Eddie Shaw on tenor and alto saxes and harmonica is a very talented singer, songwriter,musician, arranger, and band leader. He was Howlin'Wolf's personal manager for five years. Eddie is one of the most respected blues musicians alive today.
Originally from Benoit, MS, Eddie now lives on Chicago's South Side. Band Members include Eddie Vaan Shaw Jr., Eddie's son, is one of the best guitar players in the blues business. Vaan has music of his own, CD's, MORNING RAIN and THE TRAIL OF TEARS.
“If blues, soul, and rock can be said to form a triangle, you’ll find Hamilton Loomis right in the center of it”, says Guitar Player Magazine. An apt description, as young Loomis is one of the young artists at the forefront of bringing blues based American music into the 21st century and redefining it for a contemporary audience. Spanning youth and tradition, Loomis bridges the gap between generations of music-lovers both in the U.S. and around the world.
Born in New Roads, LA in July 1979, and raised in the bayou town of Houma, LA, Josh Garrett has been entertaining audience all over the country for the last five years with his own style of Louisiana Blues. Garrett’s style is a mixture of LA Blues, New Orleans Funk, Zydeco, and Rock ‘n’ Roll. “I’m drawn to all things Louisiana, it’s my culture and I try to embrace it,” says Garrett. He received an old acoustic guitar from his father when he was eleven years old. “[The guitar] was an old ’76 Alvarez. It was his guitar and he gave it to me. I was glad to get it and I haven’t put it down since.” say Garrett.
The band had a long 90-minute set and it was obvious this guy (JP Soars) is a monster guitar and slide player. Usually when a great player does a long set like that it all starts to sound like the same licks about an hour in the set. Not with this guy. He spent many years touring the world with heavy metal guitars bands before he realized his love for the blues was pulling him toward a new kind of music career. He can play it all, rock, metal, jazz, swing and the blues. Catch this guy as soon as you can before he decides to venture off into another genre of music! Bob Keiser, Blues Blast Magazine
CERTIFIED is a four-piece band comprised of experienced and accomplished musicians whose commitment is to entertain and keep your party going. You can count
on this band to keep the groove right where it should be and keep the dance floor full.
Their talents include a range that covers high energy dance, disco, Motown, R&B, reggae, island tropic, and jazz. CERTIFIED is dedicated to making the clients happy.
Victor Wainwright, the twenty something singer, pianist, “hepcat” from Memphis by way of the Savannah, Georgia; creates powerhouse blues and roots rock by playing his own unique style of boogie piana’. He effortlessly pays frequent homage to past music greats, while simultaneously adding his own youthful excitement. He's a raucous high-octane dynamic performer and crowd pleaser with soul to spare. After earning what he calls a "double major in Boogie, a Ph.D. in Swing and a master's in Rhythm," the "Piana' from Savannah" is undoubtedly making a name for himself in a big way.
Joanne Shaw Taylor has played with all sorts of blues musicians all over the world, she even made a film Deep Blues where she went to Mississippi and recorded with some legendary players such as R.L Burnside and Jesse-Mae Hemphill.
"Last year I heard something I thought I would never hear... a British White Girl playing blues guitar so deep and passionately it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!" (Dave Stewart/Eurythmics)
Tommy Lee Cook and The Boys of Buckingham are a mix of some of the area's finest Blues players and front men. Danny Shepard of Blue Mercury, Rex Bongo of The Cornbread Brothers, Harry Cassano of The Blues Majority, and Johnny Allender, all throw it down with Tommy Lee Cook and his band The Allstars.
Marty Stokes was originally raised on Sanibel & Captiva Islands, Florida and has been playing different variations of Blues Music since he was a kid. Raw and melodic, original, and reaching to the emotional core, Stokes will not disappoint the rocker who digs Blues grooves on top of it all. The Captiva Band is named after the Island in the Sub-Tropics, and home to his family since the 1800's. A group of long-time friends, the band delivers the goods with tasteful grooves over Stokes' originals, alongside creative arrangements of covers.
Unfortunately due to foot surgery Mel Melton will not be able to perform at this year's festival. Our hearts go out to Mel for a speedy recover, and we hope to have him in SW Florida in the future.
When
Time
Where
Marty Stokes and the Captiva Band
Tommy Lee Cook
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Victor Wainwright
The Certified Band
JP Soars
Josh Garrett Band
Hamilton Loomis
Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang