The stage has been set for The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Pacific Cruise 2011 as they announce yet another high-powered line-up of blues, R&B, blues-rock, roots-rock, and soul artists to entertain a boatload of enthusiastic music fans. The performers for the October 2011 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Pacific cruise have been announced and the tickets are on sale...so you better get 'em now, because this is one show that always sells out, and the boat never pulls out of the dock with anything less than a full house.
The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Caribbean Cruise
This year's Legendary Rhythm & Blues Pacific cruise will take place from October 23rd to 30th, 2011. Launching from San Diego, California the ship will hit Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Mazatlan, Mexico before returning home. The week-long cruise promises a "festival atmosphere" with autograph sessions, over 70 scheduled shows, and nightly jam sessions among the performers.
Among the headline talent confirmed for the 2011 Pacific cruise are the great blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and R&B legend Bobby Womack, and the one and only Elvin Bishop, who will be accompanied by singer Mickey Thomas, who provided the vocals for Bishop's monster 1970s-era hit "Fooled Around And Fell In Love." Blues harp wizard Charlie Musselwhite will also be rocking the high seas, as will acclaimed New Orleans guitarist Tab Benoit. The 2008 Blues Music Awards B.B. King Entertainer of the Year honoree Tommy Castro and his veteran band will also be returning for another ride on the big luxury boat.
Late Night Blues Jams
The 2011 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Pacific Cruise features, perhaps, the event's most diverse and talented line-up to date. Along with the aforementioned performers, the cruise also features artists like Jimmy Thackery and his band the Drivers, with guitarist J.P. Soars; "trance" bluesman Otis Taylor; the Delta Guitar Slingers (Michael Burks, Lucky Peterson, and Sherman Robertson); pianist Eden Brent; and former Saffire frontwoman Gaye Adegbalola. Other performers confirmed for the October cruise include:
- Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues
- Cedric Burnside Project
- Ruthie Foster Quintet
- Leon Blue
- Big Head Todd & the Monsters
- "Girls With Guitars" (Samantha Fish, Cassie Taylor & Dani Wilde)
Two of the most popular features of the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruises are the performances by the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue, featuring the Tommy Castro Band and special guest Curtis Salgado, and the nightly blues jam sessions. Guest performers on the cruise get together and jam, backed by Tommy Castro and his veteran band, and these sessions often times extend until early in the morning, leaving both the performers and the audience exhausted.
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Charlie Musselwhite & Elvin Bishop
Bobby "Blue" Bland is a name instantly familiar to any blues fan, the acclaimed singer first coming to prominence in the early-1950s as one of the members of the Memphis band the Beale Streeters, which also featured guitarist B.B. King and pianist Johnny Ace. On his own, Bland enjoyed a string of hits that stretched from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, but it is his groundbreaking 1970s-era recordings with King that sealed his reputation as one of the blues' best.
Blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite blew onto the mid-1960s Chicago blues scene like a hurricane, his 1967 album Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite's South Side Band widely considered an enduring classic of the genre. In the almost four-and-a-half decades since, Musselwhite has forged a lengthy and productive career that culminated in his return to Alligator Records (his home for three acclaimed albums during the early 1990s) and the 2010 release of his career milestone, The Well.
Guitarist Elvin Bishop has also enjoyed a lengthy career, beginning in the mid-1960s as guitarist (along with Michael Bloomfield) for the ground-breaking Paul Butterfield Blues Band in Chicago. After recording a handful of albums with Butterfield, Bishop left the band and moved to San Francisco. After recording a few solo albums for Epic Records that went nowhere, Bishop signed with Capricorn Records and, adding a bit of roots-rock twang to his bluesy material, scored a #3 hit in 1976 with "Fooled Around And Fell In Love," sung by Mickey Thomas. In the years since, Bishop has become one of blues music's most beloved performers, the guitarist delivering an impressive string of acclaimed and entertaining albums.
For updated information and confirmed performers, check the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise website for more details and ticket availability.
