On Friday and Saturday, September 26th and 27th, 2008 the third annual National Women In Blues Festival will take place in Wilmington, North Carolina. This year's event will feature headliners Gaye Adegbalola, known for her work as part of Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women, and Candye Kane.
Women Sing The Blues
The National Women In Blues Festival was created in 2006 with the idea of promoting an event where blues women take center stage. Many blues festivals feature male performers headlining; this annual event honors the contributions made to the music by the distaff half of blues artists.
Dual Locations, Great Performers
This year's Women In Blues Festival will take place in different locations each night. Friday night's program will feature Rose Lucas of the popular regional blues duo Rose and Charlie Lucas, as well as headliner Adegbalola, performing at the revamped Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Gates open at 6:00pm on Friday night.
Saturday's longer program will be held at the new music venue The Cellar in Wilmington, with the show beginning at 5:30 pm. Saturday's line-up includes local and regional performers like Peggy Ratusz and Patty Benson, as well as Sarah LeMieux and headliner Kane.
Saturday afternoon, an invitational blues jam will take place at The Cellar club from 12:00 noon until 4:30pm. The jam is free and open to the public and will include performances by Sarah Cole's Band, Stone Cold, and Michele and Midnight Blues, as well as a few surprise guests.
History of Women in Blues
As part of Friday night's event, before her performance - backed by Roddy Barnes - Adegbalola will narrate her "History of Women in Blues" presentation. Covering the feminine side of the blues from 1920 until today, Adegbalola shares video and audio clips from blues and jazz vocalists like Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Mama Thornton, Etta James, and others, putting their music and the blues in cultural context.
National Women In Blues Festival Headliners
As a member of the popular, ground-breaking, and critically-acclaimed trio Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women, former school teacher Gaye Adegbalola has toured internationally, bringing an appreciation for the early trailblazers of the blues to new audiences. Throughout the 1990s, Saffire released seven albums for the Alligator Records label. As a respected solo artist and Blues Music Award winner, Adegbalola has released three acclaimed albums, including 2008's Gaye Without Shame.
Candye Kane is a familiar name to any blues fan, a fiery performer with a larger-than-life voice. Originally a familiar face on the 1980s L.A. punk scene, Kane discovered the blues, and thereafter released her blues music debut, Home Cookin', in 1994. Since that time, Kane has toured the world, performing for heads of state and regular fans alike, and has released eight critically-acclaimed albums, including her most recent, 2007's Guitar'd and Feathered.
Other Performer Biographies
Rose Lucas is considered the "Grandmother" of North Carolina blues, and is a mainstay of the National Women In Blues Festival. Along with her husband and singing partner Charlie, Rose will warm up the crowd by opening the Festival on Friday night.
New York blues singer Sarah LeMieux possesses a silky voice and pursues a "storytelling" style of blues with heavy jazz influences that have won her a growing audience across the U.S. as well as in Canada and Australia.
Peggy Ratusz appeared in the semi-finals of the 2008 International Blues Challenge, representing North Carolina's Piedmont Blues Preservation Society. A soul-blues singer in the vein of Etta James or Koko Taylor, Greensboro, North Carolina's Patty Benson has received no little amount of critical acclaim for her debut album 2,666 Miles.
Ted Crocker Guitar Raffle
A raffle of a custom-built Rusty Nail guitar worth $1,800, donated by builder Ted Crocker, will be held to benefit the festival. Sponsored in part by the Blues Festival Guide, Chittlin' Circuit magazine, Finkelstein's Music and other local businesses, tickets for the event are available through the National Women In Blues Festival website.
