Laffin' Bones10:00 - 10:30am
Laffin' Bones - A good old rockin' Blues band from the Inland Northwest.
With 19 years of playing many a club, festival, wedding, private party, and civic function, the love of the music has made the band a respected and loved musical institution.
Dave, Ken, Dennis, and Neil are like-minded players who keep toes tapping and dancers happy with their eclectic mix of Blues, Rock and Roll, and soulful originals (with a few surprises).
Catch the 'Bones on the main stage (10am) and Casuela's (10pm) at the 2011 Ritville Blues Festival July 9th.
Kevin Selfe & The Tornadoes11:00am - 12:00pm
Kevin Selfe is a man who has dedicated his life to the blues. For more than a decade, he has been sharing that love and dedication with audiences from coast to coast, building a loyal following wherever his energetic mix of traditional and contemporary blues is heard. Although many have played the genre before him, Kevin's path to, and through, the blues is an interesting one and is what draws people to his music.
In a world of teenage guitar prodigies, Kevin learned to play the guitar at a relatively late age while studying Meteorology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. "I had plenty of time to practice in my dorm room," Kevin explains "because my major was not real popular with the ladies."
In 1997 at the age of 23, he joined the regionally popular Fat Daddy Band based out of his hometown of Roanoke, VA. During his tenure with them, the Fat Daddy Band won the Charlotte Blues Society's 2001 Talent Competition and was a finalist at the Blues Foundation's 2002 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, thus being named one of the top 6 unsigned blues bands in the world.
In early 2005, Kevin decided it was time to go out on his own and formed his own group, Kevin Selfe and The Tornadoes. The band quickly became known as one of the tightest and most energetic blues outfits around. In September 2005, he and the Tornadoes had the honor of backing up Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater at the Taste of The Blue Ridge Blues Festival in Roanoke, VA.
Kevin Selfe & The Tornadoes released their first CD entitled Selfe-Contained in January 2006.
Kevin relocated to the blues hotbed of Portland, OR in February 2007 and formed a West Coast version of The Tornadoes. He hired long-time Portland drummer Don Shultz, and recent New York transplant Allen Markel on bass.
In September 2009, Kevin Selfe and The Tornadoes released their highly anticipated second CD, Playing The Game. The CD reached #33 on the Roots Music Reports National Blues Chart, and was a #3 "Pick To Click" on Sirius/XM Radio's Bluesville. Playing The Game was selected by a group of judges to represent the Cascade Blues Association for the Best Self-Produced CD competition presented by The Blues Foundation.
In four years Kevin Selfe and The Tornadoes have become a Northwest favorite, winning prestigious Muddy Awards in 2010 for Best Traditional Blues Act and 2009 for Best Contemporary Blues Act from the Cascade Blues Association. In all, the band has been nominated for 16 Muddy Awards for Best Electric Guitar (2007-2010), Best Contemporary Blues Act (2008-2010), Best Traditional Blues Act (2009, 2010), Best New Act (2007), Best Bass (2008-2010), Best Drums (2008, 2010), and NW Recording of the Year (2010). The band was also nominated for a 2011 Portland Music Award for Outstanding Achievement in Blues. In early 2011, the band welcomed legendary blues drummer and 12 time Blues Music Award nominee Jimi Bott as the newest Tornado.
Ty Curtis Band12:30 - 1:30pm
Ty Curtis is consumed by his music. There is no other way to explain how, at such a young age, this 23 year old, Salem Oregon based, vocalist/guitarist/song writer has amassed a recording catalogue of three critically acclaimed albums, earned 2nd place, in the prestigious 2009 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and is nightly thrilling audiences from the Pacific Northwest to Montreal.
Blessed with a classic voice and blazing guitar technique, Ty discovered Blues music in his early teens, listening to favorites Stevie Ray Vaughn, Chris Cain, Roy Rodgers, and Malford Milligan among many others. A true student of the Blues, Ty pursued his music with a passion and "legendary focus" that amazed those around him. Ty played and wrote the Blues, as the music flowed out of him. Practicing with raw finger tips was not a problem that a little Superglue could not fix.
Ty was just out of High School in 2006, when he wrote, recorded and released his first album "Stubborn Mind". It was the beginning of his meaningful collaboration with Ty Curtis Band drummer Davis Brown.
It was the second album "Down on My Luck" in 2008 that solidified the front line of the Ty Curtis Band with the introduction of Hank Shreve, harmonica, keys, vocals. "Down on my Luck" appeared nationally on a number of 2009 top Blues album lists as did Ty's song "Cherry City Boogie".
The 2nd place in the prestigious 2009 International Blues Challenge in Memphis catapulted the Ty Curtis Band on to the world stage. The Challenge started with more than 2,000 bands in nine countries and 36 states. One hundred bands earned the right to come to Memphis, ten made it to the Finals and The Ty Curtis Band was voted 2nd place by a panel of judges made up of industry professionals.
Blues Challenge panelist and Grammy award winning producer David Z (Prince, Etta James, Jonny Lang) took a special interest in the band, which lead to his work as producer/engineer on Ty and the band's latest and most notable album "Cross That Line". The 2010 released album is climbing up the charts on hundreds of radio station throughout North America, Europe, Australia and South America. "Fools Game" and "What He Don't Know" are just two of multiple tracks on the air.
Along with the success of the new album, accolades keep coming. The Ty Curtis Band was awarded a Muddy by the Cascade Blues Association for Best New Act in 2008 and in 2009 received Muddy's for Best Regional Act and Best Harmonica Player to Hank Shreve. In 2010 the band followed up with Muddy Awards for Contemporary Blues Band and Northwest Recording of the Year and Ty received the Muddy Award for Male Vocalist. The band also received the Rainy Day Blues Society Rooster Award for Best New Act in 2009 and Best Contemporary Blues Act in 2010.
Big Mumbo2:00 - 3:00pm
The cast of BIG MUMBO BLUES BAND has been together since 1994 when they embarked on a new vision called MUMBO JUMBO. They perform at many and varied festivals, community events, clubs and private engagements; leaving the audiences with buzzing good things to say! Big Mumbo has won Best Blues Band the last 3 years in a row, putting us in the HALL OF FAME.
Pat Barclay was voted Best Blues Guitarist and Vocalist 2010. He produced and mixed the CD. His left hand, upside-down method of playing will truly amaze you! Steve Carver, Hammond B-3 piano, has hooks and groove lines with the ever-loving B-3 sound that fits right in.
Rick Smith, bass, and Mark Stephens, drums and vocals; lay down a rock solid, tasty bottom end that will shake your love for a good groove.
Chuck Swanson was voted Best Instrumentalist 2010 and is the best sax talent in the Northwest. Years of mixing it up in different situations make for a tight, quick bottom-line that makes BIG MUMBO kick!
Jennifer Kemple was voted Best Female Blues Vocalist and Best Female Performer 2010. Her deep soulful vocals resonate throughout the crowd giving people goose bumps - sounding like no other. Audiences are just fine with standing and dancing room only!
BIG MUMBO BLUES BAND enjoys the sweet rewards of performing to new and established audiences and will be covering more territory in the future with venues that go beyond the realm of the Pacific Northwest. So catch them while you can; you will truly be among the many delighted and satisfied participants in the crowd.
Chubby Carrier3:30 - 5:00pm
Chubby Carier is undeniably "The World's Premier Zydeco Showman.&rdquo Born on July 1, 1967 in Churchpoint, Louisiana, Chubby is the third generation of zydeco artists with such famous relatives as Roy Carrier (father), Warren Carrier (grandfather), and cousins Bebe and Calvin Carrier who are presently considered legends in zydeco history.
Chubby began his musical career at the age of 12 by playing drums with his father´s band. He began playing the accordion at the age of 15. By age 17, Chubby had begun to play with Terrance Siemien and toured the world for 2 1/2 years, before forming his own band in 1989.
Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band have recorded five CDs over the past ten years of Chubby´s professional career. His band has traveled all over the world, performing to audiences in all parts of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, Canada. North Africa and Europe. Chubby and the band travel 150-175 days a year, taking his act to big festivals such as the New Orleans Jazz Fest, the Chicago Blues Fest. Summerfest (Milwaukee), Memphis in May, and several festivals in Europe. Chubby has also done guest appearances on recordings for Tab Benoit, 6Was9, and Jimmy Thackery. Ann Wilson of the group Heart encourages Chubby to "continue the great sound that you have. This sound will take you places."
John Nemeth5:30 - 6:30pm
"I remember telling friends up North in ´80 that they should go see Stevie Ray Vaughan, but they weren´t impressed because he wasn´t famous yet. It will give me great pleasure to say, "I told you so!" about John Nemeth. You'll see." ~ Bob Margolin, Blues Revue Magazine, Dec/Jan 2005
John Nemeth is a rising blues star; a singer steeped in the tradition and reminiscent of B.B. King, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, and a harmonica player of riveting intensity and virtuosity. His decade long career has found him opening for Robert Cray, Keb Mo', and Earl Thomas. Performing major music festivals around the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia has brought him critical acclaim.
"Either John Nemeth is one of the greatest vocalists in the world or this was the best performance of his life, or both." ~ Bob Horn, Washington Blues Society
John´s origins are an unlikely breeding ground for such an impressive blues talent. A thirty year old native of Boise, Idaho, he grew up singing in a Catholic church and started playing in local bands as a teenager.
"Hands down the toughest young harp player I've ever heard." ~ R.J. Mischo, 2002
Nemeth was a featured artist with Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets in 2005 and 2006 as well as a featured artist with The Junior Watson Band in 2002. The Cascade Blues Association selected Nemeth as a crowd favorite at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival in 2002, and the Washington Blues Society called him the show stealer at the Winthrop Rhythm and Blues Festival in 2003. Greg Johnson of Blues Notes writes, "John Nemeth possesses rich harmonica tone that easily brings to mind Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter."
"Boy! John Nemeth can really belt it out!" ~ Charlie Musslewhite, 2004
John recorded "Come And Get It" with the Junior Watson Band in 2004. The album received rave reviews and scored well on the independent blues radio charts. When John signed a multi-record 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."
The buzz around John Nemeth is substantial, and his Blind Pig debut, "Magic Touch," delivers the goods in spades. From the opening track, an ambitious and fully realized reworking of Junior Wells' classic "Blues Hit Big Town," John's emotive, smooth voice and stellar harp playing introduce a virtuoso of rare depth and power. John's uncanny blend of retro-modern blues and soul music will delight purists and young hipsters alike. Produced by Anson Funderburgh and featuring Junior Watson on guitar, "Magic Touch" is destined to be one of the most remarked upon releases of 2007.
"John Nemeth is a natural-born Bluesman, and he proves it with every note he sings, shaping each one with emotion, taste and inspiration. John's expressive Blues harp playing answers his voice and fulfills his songs when he solos. John Nemeth makes it sound easy." ~ Bob Margolin, 2004
"Definitely one of the best club shows that I've ever seen. John Nemeth is simply the Blues artist that I feel is most deserving of more recognition. Check the man and his band out whenever you might get the chance." ~ Don "T-Bone" Erickson, BluesWax, 2004
Curtis Salgado7:00 - 8:30pm
Curtis Salgado has a lot to celebrate. Two years ago he was diagnosed with liver cancer and told he had eight months to live, unless he got a liver transplant which would generate medical bills upwards of half a million dollars. With no health insurance and few funds, the man who is one of America´s finest blues/soul singers needed a little help from his friends.
When your friends and admirers include the likes of Steve Miller, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, you´ve got a fighting chance. Numerous benefits were held in multiple cities including a benefit concert featuring Miller, Cray, Taj Mahal, The Phantom Blues Band, Everclear and Little Charlie & The Nightcats. Through the generosity of Curtis´s friends, fellow musicians, the Legendary Blues Cruise and thousands of fans who supported Curtis by attending benefits and auctions or by making private donations, upwards of half a million dollars were raised and Curtis got his transplant, though there were a few twists and turns in the road before that happened.
A little less than two years after his initial diagnosis, Curtis was able to record Clean Getaway, an album whose title has an obvious double meaning. With its release on July 8, 2008, Clean Getaway is a triumph in more ways than one, a sublime collaboration with the most respected session players in Los Angeles that goes to the heart of what music--and life--is all about.
"I was told I had eight months to live unless I got a liver transplant," Curtis recalls, "and I´m thinking how in the world am I going to pay for this? Then the benefit happened and the rest came from personal donations from so many people. Bonnie Raitt paid my rent while I was in the hospital. I have known her since 1980 and she´s just the best. Two people gave me their life savings, when at the last minute, the hospital said we needed thousands of more dollars then we had or they wouldn´t do the operation. This was seven months in and I´d only been given eight months to live. When it didn't look like there would be a donor in time, my girlfriend even offered to donate half her liver; it turned out that we were a match. Five days before the operation I was moved from 11 to 24 on the waiting list...it depended on someone dying in the next five days and donating their liver and then after the liver is harvested you only have eight hours. And fortunately for me, that is what happened."
But a successful transplant was not the end of it. "The cancer metastasized and showed up in my lung," Curtis recounts. "Usually when that happens there are several tumors but I only had one, so I had a successful operation. The doctor said it was a miracle it was only one tumor. 'We accept miracles here,' he told me, 'you're a lucky son of a bitch!' I've had a check-up since then and I'm clean."
Recovery
After his recovery, Curtis needed to get back to work after a year with no income. "My manager and my producer said 'you got to make a record, you need to generate some money.' I said I wanted to use members of The Phantom Blues Band who I had seen with Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal; they play with everybody. Taj had told Tony Braunagel, the Phantom´s drummer, after a jam session we had together on The Blues Cruise 'you should do a record with that guy.' It was the best experience I ever had. We were either laughing or cutting tracks. Everybody was creative. It was very uplifting. Some of the cuts are first takes and it was very inspiring. We did hardly any overdubs."
Clean Getaway, produced by Marlon McClain & Tony Braunagel, is a seamless mix of blues, soul and rock 'n' roll all held together by the organic grooves of world class musicians and Curtis' superlative singing. He has a gift of digging into the essence of a song without histrionics or gratuitous displays of vocal chops--though he certainly has more than enough of those.
Few singers would take on the challenge of doing Al Green´s "Let's Get Married," for instance. Curtis put down a totally natural, deeply soulful vocal.
"I was scared to death," he says modestly, "so I just closed my eyes and did it. That´s a first take. Everybody said that was special, the singing and the playing. That´s me standing next to the musicians singing; I wasn't in a vocal booth, had no headphones. It just happened."
The title track, co-written by Curtis, reflects his love of the late, great Johnny "Guitar" Watson and effectively nails Watson´s funkified mid-period Seventies style of such songs as "Ain´t That A Bitch" and "A Real Mother For Ya." "Alone" is a percolating slab of Memphis R&B written by the under-rated Tommy Sims. "I Don't Want To Discuss It" is an obscure Little Richard tune, Curtis' favorite by the Georgia Peach; it has also been notably covered by Delaney & Bonnie. Curtis artfully blends the best of both versions. Another original, "20 Years Of BB King," is an impossibly clever song whose lyrics consist entirely of the titles of songs by BB King; instead of sounding like an entertaining gimmick it comes off as completely natural and effective.
Curtis Salgado´s musical journey began with his birth in Everett, Washington, in 1954. His family moved to Eugene, Oregon when he was one and he grew up there listening to jazz, and to his father, an aspiring singer of classical music. His ambitions coalesced when, at age 12, he saw Count Basie´s band perform in Eugene. Curtis became a part of the burgeoning Northwest blues scene starting in 1972 with a band called Three-Fingered Jack.
Eventually he hooked up with up-and-coming guitarist/vocalist Robert Cray, and recorded the album "Who's Been Talking." In six years with Robert, the higher level of visibility enabled Salgado to sit in with the likes of Muddy Waters, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins and Bonnie Raitt. Aside from being a tremendous vocalist, Curtis is one of the finest blues harmonica players in the country. In 1979, when John Belushi was in Eugene filming Animal House, he caught Curtis' act and liked what he heard and saw.
Curtis took the actor under his wing and schooled him on blues and R & B history, which Belushi soaked up like a sponge, and used a good portion of Curtis' show as the basis for the Blues Brothers act he and Dan Akroyd put together. The first Blues Brothers album was dedicated to Curtis.
He left the Cray band before it broke through nationally and from 1984 - 1986 he fronted Boston´s Grammy- Winning Roomful Of Blues before returning to Portland where he formed The Stilettos, who toured nationally with such acts as Steve Miller and The Doobie Brothers. He even did a stint as lead vocalist with Santana in the 1990´s. Curtis released three albums (the first with The Stilettos, followed by one with his own band and the third, an acoustic gem, featuring guitarist Terry Robb). After three critically-acclaimed solo albums with Shanachie Entertainment, Clean Getaway may be the breakthrough that Curtis has been working toward. But the experiences of the past two years have given Curtis a new perspective.
"I´m playing music with the most incredible people," he says, &ldquopeople are supporting me and a record company is supporting me....even in these tough times in the business. So I´ve got nothing to complain about. To me, I´ve won the lottery, I´ve won all the Grammys. I don't need stardom to feel validated. Of course, I´d like to sell a lot of records, as much for the company as for me, but on a personal level, I don´t care. I'm alive! People are throwing so much love at me it´s embarrassing. It makes me humble. So I´m just trying to stick to my guns, perfect my craft and make great music!"
Rick Estrin & the Night Cats9:00 - 11:00pm
For more than 30 years and nine albums, Rick fronted the jumping, swinging Little Charlie & The Nightcats, featuring guitarist Little Charlie Baty. With Baty´s recent retirement from touring, Estrin -- along with the Nightcats longtime rhythm section of J. Hansen and Lorenzo Farrell and a new member, fiery guitarist Kid Andersen -- takes the lead on his own.
In addition to his harmonica and vocal skills, Rick Estrin is a songwriter of unparalleled talent. Critics have compared him to Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan and Willie Dixon. Blues Revue declared, "Estrin has created some of the finest blues songs of any artist on the planet. His carefully wrought lyrics penetrate human weakness with the precision of a boxer, though more often than not, he chooses to leave you laughing after the blow´s been struck."
The band´s debut album, Twisted, while still swinging the blues, is a harmonica-driven, rocking, guitar-fueled rave-up. Featuring 14 songs (including 10 Estrin originals, two by Kid Andersen, one by Hansen, and a superb band-created instrumental), Twisted showcases Rick´s seemingly effortless command of the harmonica, his streetwise vocals and his remarkable original songs.