10-Hour Music Lineup to Debut Blues & BBQ Festival

The Newport Yachting Center event venue and marina continues to offer diverse entertainment on the waterfront with an extended summer of live music.  This Thursday, April 5^th at 10:00 a.m. tickets go on sale for the debut of the Newport Blues & BBQ Festival happening Saturday, August 18^th from Noon to 10:00 p.m. 

The Festival will feature two-time Grammy award winner Taj Mahal, as well as John Lee Hooker, Jr., Shemekia Copeland, Joanne Shaw Taylor and a fifth act still to be announced. Tickets are $45 in advance or $55 the day of and can be purchased online at www.newportwaterfrontevents.com or by calling the Newport Yachting Center Box Office at (401) 846-1600. There is no reserved seating for the show.  Flexible general admission allows concert attendees to come and go during the day and night. 

“Our Reggae Festival has been such a success the last two years we decided to create another 10-hour music festival using the same format but dedicated to the blues,” said Michele Maker Palmieri, General Manager of the “We’ve had a rich blues history at the Newport Yachting Center so launching a blues festival was the logical next step and we’ve paired it up with some of the best barbeque in the area!  We’re thrilled to add this new event to our lineup on the Newport waterfront.”

The headliners for the Newport Blues & BBQ Festival are as follows:

Composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and two-time Grammy Award winner, Taj Mahal, is one of the most prominent and influential figures in late 20th Century blues and roots music. 

Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem on May 17, 1942, Mahal grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts in a home full of music and diverse ethnic and cultural pride, which ultimately became the roots of his eclectic style and international fame. A self taught singer-songwriter who plays the guitar, banjo and harmonica, Mahal has reshaped the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50 year career by fusing American blues with music representing virtually every corner of the world, including west Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the South Pacific.

After attending school at the University of Massachusetts, Mahal moved to Santa Monica, California in 1964 and formed the Rising Sons band with fellow blues musicians Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid.  He also worked with other blues legends during this time period, including Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters.  He recorded a total of twelve albums for Columbia Records from the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, much of which incorporated the sounds of the Caribbean, jazz and reggae.  Mahal has enjoyed a musical rebirth over the last decade-and-a-half, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for both Senior Blues in 1997 and Shoutin’ in Key in 2000.  His latest release, entitled Maestro, also received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2008.

John Lee Hooker, Jr., son of the blues great John Lee Hooker, has beaten the odds and today makes heart-felt music that expresses the depth of emotion he experienced in his once stormy past.   He began his career alongside his father, touring throughout his teens in prestigious venues and singing vocals for Hooker, Sr.’s album, Live at Soledad Prison.

After experiencing tough times, Hooker Jr. found his way back to music, creating a long list of highly acclaimed recordings.

In 2004 he released his debut album, a “celebratory redemption” called Blues with a Vengeance, which garnered a Grammy nomination and a W.C. Handy Award nomination.  His third album, entitled All Odds Against Me, received critical acclaim and another Grammy nomination in 2008.  His latest release is Live in Istanbul, Turkey.

Appearing with Robert Cray at last year’s Sunset Music Series, Shemekia Copeland is already a force to be reckoned with in the blues. She’s also opened for the Rolling Stones, headlined at the Chicago Blues Festival, scored critics choice awards on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times and The Times of London) and shared the stage with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, B.B. King and John Mayer.  After a critically-acclaimed 1998 debut recording, Turn the Heat Up!, she released Wicked in 2000 and it garnered three Handy Awards (Song of the Year, Blues Album of the Year, Contemporary Female Artist of the Year) and a Grammy nomination.  Copeland’s most recent awards include, “Best Female Blues Artist” by Blues Blast magazine and “Female Blues Artist of the Year 2010”, by Living Blues magazine. Her latest release is, Never Going Back.

Growing up near Birmingham, England, young Joanne Shaw Taylor was inspired by blues artists, including Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert Collins and Jimi Hendrix.  At age 16, the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart saw her perform and invited her to play guitar in his supergroup, D.U.P.  That was followed by extensive touring throughout the world with Stewart and fellow band members Jimmy Cliff, Candy Dulfer, and Mudbone Cooper. Described as having “massive potential” by Guitarist magazine and “the NEW face of Blues” by Blues Matters, Taylor recorded her debut album, White Sugar, which garnered a nomination as Best New Artist Debut at the 2010 Blues Music Awards. She then recorded her follow-up disc in 2010, Diamonds in the Dirt, which reflected a somewhat heavier sound that Taylor attributed to her new musical environment in Detroit, Michigan. Diamonds in the Dirt peaked at #8 in the United States Billboard Top Blues Albums chart and, at last year’s British Blues Awards, Taylor won both Best Female Vocalist and Songwriter of the Year for the track, "Same As It Never Was". 

The Newport Yachting Center also hosts the Nantucket Nectars Sunset Music Series throughout the summer.  The line-up to-date is as follows: 

DATE         PERFORMER                       TICKET PRICES

Fri., June 29         Ziggy Marley                       $42/$62

Fri., July 6         Badfish – A Tribute to Sublime            $18/$38

Fri., August 10         Classic Rock Rewind                      $38/$58

         Featuring Johnny Winter,

         Edgar Winter, Leslie West,

         Rick Derringer and Kim

         Simmonds

Fri., August 17         k.d. lang and The Siss Boom Bang                   $46/$66