The Southern Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation will host its 31st annual fall Blues & Heritage Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18, at Rillito Park.
That’s a lot of blues over a lot of years.
This year’s headliner is Chicago blues guitarist Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, a Mississippi-born self-taught musician with deep roots in blues, country and gospel including a run with the Five Blind Boys Of Alabama.
He’s been a fixture on the Chicago blues scene since the 1950s and is known for his flamboyant left-hand style of playing and animated stage presence. When he sings the blues, he preaches the gospel of the genre, says Blues Revue, which gushed in 2004 that Clearwater’s plays “joyous rave-ups … he testifies with stunning soul fervor and powerful guitar. One of the blues’ finest songwriters.”
Clearwater, 80, joins a lineup that includes local artists Cholla Blues Standard, a student ensemble from Cholla High Magnet School; newcomers and Arizona Blues Showdown finalists Kathy Davis & The Groove Tones, who just released a debut CD; perennial favorites Bad News Blues Band; soul and R&B act Little House of Funk fronted by Connie Brannock; and Tucson-born/Austin-based Gabe Martinez.
California’s Dennis Jones Band makes an encore appearance to round out the lineup.
