stage at 4 p.m., Saturday, July 2.
- Stan Furlong
Carl Weathersby - 6 p.m.
What do you like? Is it deep-down Mississippi delta blues, Memphis soul, or Chicago R&B? It doesn't matter. If you like any kind of blues, you should be at the bandshell at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 2.
Carl Weathersby was born in Mississippi and moved with his family to East Chicago, Indiana, when he was eight. Almost from the start, he learned the music from one of its masters. Here's how Carl recalls getting a guitar lesson from a diesel mechanic who was a friend of his father: "One day I was sitting there practicing with the record Crosscut Saw, playing it over and over. I said, 'Daddy, I got it,' and Albert was standing right over there. He told me, 'Boy, that's me on that record, and that ain't the way I played it,' and he showed me the right way to play it."
The mechanic was Albert King, and Carl learned so much that King hired Carl as his rhythm guitarist and took him on tour from 1979 to 1981. Carl Weathersby later was a guitarist and songwriter for several other bands, including Little Milton and Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues.
Carl received nominations for four W.C. Handy awards and three Living Blues magazine honors. The eclectic nature of his performances is explained by his statement, "The blues has got to change, or it is going to die." As long as there are musicians like Carl Weathersby around, the blues will be very healthy.
- Stan Furlong
Mel Waiters - 8 p.m.
R&B singer Mel Waiters was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where he cut his musical teeth in the church. In 1974, he began his performing career at local teen clubs; after a stint as a radio DJ, he was awarded a government contract to entertain at military bases across the Southwest. Mel is one of today's most electrifying performers. His vocal style is classic soul.
Mel made his debut with I'm Serious in 1995, notching a hit in '96 with the single "Hit It & Quit It," and quickly followed up with Suki-Suki Man in 1997. Upon signing with Malaco/Waldoxy, Waiters released Woman in Need in late '97, notching another hit single, "Sex or Make Love," in '98. Material Things followed in '99, with yet another hit single, "Hole in The Wall," released in 2000. He followed that with I Want the Best. Mel then released Let Me Show You How to Love in 2001. His newest release in '03, A Night Out, has been hailed as the most outstanding CD of his career.
With seven CDs and three hit singles, Mel Waiters is an icon of the blues, a true bluesman of the South.
- Phil Koehlhoeffer
Marcia Ball - 10 p.m.
Marcia Ball was born March 20, 1949, in Orange, Texas, but grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, just across the border. Vinton is squarely in the heart of "the Texas triangle," an area that has produced some of the country's blues greats, including Janis Joplin, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Clifton Chenier.
Marcia entered Louisiana State University in the late '60s with English being her major. During her time there she played in the psychedelic rock-and-roll band Gum. In 1970 Marcia and her first husband were traveling west to San Francisco but had to stop in Austin for needed car repairs. After seeing, hearing, and tasting some of the sights, music, and food in Austin, they decided to stay. Marcia has been based in Austin since then and became an important and popular figure in its music scene, first as the leader of Freda & the Firedogs and then as a solo artist signed to Capitol Records. Her recorded debut was Circuit Queen, which came out in 1978 and, although artistically successful, quickly sank amid record-company politics.
Marcia's piano style mixes boogie woogie with zydeco and Louisiana swamp rock and is best exemplified on a series of recordings on the Rounder label. They include Soulful Dress (1983), Hot Tamale Baby (1985), Gatorhythms (1989), and Blue House (1994). Also worthy of checking out is her collaboration with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton on Antone's Dreams Come True (1990).
In the late '90s Marcia released her final discs on the Rounder label, Let Me Play with Your Poodle (1997) and Sing It! (1998). The latter featured Marcia Ball with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson. Marcia signed with Alligator Records in 2000, releasing her first album, Presumed Innocent, in 2001. Following that were So Many Rivers in 2003 and Down the Road in 2005.
Phil Koehlhoeffer
Ric was born in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, but was raised in the Quad Cities and at 11, he taught himself harmonica. He has previously played with local bands such as Dead Beat Daddies, the Blue Fins, and Twin Towers. He's shared the stage with Ellis Kell and Coco Montoya. "I love what I do and want to devote my life to music," says Ric.
Wade Braggs is a very talented, soulful blues guitarist. Wade was born in East Moline and teaches guitar. Before the Mercury Brothers, this self-taught musician was previously with the band Hal Reed & Bad Luck and has played with big names such as Billy Branch, Little Jimmy Reed, Kinsey Report, and E.C. Scott.
Mark Avey is locally born and raised. He taught himself how to play guitar and has been playing the bass for the past six years. He is an extremely solid bass player who has played with local bands such as Blue Ash Ink, Twin Towers, and Illegal Alley. Mark has been on stage with many greats including Walter Trout, Bernard Allison, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and Corey Stevens.
Self-taught and versatile, drummer Daniel Rangel started playing at the young age of three and now plays music for a living. Daniel has played many years with his grandfather's and uncle's band, Los Mocambos. Daniel is a gifted drummer who has played with Smooth Groove, Bump City, Hal Reed & the Mob, John Resch & the Detroit Blues, and Claudie Smith, and he has toured with E.C. Scott. Daniel says, "All musicians influence me, but my biggest influence was my mom, Patty."
- Denise Schroeder
Nora Jean Bruso - 4 p.m.
What do you think when you hear someone say a singer is "the next queen of the blues"? You think "shameless hype," don't you? But what if Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry says it along with Jimmy Dawkins and the magazine Blues in Britain and Jeff Harris from (http://www.BadDogBlues.com) and Michael Cloeren, director of the Pocono Blues Festival? Then you start to pay attention when Koko Taylor says, "Nora Jean sounds just like I did when I was her age." Then you'll want to hear her and find out what all this hype is about. Go ahead, you won't be disappointed.
Nora Jean Bruso grew up with the blues as the daughter of sharecropper musicians on a plantation outside Greenwood, Mississippi. Nora Jean started singing in Chicago in 1976 and joined the Jimmy Dawkins band for a world tour. Since her family was more important than fame, she left the blues "fast lane" in 1991 to concentrate on raising her two sons.
Billy Flynn asked her to sing on a CD he was making in 2001, and when the recording session was over, she realized she had to return to the blues. She quickly accelerated back into the "fast lane." The Chicago Sun-Times called her performance at the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival "show-stopping."
I'm not into royalty, but I'm sure I'll be tipping my hat to the lady on the bandshell stage at 4 p.m., Saturday, July 2.
- Stan Furlong
Carl Weathersby - 6 p.m.
What do you like? Is it deep-down Mississippi delta blues, Memphis soul, or Chicago R&B? It doesn't matter. If you like any kind of blues, you should be at the bandshell at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 2.
Carl Weathersby was born in Mississippi and moved with his family to East Chicago, Indiana, when he was eight. Almost from the start, he learned the music from one of its masters. Here's how Carl recalls getting a guitar lesson from a diesel mechanic who was a friend of his father: "One day I was sitting there practicing with the record Crosscut Saw, playing it over and over. I said, 'Daddy, I got it,' and Albert was standing right over there. He told me, 'Boy, that's me on that record, and that ain't the way I played it,' and he showed me the right way to play it."
The mechanic was Albert King, and Carl learned so much that King hired Carl as his rhythm guitarist and took him on tour from 1979 to 1981. Carl Weathersby later was a guitarist and songwriter for several other bands, including Little Milton and Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues.
Carl received nominations for four W.C. Handy awards and three Living Blues magazine honors. The eclectic nature of his performances is explained by his statement, "The blues has got to change, or it is going to die." As long as there are musicians like Carl Weathersby around, the blues will be very healthy.
- Stan Furlong
Mel Waiters - 8 p.m.
R&B singer Mel Waiters was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where he cut his musical teeth in the church. In 1974, he began his performing career at local teen clubs; after a stint as a radio DJ, he was awarded a government contract to entertain at military bases across the Southwest. Mel is one of today's most electrifying performers. His vocal style is classic soul.
Mel made his debut with I'm Serious in 1995, notching a hit in '96 with the single "Hit It & Quit It," and quickly followed up with Suki-Suki Man in 1997. Upon signing with Malaco/Waldoxy, Waiters released Woman in Need in late '97, notching another hit single, "Sex or Make Love," in '98. Material Things followed in '99, with yet another hit single, "Hole in The Wall," released in 2000. He followed that with I Want the Best. Mel then released Let Me Show You How to Love in 2001. His newest release in '03, A Night Out, has been hailed as the most outstanding CD of his career.
With seven CDs and three hit singles, Mel Waiters is an icon of the blues, a true bluesman of the South.
- Phil Koehlhoeffer
Marcia Ball - 10 p.m.
Marcia Ball was born March 20, 1949, in Orange, Texas, but grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, just across the border. Vinton is squarely in the heart of "the Texas triangle," an area that has produced some of the country's blues greats, including Janis Joplin, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Clifton Chenier.
Marcia entered Louisiana State University in the late '60s with English being her major. During her time there she played in the psychedelic rock-and-roll band Gum. In 1970 Marcia and her first husband were traveling west to San Francisco but had to stop in Austin for needed car repairs. After seeing, hearing, and tasting some of the sights, music, and food in Austin, they decided to stay. Marcia has been based in Austin since then and became an important and popular figure in its music scene, first as the leader of Freda & the Firedogs and then as a solo artist signed to Capitol Records. Her recorded debut was Circuit Queen, which came out in 1978 and, although artistically successful, quickly sank amid record-company politics.
Marcia's piano style mixes boogie woogie with zydeco and Louisiana swamp rock and is best exemplified on a series of recordings on the Rounder label. They include Soulful Dress (1983), Hot Tamale Baby (1985), Gatorhythms (1989), and Blue House (1994). Also worthy of checking out is her collaboration with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton on Antone's Dreams Come True (1990).
In the late '90s Marcia released her final discs on the Rounder label, Let Me Play with Your Poodle (1997) and Sing It! (1998). The latter featured Marcia Ball with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson. Marcia signed with Alligator Records in 2000, releasing her first album, Presumed Innocent, in 2001. Following that were So Many Rivers in 2003 and Down the Road in 2005.
Phil Koehlhoeffer
