• • • April • • •

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Bucks Blues Explosion 2020 with Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
and Slim & the Perkolators
@ Bucks County Community College, Newtown PA 18940 (7:30PM-10PM)

Monday, April 12, 2021

Walter Trout opening: Little Buddy @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $35-$49.50

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Tinsley Ellis @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $25-$39.50

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Crooked Eye Blues Revue @ Crooked Eye Brewery
Hatboro PA 19040 (7PM)

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Catherine Russell with Charanee Wade and Brianna Thomas Ladies Sing The Blues
@ Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center
Blue Bell PA 19422 (5PM)

• • • May • • •

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Albert Cummings @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $21.50-$30

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Blues & Brews with Flamin' Harry & The Roadhouse Rockers
The Little Red Rooster Blues Band, & Stevie & The Bluescasters
@ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $22.50-$35

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Harmonica For Beginners taught by Seth Holzman online classes from Main Line School Night on eight successive Tuesdays 6:30PM-7:45PM, starting May 11th, through June 29th, $123.00

Introduction To Blues Harmonica taught by Seth Holzman online classes from Main Line School Night on eight successive Tuesdays 8:00PM-9:15PM, starting May 11th, through June 29th, $123.00

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
@ Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis MD 21409

Vanessa Collier @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $25-$39.50

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
@ Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis MD 21409

• • • June • • •

Friday, June 4, 2021

Havre De Grace Jazz & Blues Fest Day 1
Havre De Grace MD 21078

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Saint Georges Blues Festival Day 1
Fort DuPont Parade Grounds
Delaware City DE 19706
11:45AM — Judy Sings The Blues
1:15PM — Studebaker John & The Delaware Destroyers
       with Garry Cogdell
3:00PM — Tennessee Redemption with Brandon Santini & Jeff Jensen
4:45PM — Victor Wainwright & The Train
6:30PM — Joe Louis Walker
Garry Cogdell's Session Tent All Weekend Between Sets

Havre De Grace Jazz & Blues Fest Day 2
Havre De Grace MD 21078

Chester County Blues Barbecue @ Wyndsor Farm
Elverson PA 19520 (2PM-7PM) rain or shine

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Saint Georges Blues Festival Day 2
Fort DuPont Parade Grounds
Delaware City DE 19706
11:45AM — Gracie Curren & The High Falutin' Band
1:15PM — Backtrack Blues Band with Wayne Sharp
3:00PM — Toronzo Cannon
4:45PM — Mike Zito
6:30PM — Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Garry Cogdell's Session Tent All Weekend Between Sets

Havre De Grace Jazz & Blues Fest Day 3
Havre De Grace MD 21078

Friday, June 11, 2021

Billtown Blues Festival Day 1
Lycoming County Fairgrounds, Hughesville PA 17737

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Blues Brews & Barbecue on Hamilton Street, in Allentown PA
Noon — 10PM   free

Billtown Blues Festival Day 2
Lycoming County Fairgrounds, Hughesville PA 17737

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Billtown Blues Festival Day 3
Lycoming County Fairgrounds, Hughesville PA 17737

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Indigenous with Levi Platero Band @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $25-$39.50

Saturday, June 19, 2021

State Street Blues Stroll in the Media PA business district
Media PA 19063

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Dana Fuchs @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $29.50-$40

• • • July • • •

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Briggs Farm Blues Festival Opening Night:
88 Old Berwick Highway, Nescopeck PA 18635    tel 570-379-3342
6PM-11PM Bret Alexander & Friends (songs from summer of 1970)
MiZ (songs from Grateful Dead album American Beauty)

Friday, July 9, 2021

Briggs Farm Blues Festival Day One br /> 88 Old Berwick Highway, Nescopeck PA 18635    tel 570-379-3342
        Main Stage:
 4:15PM-5:45PM Celisse Henderson
 6:05PM-7:35PM Campbell Brothers
 7:55PM-9:25PM Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials
 9:45PM-11:15PM Ana Popovic

        Back Porch Stage:

 1:00PM-2:00PM Dane Tilghman & The Jack Adams Band
 2:20PM-3:50PM Gabe Stillman
 4:10PM-6:50PM (TBA)
 7:10PM-8:40PM Pappy Biondo & Justin Mazer
9:00PM-10:30PM Swampcandy

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Briggs Farm Blues Festival Day Two
88 Old Berwick Highway, Nescopeck PA 18635    tel 570-379-3342
        Main Stage:
 4:00PM-5:30PM Scott Pemberton
 5:50PM-7:20PM Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues
 7:40PM-9:10PM Victor Wainwright & The Train
9:30PM-11:00PM Shemekia Copeland

        Back Porch Stage:

 1:00PM-2:10PM The Mighty Susquehannas
 2:30PM-4:00PM King Solomon Hicks
 4:20PM-6:20PM (TBA)
 6:40PM-8:10PM Gracie Curran
8:30PM-10:00PM The National Reserve

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Sonny Landreth @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM)

Friday, July 16, 2021

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 1
@ SteelStacks, Bethlehem PA 18015

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Bucks County Blues Society's R & B Picnic
Biscuit Miller & The Mix, Shawn Holt & The Teardrops Harper & Midwest Kind, Moonshine Society, Nick Trill & The Thrillseekers, Tom Craig Band
@ Snipes Farm, in Morrisville PA 19067 (10:30AM-7PM)

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 2
@ SteelStacks, Bethlehem PA 18015

Hot Tuna with guests David Grisman Trio @ Penn's Peak
Jim Thorpe PA 18229 (8PM)

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 3
@ SteelStacks, Bethlehem PA 18015

• • • August • • •

Friday, August 6, 2021

Roomful Of Blues @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $25-$39.50

Friday, August 20, 2021

Savoy Brown @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 18960 (8PM) $29.50-$45

• • • September • • •

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Phoenixville Blues Fest [event status uncertain]
Reeves Park, in Phoenixville PA 19460 (Noon-10PM) free

Gypsy Moon Blues Festival @ Community Park [event status uncertain]
East Petersburg PA 17520 (3PM-8PM) free

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Paoli Blues Festival
Paoli Presbyterian Church on South Valley Road
Paoli PA 19301 (Noon-6PM) free

• • • October • • •

Friday, October 15, 2021

Lancaster Roots And Blues Festival Day 1
various venues in Lancaster PA
performers TBA

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Lancaster Roots And Blues Festival Day 2
various venues in Lancaster PA
performers TBA

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Lancaster Roots And Blues Festival Day 3
various venues in Lancaster PA
performers TBA

• • • November • • •

Friday, November 19, 2021

Reading Blues Fest (Day 1) — Ticket Information
@ DoubleTree by Hilton, Reading PA 19601

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Reading Blues Fest (Day 2) — Ticket Information
@ DoubleTree by Hilton, Reading PA 19601

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Reading Blues Fest (Day 3) — Ticket Information
@ DoubleTree by Hilton, Reading PA 19601

• • • December • • •

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Regularly occurring (weekly, monthly) blues jams and events

           Weekly

• • • every Monday • • •

blues jam & open mic with Joe Alves Band @ The Ashburner Inn every Monday
Philadelphia (Torresdale) PA 19136 (8PM-11PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

• • • every Tuesday • • •

Little Red Rooster hosts blues jam @ Villa Capri every Tuesday
Doylestown PA 18901 (8PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

blues jam hosted by Paul Boddy & The Slidewinder Blues Band @ Havana every Tuesday
New Hope PA 18938 (8PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

Ursula Ricks hosts "Cats Eye Blues Jam" @ The Cats Eye Pub
Baltimore (Fells Point) MD 21231 (9PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

Nate Myers and The Aces @ Grotto Pub
Enola PA
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

• • • every Wednesday • • •

Mikey Jr. @ The Twisted Tail every Wednesday
Philadelphia PA 19147 (8PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

• • • every Thursday • • •

blues jam hosted by Steve Guyger @ Temperance House every Thursday
Newtown PA 18940 (7PM) Suspended Because Of COVID-19

blues jam hosted by Empty Belly Blues Band @ Brut Lounge every Thursday
Feasterville PA 19053 (7:30PM) Suspended Because Of COVID-19

• • • every Sunday • • •

Mikey Jr. leads blues jam - open mic @ The Twisted Tail every Sunday
Philadelphia PA 19147 (5PM-9PM)
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

Blues Brunch, Jam, & open mic with The Philly Blues Kings
every Sunday
@ Jamey's House Of Music
Lansdowne PA 19050 (Noon-3PM)   free
Open mic jam Noon-2PM — Philly Blues Kings set 2PM-3PM
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

           Monthly

Fred Miller Blues Band @ The Rusty Nail
Blues Jam 8PM last Sunday of each month
Ardmore PA 19003
Suspended Because Of COVID-19

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       • • • More News • • •

The movie Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is now being shown on Netflix. The film, based on a play of the same name by August Wilson, is about events surrounding a 1927 recording session with Ma Rainey known as the "Mother Of The Blues," and it stars Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final film role. It is produced by Denzel Washington. Reviews of the film and the performances of its stars have been very positive. View the trailer.

Joseph "Mojo" Morganfield, son of blues great Muddy Waters has died unexpectedly at age 56 in Chicago. Morganfield recently put out a single "It's Good To Be King," with an album planned for 2021.
      read Mojo Morganfield's obituary.

The song Clotilda's On Fire on Shemekia Copeland's album Uncivil War tells the stories of the last ship to bring slaves to the United States, the descendants of those slaves, and the effort of the ship's captain to destroy the evidence of what it did. The wreckage of the ship has been found in Alabama. View Anderson Cooper's report on the Clotilda from CBS 60 Minutes.

Bluesman Jimmy Johnson turned 92 this November. You can view for free his concert with John Primer, Billy Branch, Dave Specter, and John Kattke, recorded last July. You may also support these artists if you would like to.

There's a new children's book about bluesman Blind Willie Johnson. It's called Dark Was The Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey To The Stars, named after one of Johnson's songs, a song that was included with the music and sounds of Earth sent into space on Voyager I in 1977, which is where the story starts in the book. It was written by Gary Golio and illustrated by E. B. Lewis.
Review of Dark Was The Night in The Houston Chronicle.

The Blues Images 2021 Blues Calendar with its accompanying CD (including a previously unreleased Victoria Spivey song, several previously unissued songs from Lost John Hunter from the Sun Records studio in Memphis, and more) is available now. The calendar features some of the original artwork and photographs used to promote these 78 rpm records when they were released.

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram was featured on PBS Newshour, November 11, 2020

Watch Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's Tiny Desk Home Concert from NPR

The Chicago Blues Camp is having Facebook Live online concerts that you can either watch live as they happen or later. Recent ones featuring 92-year-old Jimmy Johnson and Mud Morganfield, son of Muddy Waters, are well worth watching.

The Blues Collaborative of Southeast Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley works with a number of regional bands to promote their work; visit their calendar of events.

Working From Home is a series of at-home concerts by blues and roots artists produced by The Arhoolie Foundation and The Little Village Foundation. The concerts they have up include music from C. J. Chenier, The Sons of The Soul Revivers, Aki Kumar and Rome Yamilov, and John Blues Boyd.

On Sunday, May 3rd, the winners of the 2020 Blues Music Awards from The Blues Foundation were announced, along with some performances online, and you can view the event now.

Rory Block is doing Facebook Live Concerts from her home Tuesday and Friday nights, starting at 7:30PM ET

"tune in" daily for online music from Clarksdale MS

Harmonica player Mikey Junior presents live online music every Wednesday from 5PM to 7M from The Twisted Tail's Facebook Page

Roger Girke, Jimmy Pritchard and others perform live online music every Tuesday at 6PM from The Saint Georges Country Store on Facebook Live.

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   Blues Albums Nominated For Grammys:

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     Cool Blues Links

• video of "Jim Crow's Shadow" by The Lizzard Kings featuring Charles Ponder
• Christone "Kingfish" Ingram featured on PBS Newshour, November 11, 2020
• Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's Tiny Desk Home Concert from NPR
• video for Big Harp George's song Build Myself An App
• Watch the virtual version of this year's East Side Kings Festival from Austin TX
• Urban Ladder Society song/video Take Care Of Each Other
• Tinsley Ellis video of "Your Love's Like Heroin"
• Organist Barbara Dennerlein with the great harmonica player Toots Thielemans St. Louis Blues in concert on an Italian TV show "La storia del Jazz" sometime in the 1980s
• James Taylor performs his classic spoof on suburban blues wannabes Steamroller Blues in a 1970 concert in London
• Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton in concert at Paste Studio in NYC, April 4, 2019 • Danielle Miraglia performs at The Center For Arts in Natic MA October 24, 2020
• singer-saxophonist Evelyn Rubio in concert @ The Mucky Duck in Houston TX, September 13, 2020
• Johnny Rawls & Christopher Dean at The Listening Room, Bloomsburg, PA, August 2, 2020
• King Solomon Hicks with Kirk Yano bass & John Sweeney harmonica at The Listening Room, Bloomsburg, PA, September 2, 2020
• Kevin McCann Blues Trio at The Listening Room, Bloomsburg, PA, August 2020
• Danielle Miraglia home concert, September 15, 2020
• King Solomon Hicks video from Vintage Guitar Magazine Everyday I Have The Blues
• Albert Collins Live At Montreaux 1979 great set!
• Buddy Guy at Newport Jazz Festival 08/14/1994
• Alexis P. Suter performs "None Of Us Are Free" at The Iridium in New York City in 2014
• Joe Louis Walker & Eric Gales video "Comin' On"
• Adrena The Corona Blues
• Sir Rod & The Blues Doctors video of "Freedom For My People"
• Evelyn Rubio sings I'm Gonna Love You Tonight
• Toronzo Cannon (clips) @ 2019 Berks BluesFest
• View at-home concerts from various roots musicians (including CJ Chenier) in the Working From Home series from The Arhoolie Foundation and the Little Village Foundation.
• The Sons Of The Soul Revivers sing "Let Me Come Home" in their living room.
• Dukes Of Destiny in performance at Jamey's House Of Music, October 5, 2018 (two songs)
• The 2020 Blues Music Awards online ceremony from The Blues Foundation announcing winners, along with performances by blues artists and archival video
• Andrew Alli & Josh Small — Hard Workin' Man
• Andrew Alli performance and interview
• Bobby Rush Facebook Live Session 3/24/2020
• Keb' Mo' (with guest Jontavious Willis!) concert at Paste Studio New York City
• Sir Rod & The Blues Doctors Come Together not the Beatles song!
  (harmonica by Adam Gussow of the duo Satan & Adam; "Sir" Rod Patterson is nephew of Sterling Magee of that duo
• "Triple Tonguing" on the harmonica, from harmonica master Adam Gussow
• Harmonica master Adam Gussow's son Sean plays a whole bunch of instruments!
• Camille Thurman, saxophonist and singer, talks about (and plays) the blues
• Shemekia Copeland on PBS NewsHour Weekend 1/26/2020
• Benny Turner — "Who Sang It First"
• Cash McCall — "One Who's Got A Lot"
• Eddie Taylor and Big Walter Horton Live In Finland in 1976
• Blind Blake with Gus Cannon 1927 "He's In The Jailhouse Now"
• GoogleDoodle for B. B. King's 94th birthday, September 15, 2019
• song video Keb' Mo' with Taj Mahal Don't Throw It Away
• Christone "Kingfish" Ingram in performance at Briggs Farm Blues Festival
       July 13, 2019
• Annika Chambers in performance at Briggs Farm Blues Festival, July 12, 2019
• Southern Avenue in performance at Briggs Farm Blues Festival, July 12, 2019
• Cedric Burnside Project in performance at Briggs Farm Blues Festival, July 13, 2019
• James Armstrong in performance at Briggs Farm Blues Festival, July 12, 2019
• Shemekia Copeland "Would You Take My Blood" in performance World Cafe Live
       October 3, 2018
• Shemekia Copeland "The Wrong Idea" in performance World Cafe Live
       October 3, 2018
• Shemekia Copeland "In The Blood Of The Blues" in performance World Cafe Live
       October 3, 2018
• Vanessa Collier "Bad News Bears" in performance Briggs Farm Blues Festival
       July 7, 2017
• Vanessa Collier "The Run Around" in performance Briggs Farm Blues Festival
       July 7, 2017
• Thornetta Davis "I'd Rather Be Alone" in performance Briggs Farm Blues Festival
       July 8, 2017
• Eric Gales "Change In Me" in performance Briggs Farm Blues Festival July 8, 2017
• R. L. Boyce & The Cornlickers "One Of These Days" in performance
       Briggs Farm Blues Festival July 7, 2017
• Dave Weld & The Imperial Flames "Mary Had A Little Lamb" in performance
       Saint Georges Blues Festival, June 10, 2017
• B. B. King on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual in 1968 Part 1
• B. B. King on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual in 1968 Part 2

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       — Jonny's Top Blues Albums of 2020 —

It's not really possible to precisely rank a whole bunch of great albums like these sensibly. What tiny difference makes the #18 album better than the #19 album? I've decided not to rank these in number order.

For the most part, this is just a list of some of the blues albums that have been played on the show in 2020, and they have made 2020 a good blues year, despite COVID-19. One thing of note — very possibly a result of the pandemic — was that there were a lot more singles issued this year than usual. Some are supposed to be on albums coming out in 2021. I'm including them in the albums list, but marking them as singles.

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       — Jonny's Top Blues Songs of 2020 —

My top song picks for 2020 . . . of course, as with the albums above, the ranking of these isn't the result of some kind of perfectly precise, logical process. All of these songs added something important to the overall body of blues songs in 2020. Some certainly "packed a punch" — songs like "Clotilda's On Fire" from Shemekia Copeland, telling the story of the last ship to bring slaves to this country, which was burned and sunk to conceal what it did, or "All My Dues Are Paid" from the late Frank Bey, summing up his life in blues.

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About The Blues Show and Jonny Meister

The Blues Show airs every Saturday night from 7:00 to Midnight on XPN. Host Jonny Meister explores this music and its history not only because it is the key ingredient in later rock and pop music, but also because of its own special allure and unique power as a style of music and expression of the human soul.

Jonny Meister with Catherine Russell

The Blues Show covers the entire history of the blues from 1920 to the present, from the best-known to the most obscure blues, with focus on the present-day blues, but with an eye on the rich history of this music and its large body of timeless recordings.

Host Jonny Meister has been playing the blues on WXPN since March 1977. Meister grew up with old blues records in the house. His father played boogie woogie on the piano, which Jonny learned at about the age of 12. Later he played in rock bands and did a few solo gigs as a singer-songwriter. As his interest in blues grew, he became especially interested in the history of the music, a history not always revealed by the rock musicians and their promoters who drew heavily on the blues.

Jonny spent a week with the family of the late, great blues musician J. B. Lenoir in 1979, and he was one of the consultants for the Wim Wenders film The Soul Of A Man which featured Lenoir, in the PBS film series The Blues. He won the "Keeping The Blues Alive" award for work in Public Radio for The Blues Show in 2000 and a "Best of Philly" award from Philadelphia Magazine in 1996 for "Best Local Radio Show".