Tuesday

June 30

9:00PM

Bob Pace & the Blues Groove
website >>

NO COVER - Smokin’ hot blues guitar and a killer rhythm section. Blues Revue Magazine's Chip Eagle says "Bob Pace is one of my favorite guitarists." Bob Pace and the Blues Groove--always changing, always entertaining.

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Wednesday

July 1

6:00PM

Photo Show!

David Horwitz, Photo Show
FREE
Nationally known Blues photographer, David Horwitz, will be showing his work at BOG. This is your chance to own a one-of-a-kind print from a KBA recipient. His work spans 30+ years of Blues artistsl! You've seen his work in many magazines and CD covers... and now right here in Des Moines at Blues On Grand!

8:00PM

Early Show!

John Németh
website >>
$10

John Németh is a rising blues star; a singer steeped in the tradition and reminiscent of B.B. King, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, and a harmonica player of riveting intensity and virtuosity. Performing major music festivals around the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia has brought him critical acclaim.

“I remember telling friends up North in '80 that they should go see Stevie Ray Vaughan, but they weren't impressed because he wasn't famous yet. It will give me great pleasure to say, "I told you so!" about John Németh. You'll see." - Bob Margolin, Blues Revue

“Boy! John Németh can really belt it out!" - Charlie Musslewhite

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Thursday

July 2

9:30PM

A Thursday night tradition since 1992! The host band warms up the crowd from 9:30 to 10:30. Musicians, ranging from the accomplished professional to the inspired novice, are then invited to take the stage.  Unrehearsed and straight from the heart, this is some real Blues guaranteed to fill the house week after week. $3 Cover  photos >>

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Fri & sat

July 3/4

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Tuesday

July 7

9:00PM

Bob Pace & the Blues Groove
website >>

NO COVER - Smokin’ hot blues guitar and a killer rhythm section. Blues Revue Magazine's Chip Eagle says "Bob Pace is one of my favorite guitarists." Bob Pace and the Blues Groove--always changing, always entertaining.

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Wednesday

July 8

8:00PM

Early Show!

Baby Jason & Friends
website >>
$8

The Tablerocker’s blues roots run long and deep. The band, was founded in 1981 when a group of Lincoln, Nebraska’s best musicians headed to the tiny town of Table Rock for a killer week-end jam session. It included former members of The Cotton Blues Band, Homecookin’, and Little Jimmy Valentine and the Heartmurmurs. The end result was a new group based in Lincoln from 1981-1992, called The Tablerockers. The band quickly became the houseband at the internationally known Zoo Bar (winner of the Blues Foundation’s “Blues Club of the Year” and known as one of the top blues venues in the USA for over 30 years).  MORE>>

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Thursday

July 9

9:30PM

A Thursday night tradition since 1992! The host band warms up the crowd from 9:30 to 10:30. Musicians, ranging from the accomplished professional to the inspired novice, are then invited to take the stage.  Unrehearsed and straight from the heart, this is some real Blues guaranteed to fill the house week after week. $3 Cover  photos >>

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Friday

July 10

9:30PM

Kevin "B.F." Burt & the Instigators
more info >>
$8

This high energy, four piece band serves up a funky musical cocktail of a cold shot of blues with a splash of funk, a soul mixer and an R&B cherry.

Kevin Burt and The Instigators perform a Blues repertoire of old and new songs. They play cover songs that they like by such artists as Bill Withers, Muddy Waters and CCR. Their music has the same framework as the original, but they deliver it in their own style and from their own perspective. The band is influenced from all areas of music as their original tunes reflect. Each member contributes to the songwriting process. They all have a part in creating the musical beat, the lyrics, and the feeling that shapes their songs.

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Saturday

July 11

9:30PM

Happy Birthday Doc!

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Tuesday

July 14

8:00PM

Early Show!

Albert Castiglia
website >>
$8

Albert Castiglia (pronounced “ka-STEEL-ya”) was born on August 12, 1969 in New York. At the age of 5, his family moved to Miami. With a Cuban mother and an Italian father, he is an example of the melting pot of culture that is Miami. He learned to play guitar at the age of 12 and soon realized that the passions in his heart were expressed best by his music.

Castiglia has a blues background. In 1990, he joined The Miami Blues Authority and later on won "Best Blues Guitarist" from New Times magazine in 1997. The legendary Junior Wells discovered Castiglia and immediately hired him as his own guitarist/vocalist on several world tours. After Wells' passing, Castiglia toured with Atlanta blues singer Sandra Hall, then ventured out on a solo career and released his debut album in 2002, Burn, working with his longtime friend, Graham Wood Drout of Iko-Iko. In 2006, he released his second album (and first for Blues Leaf Records), A Stone's Throw, which included two more insightful Drout songs, “Big Toe” and “Ghosts Of Mississippi.” Castiglia and Drout also released a live collaboration titled The Bittersweet Sessions in 2005, which focused on a more acoustic-oriented, intimate feel.

Now Castiglia comes back full-bore with a blistering new album on Blues Leaf Records, These are the Days, which perfectly showcases both his incendiary electric and slide guitar work and soulful vocals, which recall Van Morrison. These are the Days contains five Castiglia originals, including a tribute to his mentor Junior Wells, “Godfather of the Blues”. The material is varied, with songs from Bob Dylan (“Catfish’), Nappy Brown (“Night Time is the Right Time”) and Fenton Robinson (“Somebody Loan me a Dime”). Once again, Graham Wood Drout contributes another outstanding song, “Celebration,” to add to the string of compositions he’s written on each of Castiglia’s albums. Until now, “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” and Little Willie John’s “Need Your Love So Bad” were attention grabbers in Castiglia’s live shows; but through the insistence of Blues Leaf president Joe Morabia, Albert captures that magic on this album. In addition to the solid blues songs throughout These are the Days, Castiglia generates some dance floor energy with “Bad Year Blues” and “Twister,” two jumping tunes sure to become live show favorites. This is the album that says “These Are Albert Castiglia’s Days.”

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Wednesday

July 15

9:00PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
website >>
$3

Down-home, juke house blues... From the Delta to the Hills the Thunderbolts thumping rhythm and stomping slide workouts will remind you what real party music is meant to be. Guaranteed to make you shake your ass! HAVE A LISTEN>>

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Thursday

July 16

9:30PM

A Thursday night tradition since 1992! The host band warms up the crowd from 9:30 to 10:30. Musicians, ranging from the accomplished professional to the inspired novice, are then invited to take the stage.  Unrehearsed and straight from the heart, this is some real Blues guaranteed to fill the house week after week. $3 Cover  photos >>

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Friday

July 17

9:30PM

Lil' Brian & the Zydeco Travelers
website >>
$10

Think Buckwheat Zydeco meets George Clinton, bring on the hot sauce, toss in a bit of reggae for good measure, and we're off. It's an alluring admixture, and if you're not up dancing, check your pulse, because you're probably dead. - NewYorkRock.com

From TX - **** (out of four), Lil' Brian infuses zydeco with rap and a fierce P-Funk vibe. - USA Today

Lil' Brian is the freshest thing to come along in Zydeco in decades…as tight as The Meters, as funky as The Nevilles and as purely danceable as Clifton Chenier. - The Seattle Rocket

Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers have recorded the definitive Zydeco album, establishing their unique style of Z-Funk as a dominant musical force for the 21st Century with Funky Nation. - Zydecoroad.com/Zyde-zine

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Saturday

July 18

9:30PM

Hot Tamale & the Red Hots
website >>
$5

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Tuesday

July 21

9:00PM

Bob Pace & the Blues Groove
website >>

NO COVER - Smokin’ hot blues guitar and a killer rhythm section. Blues Revue Magazine's Chip Eagle says "Bob Pace is one of my favorite guitarists." Bob Pace and the Blues Groove--always changing, always entertaining.

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Wednesday

July 22

8:00PM

Early Show!

Hamilton Loomis
website >>
$10

"Innovate, don't imitate." Hamilton Loomis took his mentor, Bo Diddley's advice. It speaks volumes when the likes of Diddley, Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Albert Collins take you under their wings. The twenty-something Texas sensation isn't just another cat-in-a-hat with a Strat. He has crafted his blues roots into a funk-a-fied recipe all his own.

"You got to put some seasoning in what you're doin' and this boy's got the whole salt shaker!" - Bo Diddley

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Thursday

July 23

9:30PM

A Thursday night tradition since 1992! The host band warms up the crowd from 9:30 to 10:30. Musicians, ranging from the accomplished professional to the inspired novice, are then invited to take the stage.  Unrehearsed and straight from the heart, this is some real Blues guaranteed to fill the house week after week. $3 Cover  photos >>

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Friday

July 24

9:30PM

Joanna Connor
website >>
$10

The Chicago Sun Times called her “a powerhouse guitarist with a sense of rock dynamics – her playing has a fire that is free of self-indulgence”.

"From the root to the fruit, from the seed to the flower," Joanna Connor presents an intense, high-energy, rhythmic, virtuostic, guitar-driven musical experience. Pushing the envelope of the blues by combining funk, rock and world beat, audiences are compelled to get on their feet. Joanna's soulful voice and guitar mastery has received accolades from publications such as Guitar Player, Guitar World, The Village Voice, Playboy Magazine, Billboard, Downbeat, Relix, and most major newspapers. She has shared the stage and toured with Jimmy Page, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Robert Cray, Poi Dog Pondering, Luther and Bernard Allison, Albert Collins, and Los Lobos.

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Saturday

July 25

9:30PM

The Bel Airs
website >>
$10

Living on the road and playing clubs from "Austin to Boston", the Bel Airs are carrying on the tradition of American Rhythm and Blues. Their signature "big guitar" sound and howling vocals over soulful rhythm playing make this trio a powerhouse.

Fronted by brothers Dick and Dave Pruitt on bass and electric guitars, with Michael Cherry on drums, the Bel Airs play a danceable mix with an authentic but eclectic bluesy-country-soul-and-rock-n-roll sound influenced by the likes of Wilson Picket, Slim Harpo, Howlin' Wolf and Johnny Cash. Performing together for more than 20 years, the Pruitt brothers' harmony vocal style sets them apart in the contemporary music scene--leading one reviewer to refer to them as the "Everly Brothers of Blues". David's "big guitar" and Dick's howling vocals over soulful, right-on rhythm playing make this trio a powerhouse.

"Rollicking party blues." Blues Revue

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Sunday

July 26

7:00PM

Special Sunday
Show!

Tinsley Ellis
website >>
$12

Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tinsley Ellis ranks among the top blues/rock guitarists working today. Ellis sings and plays with the energy and soul of all the great Southern musicians who have come before him. He attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling, in the same tradition as Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman, Freddie King and Warren Haynes. Atlanta Magazine declared Ellis “the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell.” Since first hitting the national scene with his Alligator Records debut Georgia Blue in 1988, Ellis has toured non-stop and continued to release one critically acclaimed album after another. Tinsley’s hometown paper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, calls his music, “a potent, amazing trip through electric blues-rock.” Rolling Stone said, “feral blues guitar…non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge…his eloquence dazzles…he achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”

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Tuesday

July 28

9:00PM

Bob Pace & the Blues Groove
website >>

NO COVER - Smokin’ hot blues guitar and a killer rhythm section. Blues Revue Magazine's Chip Eagle says "Bob Pace is one of my favorite guitarists." Bob Pace and the Blues Groove--always changing, always entertaining.

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Wednesday

July 29

9:00PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
website >>
$3

Down-home, juke house blues... From the Delta to the Hills the Thunderbolts thumping rhythm and stomping slide workouts will remind you what real party music is meant to be. Guaranteed to make you shake your ass! HAVE A LISTEN>>

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Thursday

July 30

9:30PM

A Thursday night tradition since 1992! The host band warms up the crowd from 9:30 to 10:30. Musicians, ranging from the accomplished professional to the inspired novice, are then invited to take the stage.  Unrehearsed and straight from the heart, this is some real Blues guaranteed to fill the house week after week. $3 Cover  photos >>

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Friday

July 31

9:30PM

Guitar Shorty
website >>
$10

When legendary Blues wildman Guitar Shorty first lights into one of his blistering solo's the only audible sound aside from searing guitar notes is the sound of the audience's jaws hitting the floor. Then when he begins to sing in a voice both robust and seasoned with experience, he raises the power and passion of his performance to an even higher level.

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