The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning. – John Lee Hooker
This weekend in Panama City Beach you can hear lots of stories from the blues at the inaugural Great American Blues Festival. Ten bands will be performing over two days at Aaron Bessant Park at Pier Park with a barbecue challenge being held on the Saturday and the music continuing all day Sunday also.
The bands range from a legendary group that performed at Woodstock to a blues supergroup making waves all over the music scene.
Canned Heat plays Sunday at 1pm. Yes, THAT Canned Heat…the one that has been around for over 45 years and put out 38 albums; the band whose song Going Up the Country became the unofficial theme of the the Woodstock festival in 1969. While Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite passed away years ago, long-time members Larry “The Mole” Taylor, Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra, and Harvey “The Snake” Mandel remain with the seminal blues band.
Closing out the festival on Sunday is Royal Southern Brotherhood, the blues supergroup collaboration that includes Greg Allman’s son Devon Allman, Cyril Neville from the legendary family of New Orleans musicians, and blues guitar virtuoso Mike Zito.
The full lineup is like this:
SATURDAY:
Selwyn Birchwood (1:00-2:15)
TC Carr (2:15-3:30)
Big LLou’s Bluesville Review (3:30-5:00)
The Betty Fox Band (5:00-6:00)
Jimmy Thackery (6:00-7:30)
SUNDAY:
Canned Heat (1:00-2:15)
Honey Island Swamp Band (2:15-3:30)
Joe Louis Walker (3:30-4:45)
Homemade Jamz Band (4:45-6:00)
Royal Southern Brotherhood (6:00-7:30)
Tickets:
$30 1-Day (Child 7-14 $10)
$50 2-Day Pass
Tickets can be purchased at the Festival and the event goes on rain or shine
www.americanbluesfest.com
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