Robert Cray Band @ Keswick Theatre
Glenside PA 19038 (8PM) $35-$59 advance; $44-$64 day of show

• • • March • • •

Friday, March 6, 2020

The Keyes-Bergeron-Hooks Band featuring Bernard Purdie @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7:30PM) $27 advance    — $35 Door

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Roomful of Blues @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7:30PM) $39 advance    — $45 Door

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Kim Wilson @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7PM) advance: $72     at door: $80

Friday March 20, 2020

Biscuit Miller & The Mix @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7:30PM) $27 advance    — $35 Door

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Dave Keller Band @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 7:00 PM $$20 advance    — $30 Door

Monday, March 23, 2020

Walter Trout @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 19860 (8PM) $35 & $49.50

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Jarekus Singleton @ Saint Georges Country Store
Saint Georges DE 19733

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Ann Kerstetter Band @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

Friday, March 27, 2020

Roomful Of Blues @ Sellersville Theater
Sellersville PA 19860 (8PM) $25-$39.50

John Mayall (with Dave Mason) @ Scottish Rite Auditorium
Collingswood NJ 08107 (8PM) $39.50-$85

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Berks Jazz Fest
Kenny Neal & The Neal Family Revue with special guest Frank Bey
@ The Inn At Reading, Wyomissing PA 19610 (1:30PM) $49

• • • April • • •

Friday, April 3, 2020

Berks Jazz Fest
Billy Price & Charm City Rhythm Band @ @ The Inn At Reading, Wyomissing PA 19610 (7:30PM) $20

Larkin Poe @ The Foundry
Philadelphia PA 19123

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Berks Jazz Fest
Tab Benoit opening: Greg Sover
@ The Inn At Reading, Wyomissing PA 19610 (1:30PM) $49

Albert Castiglia @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ (7:30PM) advance: $30     at door: $40

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

JP Soars & The Red Hots @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7:30PM) $25 advance    — $35 Door

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Bret Alexander & Nyke Van Wyck @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

• • • May • • •

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Mississippi Heat @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7PM) advance: $32     at door: $40

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival Day 1
@ Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis MD 21409
Blues Traveler
The Spinners
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Southern Avenue
Elektric Voodoo
Wayne Baker Brooks
Chesapeake Bay Blues Band, featuring
Patty Reese, Daryl Davis, Mark Wenner, Dave Chappell
Holiday Ticket Price sale ends December 31, 2019 — Tickets go on sale December 16, 2019
Holiday ticket prices:
One-Day Pass $55
Two-Day Pass $100
VIP Ticket Package $550

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival Day 2
@ Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis MD 21409
Buddy Guy
Shemekia Copeland
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
Cash Box Kings
Vanessa Collier
Altered Five Blues Band

Saturday, May 23, 2020

10th Annual Black Walnut Winery Blues Fest
Sadsburyville PA 19369
Noon-3PM: (TBA)
4PM-7PM: (TBA)

Sunday, May 24, 2020

10th Annual Black Walnut Winery Blues Fest
Sadsburyville PA 19369
Noon-3PM: (TBA)
4PM-7PM: (TBA)

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Stacia Abernatha & Ben Geise @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

Saturday, May 30, 2020

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

• • • June • • •

Friday, June 5, 2020

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

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Blues, Brews & Barbecue
9th & Hamilton Streets and surrounding area
Allentown PA 18101 (Noon-10PM)

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

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

Sunday, June 7, 2020

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 12, 2020

Billtown Blues Festival Day 1
Lycoming County Fairgrounds, Hughesville PA 17737 (6PM)

Trudy Lynn @ Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton NJ 08087 (7:30PM) $32 advance    — $40 Door

Saturday, June 13, 2020

State Street Blues Stroll
Business district in Media PA 19063

Billtown Blues Festival Day 2
Lycoming County Fairgrounds, Hughesville PA 17737 (12 Noon)

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Billtown Blues Festival Day 3
@ Lycoming County Fairgrounds
Hughesville PA 17737 (11AM)

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Deb Callahan @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

Friday, June 26, 2020

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 1
@ Steel Stacks, in Bethlehem PA 18015

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 2
@ Steel Stacks, in Bethlehem PA 18015

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Blast Furnace Blues Festival Day 3
@ Steel Stacks, in Bethlehem PA 18015

• • • July • • •

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Briggs Farm Blues Festival
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 10, 2020

Briggs Farm Blues Festival
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
TBA

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Briggs Farm Blues Festival
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
TBA

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Norman Taylor @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

• • • August • • •

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Kevin McCann Blues Trio @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

• • • September • • •

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Kerry Kenny Trio @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

• • • October • • •

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Jeff Anderson Project @ The Listening Room
Bloomsburg PA 17815 (7PM) $5

• • • November • • •

Friday, November 20, 2020

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

Saturday, November 21, 2020

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

Sunday, November 22, 2020

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 • • •

• • • every Tuesday • • •

Little Red Rooster hosts blues jam @ Villa Capri every Tuesday
Doylestown PA 18901 (8PM)

blues jam hosted by Paul Boddy & The Slidewinder Blues Band @ Havana every Tuesday
New Hope PA 18938 (8PM)

Ursula Ricks hosts "Cats Eye Blues Jam" @ The Cats Eye Pub
Baltimore (Fells Point) MD 21231 (9PM)

Nate Myers and The Aces @ Grotto Pub
Enola PA

• • • every Wednesday • • •

Mikey Jr. @ The Twisted Tail every Wednesday
Philadelphia PA 19147 (8PM)

Mikey Jr. @ The Twisted Tail every Wednesday

• • • every Wednesday • • •

blues jam hosted by Steve Guyger @ Temperance House every Thursday
Newtown PA 18940 (7PM)

blues jam hosted by Empty Belly Blues Band @ Brut Lounge every Thursday
Feasterville PA 19053 (7:30PM)

• • • every Sunday • • •

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

Blues Brunch, Jam, & open mic with The Philly Blues Kings
first Sunday of each month
@ Jamey's House Of Music
Lansdowne PA 19050 (Noon-3PM)   free
Open mic jam Noon-1:30PM — Philly Blues Kings set 1:30PM-3PM

           Monthly

Fred Miller Blues Band @ The Rusty Nail
Blues Jam 8PM last Sunday of each month
Ardmore PA

    — Jonny's Top Blues Albums of 2019 —

It's pretty hard to precisely rank a whole bunch of great albums like these sensibly. What tiny difference makes the #17 album better than the #18 album? Catherine Russell's album is really superb throughout, though it's only partly blues songs, so it's a little lower on the list, which is a list of blues releases.

For the most part, this is just a list of some great 2019 blues albums, and they have made 2019 a good blues year. I would "stand by" the top three ranking choices. Toronzo Cannon's highly inventive songwriting and distinctive, edgy performance makes his album my #1 for the year. Jontavious Willis, still in his early twenties, has produced a really solid neo-traditional album that invokes traditional country blues while coming from a modern perspective. Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's debut album is invigorating, fun, and thought-provoking. But you can't go wrong with any of these.

The six albums at the bottom of this list (shown in green) are all "old" music, recorded several years ago (in the case of Leo Bud Welch), or decades ago (all the others), and issued or reissued this year. It was one of the best highlights of the past year that the concert albums featuring Johnny Shines, and Henry Townsend and Roosevelt Sykes, from previously unreleased 1973 concerts, came out for the first time. All of the artists on these albums are no longer living, except a few on the Cadillac Baby box set.

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    — Jonny's Top Blues Songs of 2019 —

My top song picks for 2019 . . . 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 2019.

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     Cool Blues Links

• 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

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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".