After last year’s outpouring of complaints about the lack of big-name talent at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events has put together a heavy-hitting main-stage lineup that should help restore some of the respect journalists, musicians, and fans have lost for the free fest in recent years. Little Milton, the Gulf Coast-bred guitar legends Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter, and Phillip Walker, and our own queen of the blues, Koko Taylor, would all be right at home headlining any world-class blues event. And Sunday evening’s salute to the late Curtis Mayfield is loaded with enough Windy City soul talent to consume an entire evening (though unfortunately it’s been allotted only about an hour and a half).
Noon STEEPWATER BAND
Though her bawdy stage persona conjures Bette Midler more than Bessie Smith, Liz Mandville Greeson has forged an unlikely alliance with the most traditional of all local blues labels, Michael Frank’s Earwig Music. Instead of the tried-and-true R & B and soul covers she specialized in when she led her band, the Supernaturals, in the 80s, her recent discs Look at Me and Ready to Cheat spotlight contemporary-sounding originals.
Front Porch
5:30 PM TRIBUTE TO TAMPA RED WITH DIAMOND JIM GREENE
4:30 PM LURRIE BELL
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Chicago electric-blues guitarist John Primer paid his dues many times over as a sideman before embarking on his successful solo career. He spent quality time behind Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon before signing on as rhythm guitarist with Magic Slim & the Teardrops, a gig that lasted 13 years. The Teardrops have long upheld the all-for-one concept of the classic Chicago blues ensemble, and Primer was the glue that held them together. He now has the same effect on his own combos, as typified by Stuff You Got to Watch, his 1992 album for Earwig. His leads shimmer with fluid grace, and his commanding vocals distinctly echo his mentors’.
