Wildly fun, musically fearless and bursting with bravado, 2018’s Blues Music Award- winning Band of The Year Rick Estrin & The Nightcats have created one of the blues’ most instantly recognizable sounds and no-holds-barred styles. Featuring the world-class talents of harmonica master, songwriter and vocalist Rick Estrin, guitar wunderkind Chris “Kid” Andersen, keyboard wizard Lorenzo Farrell and dynamic drummer Alex Pettersen, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats serve up sharp and incisive original blues and gritty roadhouse rock ‘n’ roll. They were nominated four times for the prestigious Blues Music Award for Band of The Year. Years of worldwide touring and a series of critically acclaimed recordings have earned Estrin five Blues Music Awards, including two nods for Song of The Year (1994 and 2018), Best Instrumentalist—Harmonica (2013) and Traditional Blues Male Artist of The Year (2018). Rick Estrin & The Nightcats have not only picked up where Little Charlie & The Nightcats left off, they’ve taken everything to the next level.
2023 Lineup
James Cotton Tribute with Mark Hummel & James Cotton Band
SThe iconic harmonica man James Cotton passed in 2017 at the age of 81. Cotton’s considered by most the last great harp titan of the generation that produced Little Walter (who James replaced in Muddy Waters Band), Sonny Boy Williamson 2 (who raised Cotton from 12 years old), Jr Wells, Big Walter and many more. James’ career spanned more than six plus decades and put him on the map of All Time Blues Greats! The James Cotton Blues Band is Rico McFarland, Tom Holland (guitars), Cros Charles Mack (bass), Mark Mack (drums) plus Mark Hummel playing and singing James’s role as front man. Hummel produces The Blues Harmonica Blowouts (Mayall, Musselwhite, Huey Lewis, Lee Oskar, Magic Dick) for 30 years that featured Cotton on seven national tours as part of that event. James commented, “Mark is all about the music.” Mark has a Grammy nom in 2013 and two Blues Music Awards, and 30 albums to his credit.
Lurrie Bell
Son of the Blues harp legend, Carey Bell, Lurrie began sitting in at his father’s sessions from the time he could walk, mentored by Blues greats such as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Buddy Guy. He quickly came into his own as a talented and in-demand guitarist, working with the likes of Koko Taylor and Eddie C. Campbell, and teaming with Billy Branch and Freddie Dixon as the founding members of the Sons of Blues. He has garnered industry recognitions including Blues Music Awards in 2014 and 2015 and a Grammy nomination in 2016. Lurrie has lived the life of a true Bluesman, as a featured sideman, band leader, and solo artist in over 50 recordings. Lurrie’s elegant and intense guitar playing, and passionate vocals have made him a favorite on the national and international Blues circuit, earning him a reputation as one of genre’s rightful heirs and “leading lights.”
John Primer and the Real Deal Blues Band
John Primer was just nominated for 3 Blues Music Awards by the National Blues Foundation for Traditional Blues Artist, Traditional Blues Album and Album of The Year for his Hard Times album. He was given two Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2013 for Keeping the Blues Alive from the Pennsylvania Blues Society as well as from the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, he has been nominated for two Grammy Awards by the Recording Academy in 2010 & 2016 for Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year, and won Traditional Blues Artist of the Year this year – 2021 and in 2016 as well as more than 15 nominations year after year by the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards for the Best Traditional Blues Artist of the Year as well as Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year. John just won the Living Blues Magazine award for Best Traditional Blues Album with Bob Corritore. John is one of the last Legendary Traditional Blues Musicians alive today with his roots in Mississippi. He is a living legend and a true master of the blues!
Crystal “Country Girl” Thomas
Crystal Thomas using her voice as a positive influence and as encouragement. She enjoys lifting people up to be better, love better, and live better. Crystal Thomas is big and she’s bluesy, and raw. She can grind a note and use it any way she wants. After all, she grew up listening to Muddy and Jimmy Reed and Johnnie Taylor and rapped, too. Gritty music is in her blood. She sang before she talked. She belts it out in church, in juke joints, wowing the crowds in Hong Kong, Japan and Europe. This woman sings with the kind of raw emotion that makes you glad you are alive – even if life it tough. Crystal is the real deal. She can tell you about growing up in Mansfield, Louisiana in the deep country. She remembers playing DJ while her family played cards and picking up the trombone in fifth grade because her brother had it and her mom didn’t want to purchase another instrument.
Memphis Lightning
Memphis Lightning was born out of tradition with a pedigree second to none. Having played with the Blues Legend Eddie “Blues Man” Kirkland, Memphis Lightning are the real deal. Their energetic performances will bring you back to the days when the Juke Joints were rockin’ and the Blues was King. So bring a friend, roll back the rug and get on the floor….Memphis Lightning is in the House.
JP Soars Gypsy Blues Revue with Anne Harris
Not every blues artist can create a cohesive sound in the genre by weaving in a diversity of other influences, but guitarist and vocalist JP Soars is obviously not just any blues artist. A 2009 winner of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN with his band the Red Hots (and the festival’s Albert King Award winner as best guitarist to boot), the Arkansas native toured extensively through the United States, Canada, South America and Europe with metal bands after relocating to South Florida, and is one of the few guitarists also capable of adding nuances of his long-standing, Django Reinhardt-inspired “Gypsy jazz” side project.
Anne Harris is an American singer, songwriter, violinist, recording artist and actress based in Chicago, Illinois.[1][2] She has independently produced and released six studio albums on her record label, Rugged Road Records: Anne Harris (2001), Open Your Doors (2003), Wine and Poetry (2005),[3] Gravity and Faith (2008), Come Hither (2015) and Roots (2019). A live album, Live at the Acorn Theater, was released in 2008.[4] Her music has been described by various writers as incorporating a variety of influences, including traditional Celtic music, American folk-rock, Afrobeat, soul, and chamber music. For lack of a specific genre label, her work has been dubbed “conscious music” which refers to music and lyrics that have some basis in a spiritual, humanist philosophy.
Eliza Neals
Original compositions have garnered Eliza a 2018 Detroit Black Music Award for ‘Blues Artist of the Year.’ and FIVE Detroit Music Awards. A total of seventeen nominations in the ‘Independent Blues Awards’ along with ‘Get Ready to Rock UKs’ glowing Best Artists awards in five categories. Eliza last full album ‘Black Crow Moan’ is a Top Album of 2020 after landing on so many bests of lists. ‘Black Crow Moan’ finished 2020 on a high note with continued radio play and rescheduled tours in 2021.
GeminiiDRAGON
From the murky bayous of Louisiana, comes a fresh face to the Blues music scene. A vocal dynamo that channeled her love for the late 60s era and 70s blues and AOR bands/artists into a ferocious mix of blues rock soul…. Blues on Steroids!!! Her 2 debut singles ‘Like It or Not’ and ‘A Storm Is a Comin’ quickly built a heavy buzz in the Blues Community. Now with the release of her latest single ‘Just the Way It Is’ and upcoming debut Album ‘Fighting Fire with Fire’, It would seem that the skies are the limit to her journey.
