| Pittsburgh Blues Festival | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Inaugurated | 1994 |
The Pittsburgh Blues and Roots Festival is an American music festival that features local and nationally renowned blues musicians in performance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [1] It is one of the region's "marquee annual concerts." [2]
The inaugural event took place at the Riverplex at Sandcastle Waterpark, [3] and since then has been held at Hartwood Acres Park and at the Iron City Brewing Company factory. [4]
Proceeds from the event benefit charity. [5] The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank had been the recipient of the proceeds until 2017 when Band Together Pittsburgh, a local nonprofit that teaches those on the autism spectrum all about playing, writing, recording and even DJing music. It offers programs throughout the year to help those on the spectrum learn the magic of music. It is now held yearly at The Shriners Pavilion in Cheswick, Pennsylvania and is held over two days in the summer. [3]
Many musicians have previously performed at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival: Koko Taylor, Taj Mahal, John Mayall, Gatemouth Brown, Devon Allman, Bernard Allison, Guy Davis, and Robert Cray. [3]
| 2018 The Jeff Fetterman Band Spectrum The Nied's Hotel Band The Gathering Field John Nemeth Tina Daniels Band The Bail Jumpers Patrick Lah & Shailen Abram Tas Cru Jimbo & The Soupbones Bernard Allison Walter Trout EK Band The Rhythm Aces Ron Yarosz & The Vehicle | 2017 Matt Barranti Bill Toms and Hard Rain Featuring The Soulville Horns Anthony Gomes Tinsley Ellis Spectrum Adler/Barath Blues Band Miss Freddye Shot O' Soul theCAUSE Women of The Blues Jim Donovan and Sun King Warriors Kenny Neal Jill West and Blues Attack Stevee Wellons |
The kidzone is a fairly new attraction of the Pittsburgh Blues Festival. Thanks to a few of the event's many sponsors, the Kidzone tent at the festival accommodates a wide range of children activities including story-telling, face painting, musical presentations, and crafts. The kidzone also provides healthy snacks. [3]
Vandergrift is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Pittsburgh. Early in the 20th century, it had the largest sheet steel mill in the world.
James Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and always occurs in early June. Until 2017, the event always took place at and around Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, adjacent to the Lake Michigan waterfront east of the Loop in Chicago. In 2017, the festival was moved to the nearby Millennium Park.
The Hill District is a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, "the Hill" was the cultural center of black life in the city and a major center of jazz. Despite its cultural and economic vibrancy, in the mid-1950s a substantial area was slated for redevelopment, displacing about 8,000 individuals.
Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While the festival's lineup historically focused on blues music at its inception, it has increasingly showcased mainstream pop, hip hop, reggae, and rock acts in recent years. Bluesfest has become the largest music festival in Canada and the second largest blues festival in North America.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner.
David "Honeyboy" Edwards was a Delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi.
Pittsburgh Brewing Company is a beer company headquartered in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States best known for producing brands such as Iron City Beer, I.C. Light Beer, I.C. Light Mango, Old German, and Block House Brewing. Until August 2009, all production was conducted at its Lawrenceville facility. From August 2009-2021, their products were contract brewed at City Brewing Company in the facility once produced Rolling Rock. On February 4, 2021, Iron City Beer's Instagram account announced that Pittsburgh Brewing Company would resume production of its own product in a new production brewery in Creighton, Pennsylvania, in the original Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company plant. At its opening, the facility is capable of producing 150,000 BBLs of beer annually.
The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based company C3 Presents, which also produces Chicago's Lollapalooza.
The Stone Pony is a New Jersey music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. The club opened in 1973.
Katie Webster, born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.
The Culture of Pittsburgh stems from the city's long history as a center for cultural philanthropy, as well as its rich ethnic traditions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, wealthy businessmen such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry J. Heinz, Henry Clay Frick, and nonprofit organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation donated millions of dollars to create educational and cultural institutions.
Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival is a music festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that started in 1972 from the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which itself began in 1969. Although the festival has had a tumultuous history and suspended operations in 2006, it was restarted in 2017.
Robert Clifford Brown, known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues musician and singer.
William McKinley "Jazz" Gillum was an American blues harmonica player.
Applefest is a yearly village-wide food, entertainment and crafts fair, taking place in several towns in Canada, the United States and England.
Barkin' Bill Smith was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. He was born in Cleveland, Mississippi, and in his latter years lived in Chicago.
Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 is the Rhino Entertainment and Warner Brothers release to the 2007 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival. The concert was recorded on July 28, 2007 at the Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. The recordings were released on both Compact Disc and DVD on November 28, 2007 in the United States. The CD and DVD releases sold more than two million copies worldwide and reached various international charts.
The Blues Kitchen is a live music venue, bar and restaurant specialising in rare bourbon and barbecue. The restaurant currently operates three sites in London; on Camden High Street near Camden Town Station, on Curtain Road near Old Street Station in Shoreditch and on Acre Lane near Brixton Station. A forth venue opened on Quay Street in Manchester in 2021.
Brianna Thomas is an American jazz singer, vocalist, composer, songwriter, band leader, and percussionist. She was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, United States. She made her singing debut at the age of six. She is the daughter of drummer and vocalist Charlie Thomas. She is known as being one of the best young straight ahead young jazz singers, says music critic and author Will Friedwald. She is known to bring together various forms of American music from bluegrass to jazz in to an original hybrid of jazz/funk/rock and soul. Her voice is said to be strong and her range huge. She incorporates rare music in her repertoire of early female blues and jazz pioneers such as Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox. All About Jazz said of her 2015 debut album, You Must Believe in Love, “Brianna Thomas is the complete package. Through this music she exhibits emotional depth, to-die-for scat skills, incredible pitch control and shading, strong songwriting skills, intuitively elastic phrasing, soulful bearing, and a great range.”
Media related to Pittsburgh Blues Festival at Wikimedia Commons
