good blues festival?

rezin · Post by **rezin** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:34 pm

i was lookin to check out a blues festival of some sorts this spring/summer...

was wondering if any of you knew of some worth checking out that are relatively close...

willing to drive if worth it...

thanks...

david sumner · Post by **david sumner** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:39 pm

http://www.bluesfestivals.com/

Aug 17, 2007 - Aug 18, 2007
Madison Ribberfest

Madison, IN - 601 W First Street, Madison , IN
Madison Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
601 W First Street, Madison, IN 47250

Phone: 800-559-2956
Ticket Price: $20.00

Performers: Charlie Musselwhite - Elvin Bishop - Duke Robillard - Mitch Kashmar - E.C. Scott - Big James & the Chicago Playboys - River City Blues - The Stella Vees - Travelin' Mojos

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:50 pm

Though it's not strictly a blues festival, check out the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis.

www.memphisinmay.org

The venue is located on the banks of the Mississippi and there are TONS of national acts and scattered blues all throughout the city (obviously). There's also lots of BBQ!

The music line-up is set to be announced on March 8th.

Here's who played the year I went (and tickets for each day were only $25 for ALL of these acts)...

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2001
The Dave Matthews Band
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
Dave Mason
Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm
The Cult
Con-Funk-Shun
North Mississippi Allstars
Jonny Lang
Saliva
Tantric
Will Hoge
Keith Sykes
The Gabe Dixon Band
Oâ€™Landa Draperâ€™s Associates
R.L. Burnside
Tommy Castro
Ana Popovich (Dutch)
Johnnie Bassett
Brint Anderson

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2001
Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Offspring
Three Six Mafia
Tower of Power
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Mohead
BTO
Ohio Players
Brand New Immortals
Koko Taylor
Vertical Horizon
Lucero
Steve Earle
Crazy Town
J. Blackfoot
Drivin â€˜N Cryin
Free World
O.A.R.
Dyzack (Dutch)
Dust for Life
Shemekia Copeland
Walter Trout & the Radicals
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Lazy Lester
Pinetop Perkins
Chris Cain
Sean Costello

SUNDAY, MAY 6, 2001
Bob Dylan
Black Crowes
Breaking Point
Sonic Youth
Billy Lee Riley & the Sun All-Stars
Willie Nelson
Mavis Staples
War
String Cheese Incident
Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men
Blues Traveler
Pat McGee Band
Jazz Mandolin Project
Dyzack (Dutch)
Scott Sudbury
Roomful of Blues
Hubert Sumlin
Nighthawks
Ana Popovich (Dutch)
Blind Mississippi Morris

It's well-worth the drive. I suggest EVERYONE check it out at least once. Depending on the line-up, I may end up going again this year.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:51 pm

That line-up doesn't include the numerous (dozens) street performers and side-stages and bar performances...

rezin · Post by **rezin** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:47 pm

that one looks wonderful...

might be on that...

the setting next to the river looks amazing...

beck · Post by **beck** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:02 am

That one is bad ass. If you want the low down on a few really cool underground festivals I can let you know. There is a really bad ass one in Mississippi this year that Joe and I are going to try to go to. It is at Otha Turner's house(It is the house on the cover of the North Mississippi Allstars album "Shake Hands With Shorty". It is an open Jam basically that goes for days. Many Fat Possum artists show up and jam, as well as many other famous musicians. It is open to the public, and anybody can hop up and jam with the bands. They sell cheap beer and bar-b-q, and al the proceeds go to Otha Turners family( She was a drum and fife player who passed a few years ago). It is basically a big fornicatin party with killer music. If your interested, we will probably pack the van full of anybody who wants to go.

HillgrassBluebillyFTW · Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:23 am

beck wrote:That one is bad ass. If you want the low down on a few really cool underground festivals I can let you know. There is a really bad ass one in Mississippi this year that Joe and I are going to try to go to. It is at Otha Turner's house(It is the house on the cover of the North Mississippi Allstars album "Shake Hands With Shorty". It is an open Jam basically that goes for days. Many Fat Possum artists show up and jam, as well as many other famous musicians. It is open to the public, and anybody can hop up and jam with the bands. They sell cheap beer and bar-b-q, and al the proceeds go to Otha Turners family( She was a drum and fife player who passed a few years ago). It is basically a big f*ckin party with killer music. If your interested, we will probably pack the van full of anybody who wants to go.

That sounds like a road trip worth taking.

PS - dude you should totally get that chicken made into a giant decal for the side of your new government issue van.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:17 am

Any announced dates?

MrSpall · Post by **MrSpall** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:10 am

Memphis in May is amazing. Cupcakes drove down a couple years ago just to take in the atmosphere. There are blues musicians on every corner and tucked in every alleyway. We ended up jamming on a street corner with some 700 year old guy for about 12 hours. We never even made it to the big shows, but still had an awesome experience. Definitely must check this one out.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:54 am

beck wrote:That one is bad ass. If you want the low down on a few really cool underground festivals I can let you know. There is a really bad ass one in Mississippi this year that Joe and I are going to try to go to. It is at Otha Turner's house(It is the house on the cover of the North Mississippi Allstars album "Shake Hands With Shorty". It is an open Jam basically that goes for days. Many Fat Possum artists show up and jam, as well as many other famous musicians. It is open to the public, and anybody can hop up and jam with the bands. They sell cheap beer and bar-b-q, and al the proceeds go to Otha Turners family( She was a drum and fife player who passed a few years ago). It is basically a big f*ckin party with killer music. If your interested, we will probably pack the van full of anybody who wants to go.

Count me in. Seriously.

beck · Post by **beck** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:39 pm

I will check on the date, and make sure it doesn't conflict with our summer tour. If not, the van fits 7.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:45 pm

beck wrote:I will check on the date, and make sure it doesn't conflict with our summer tour. If not, the van fits 7...4 if you come, Fleek.

fixed.

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:50 pm

The_Dude wrote:
beck wrote:I will check on the date, and make sure it doesn't conflict with our summer tour. If not, the van fits 7...2 if you come, and bring your lunchbox Fleek.
fixed.

fixed-ed more.

beck · Post by **beck** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:24 pm

This is the official release for the fetival:

August, 31 2007 at Otha Turner's Family Goat Barbecue Picnic
985 OB McClinton Rd, Senatobia, Mississippi 38668
Cost :

Otha Turner Family Goat Bar-B-Q Picnic!!! This picnic is an old time Mississippi tradition and an Otha Turner family tradition - nonstop down home foot-stompin' music (ya never know who's gonna be jammin' - (past performers include: T-Model Ford, RL Burnside, Sam Carr, "Big Jack" Johnson, Kenny Brown, Robert Belfour, Terry "Harmonica" Bean, Cedric & Duwayne Burnside, Kenny Kimbrough, "Slick" Ballinger, Steve "Lightnin'" Malcolm, Blind Mississippi Morris, Big Daddy, Blue Mother Tupelo and of course, Sharde Thomas & The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band). The gathering of friends and the music is always fantastic and the catfish & goat bar-b-q are delicious! Ice-cold beer to top things off - it don't get no better than this!!! This year, the Turner family will carry on in the traditional picnic style with Otha Turner's original Rising Star Fife and Drum and his granddaughter, Sharde Thomas, playing the fife and his grandsons playing the drums as well as countless other Hill Country and Delta Blues musicians. BMT will be jamming there with others on Friday and Saturday. At this picnic, there's never a schedule for performers and one NEVER knows who'll be performing for this event. But the music is nonstop and this is always guaranteed to be an old-fashioned Mississippi boogie. Y'all come! Directions: On I-55, get off on the Senatobia exit and turn left (away from town) down Highway 4. Go approximately three Miles down that road to Gravel Springs Road (the second road to the right on 4 from Senatobia). Turn right on Gravel Springs Road. Go to the second 4-way stop and turn left (that road is OB McClinton Road) Follow that road about a half mile and the Turner's Picnic is on the right there will be lots of cars & people gathered there. Park along the side of the road. *BOOK AN AREA HOTEL WELL IN-ADVANCE, ALMOST ALL FILL UP WAY AHEAD OF TIME (the picnic location is about an hour's drive southeast of Memphis). "Renowned for his picnic parties Mr. Turner - who played a homemade bamboo cane fife or wooden flute and spent much of his life as a sharecropper and subsistence farmer - was a living link to rural blues and fife-and-drum pre-blues that extended well into the 19th Century." ph: 615.414.2517 for more info Price: free - donations welcomed

It only lists fri aug 31st, but it is usually sat also. The festival is free, they just ask that you purchase your beer and food from them, so they make some money.

HillgrassBluebillyFTW · Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:42 am

count me in.