D  e  s  e  r  t     E  x  p  o  s  u  r  e     May 2005

Silver City Marks a Decade of Singin' the Blues

10th anniversary blues festival is May 27-29.

Silver City's biggest musical event marks its 10th anniversary this year, as the annual Silver City Blues Festival brings a stage-full of big-name blues performers to town, May 27-29. Featured headliners include the Holmes Brothers, Sherman Robertson, David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Ruthie Foster.

The Holmes Brothers have been described by the Chicago Tribune as "the undisputed masters of blues-based American roots music." Bassist Sherman Holmes, guitarist/keyboardist Wendell Holmes and drummer Popsy Dixon first joined forces and started performing together in 1979, playing sanctified gospel, low-down roadhouse blues, deep soul, barroom country and pure pop—all in a single set. The Holmes Brothers perform Saturday, 6:30-8 p.m.

Sherman Robertson has been variously described as "The King of Loutex" (a blend of Louisiana swamp and Texas blues) and as the successor to Albert Collins as a "Master Fender bender." After appearing on Paul Simon's "Graceland" album, Robertson followed with two heralded albums of his own for Atlantic Records in 1994 and 1996. "I use that driving, road-cooking type zydeco groove, and put blues on top of it," says Robertson. "It's basically rhythm and feel." Blues Access calls his singing "potent," his guitar "sizzling" and his style "some of the best Texas soul-blues anyone could hope for." Robertson will be wrapping up the Saturday line up on the Festival Stage, 8:30-10 p.m. Regional performers on the Saturday lineup include Sistah Blue, Dr. Mojo and the Zydeco Cannibals and Bluz Zele. Local band the Mudcats will start the day at noon.

Special guest David "Honeyboy" Edwards was born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in 1915. The son of a sharecropper, Edwards, like many Delta musicians, knocked around for years before settling in Chicago in the 1950s. As a teenager he met and followed Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams and in the mid-1930s he worked both as a solo player and with Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf and numerous others. Throughout this time Edwards honed his style of traditional Delta blues. In 1942 archivist and folklorist Alan Lomax caught up with him in Clarksdale, Miss., and recorded 15 of his stories and songs for the Library of Congress collection. Edwards will be celebrating his 80th year as helps Silver City celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Blues Festival on Sunday, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Following Edwards on the Acoustic Showcase will be country blues fingerpicker Paul Geremia. Making his second appearance at the festival, Geremia has built a reputation as a first-rate bluesman, songwriter and scholar
of early jazz and blues. He keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his "tools," including six- and 12-string guitars, harmonica, a husky soulful voice and an innate sense of the humor as well as the drama of the music.

Finishing off the Sunday Acoustic showcase, 6:15-7:45 p.m., Ruthie Foster will bring a hybrid of blues, gospel, roots and folk music that critics have compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin. Raised in Gause, Texas, a small town 180 miles southeast of Dallas, Foster grew up surrounded by the rich, soulful sounds of gospel and blues. She's performed at the Austin Music Awards, the Austin City Limits Music Festival and the "Austin City Limits" television show. Additional performers on Sunday include Chris Dracup and Dave Fuller, plus Mark Lemhouse, recent W.C. Handy nominee for Best New Artist Debut and Best Acoustic Blues Album.

A new addition to the festival kick-off events Friday night will be a street dance on Yankie Street from 7-9 p.m. with the Brandon Perrault Band and The Night Owls, a teenage blues band from Tucson. That same night at the Pinos Altos Opera House, Stefan George and the Conrads will get blues fans hyped up for the weekend from 7-11p.m., followed by The Albuquerque Blues Connection (ABC), 9 p.m.-1a.m. at the Buffalo Dance Hall in Silver City. Tickets are $5 for the Conrads and $8 for ABC. The Buffalo will also host a post-fest jam session on Saturday night; tickets are $5.

All other performances will be in Gough Park in Silver City and are free of charge.

Sunday will also bring the annual Blues Festival Gallery & Studio Tour, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Nineteen galleries and artist studios will be open so that visitors can meet artists and discover the local art scene.

For more information on all events, contact the Mimbres Region Arts Council, (888) 758-7289, info@mimbresarts.org, www.mimbresarts.org.

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