" ... Back in Germany remembering the Bonita Springs Blues Festival - you really did a great job, thanks! Here is my little story to "Trampled Under Foot":
I've been a week in Warsaw (Poland) and spent an evening in a little Cafe, where local artists perform. I got into a conversation with a musician named Amelia. She knows a lot about blues, mentioning the band "TUF" as extraordinary! Back in Germany, I went researching on them in the internet and I decided have to see them somehow. I went to their homepage, their tour dates and chose Bonita Springs as the place to go! And I am glad that I did. It has been a great Festival with great artists and an amazing performance of "TUF"! I am looking forward to come back again, maybe even next year.
"Keeping the Blues alive" - All the best to you - Andy from Lampertheim, Germany ... "
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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.
Big Buck and the Biscuit Boys have developed their own genre of music. It’s blues, but not just any version of the blues — not Delta or Texas blues. The five-piece band plays an urban, funky style that originated up north.
For examples of the musicians who inspired their sound, think Muddy Waters, Albert King, and the J. Geils Band. Standout songs for the Biscuit Boys include “The Conductor” by Guy LaForge,and "Seventh Son" and, appropriately, "Biscuit Bakin’ Woman," by Willie Dixon.
The Reba Russell Band is a modern 5 piece electric blues band featuring original songs. They have traveled the world for 20 years playing festivals in North America and Europe.
This band combines experience, superlative instrumental virtuosity and the most moving female voice in the modern blues pantheon to create one of the most exciting entertainment packages to have ever come from Memphis, Tennessee.
A uniquely perfect mix of entertainment, blues and professional musicianship; Damon Fowler, Victor Wainwright and J.P. Soars, are Southern Hospitality.
The phrase "highly anticipated" can carry some dangerous baggage with it; there's a huge potential for a letdown, and on the overall, precious few bands live up to the moniker. Thankfully, Southern Hospitality not only meets those expectations, but exceeds them.
Whether Jimmy Thackery headlines a festival in South Dakota or jams for hours in one of numerous blues bars that dot the musical landscape, he'll always unleash an intense volley of rockin' blues guitar guaranteed to leave crowds emotionally spent. His double edged guitar dynamics allow him to fire off tracer missiles, bend a note so it will fit under a limbo bar, run off dive bomber riffs, and find space within the trembling of one stinging note. "I put all my senses on hold and find the zone and follow what's inside. There's an electricity from your mind to your heart to your fingers. You just try and remember to breathe."
The band is made up of 5 players of diverse backgrounds: Don “Zero” Hedman, keyboards, trumpet, vocals; Bob “ The Professor” Stickel, lead guitar; Ted Scott, drums; Tom Pillsy, bass and vocals; Bill “Smokin Bill” Zink, lead guitar and vocals. Cracker Blues has become one of the area’s premier blues bands. The desire of all of the members of this band has been to preserve and promote the style of the blues from both the classic and the modern artists. We strive to bring the audience not only a selection of blues classics but to do it in a way that is new and exciting. It has been said many times that we are having as much fun as the audience while performing the music of the greatest blues artists of all times. That observation is an understatement.
Deb & The Dynamics have been thrilling crowds in Southwest Florida for the last 10 years.
All of the members are influenced in traditional blues, Memphis Soul and Classic R&B, Deb & the Dynamics prides itself in staying true to the music. The band consists of three lead vocalists that each brings something different to the show
The Juice began 18 years ago in a small club on Fort Myers Beach at the Captain’s Tavern. It featured a Beach favorite, Steve Anthony, on keys and lead vocals and boasted a four-piece horn section led by the late—and well-loved—Bruce Gora on trumpet and harmonica. Over the years some of this area’s top musicians have migrated in and out and back in The Juice, including Danny Sheppard, Jo List, Danny Keady, Don Hulgas, Craig Christman and other talented individuals. The band has recorded one CD of a live concert at the defunct club The Renaissance. The recording continues to be a favorite among The Juice fans.
The Skyla Burrell Band is a full time, hard working traveling blues band. With co-founder Mark Tomlinson on lead guitar and Skyla Burrell on vocals/lead guitar,
the band's live show consists of all original high energy electric blues.
"Skyla Burrell is another one to watch. Usually when one sees an attractive female blues artist she’s strictly a singer, but when Burrell straps on an electric guitar over her little black dress, look out." - Columbia News and Arts
Born on the south side of Chicago and raised by his Grandmother where he was given his childhood nickname, Biscuit; after always being in the kitchen and underfoot while she was trying to cook. Growing up at Grandma’s house also gave Biscuit his love and appreciation for music, as gospel and soul were played in the home on a regular basis.
While visiting his friend Datrick’s house one afternoon, Biscuit spotted a four string electric bass sitting in a corner collecting dust and decided to check it out.
Ronnie was born in Richmond, VA in 1950. Inspired and encouraged by his jazz drumming uncle, Ronnie was beatin’ the skins by the time he was 8, and gigging in local bands by the young age of 13. Ronnie was weaned on the sounds of swing jazz, rhythm & blues and early rock & roll, but it was the post-war urban blues that really spoke to Ronnie, especially the deep blues of Muddy Waters, the wicked harp of Little Walter and all the great Chess artists. It wasn’t long before he was soaking up the different styles the genre had to offer.
From working at Chicago's Red Carpet Car Wash to appearing on national television, from gigging at the smallest ghetto blues bars to performing on the biggest international concert stages, master bluesman Lil' Ed Williams has come a long way. Mixing smoking slide guitar boogies and raw-boned Chicago shuffles with the deepest slow-burners, Lil' Ed and his blistering Blues Imperials - bassist James "Pookie" Young, guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton - deliver the blues, from gloriously riotous and rollicking to intensely emotional and moving. Not since the heyday of Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers has a blues band made such a consistently joyful noise.
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