Blues On Grand - LIVE BLUES Tuesday through Saturday

Tuesday

Feb 9

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.

<< back to top

Wednesday

Feb 10

8:00PM

Murali Coryell
website >>
$8

Acclaimed by CNN, Rolling Stone, & The New York Times, singer/guitarist/songwriter Murali Coryell is a rising force in contemporary American music. The son of jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell and author/actress Julie Coryell, Murali is a natural born entertainer. Murali is blessed with a voice that has been called soothing and soulful. With a guitar style to match he has the unique ability to please audiences of all ages.

Murali’s latest CD in stores November 17, 2009 was recorded in Nashville with Grammy nominated producer Tom Hambridge on drums, Reese Wynans (who played keys for Stevie Ray Vaughn) on keyboards, Steve Mackey (of Delbert McClinton) on bass plus special guest stars Joe Louis Walker and Larry Coryell.

As a songwriter Murali has built up a body of classic sounding blues and soul songs that have appeared in TV, film and been covered by other artists. Murali's voice and guitar has been heard on NBC's TV show "Crossing Jordan".

<< back to top

Thursday

Feb 11

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 >>

<< back to top

Friday

Feb 12

9:30PM

Killborn Alley
website >>
$8

Gritty Chicago blues and southern fried soul for all the generations of blues lovers. This music speaks for itself; better still, it convinces you to listen.

". . . Alley is terrific." ~ Blues Revue

"This greasy chunk of... funk slips and slides from the very first line and doesn't let up till the disc is done. [five hats]" ~ Big City Rhythm & Blues

"If it is a debut, it's a damn fine one, they can compete with the best." ~ Mazz Muzika S (Belgium)

<< back to top

Saturday

Feb 13

9:30PM

Lurrie Bell
website >>
$10

Son of famed blues harmonicist Carey Bell, Lurrie Bell picked up his father's guitar at age six and taught himself to play. He was clearly gifted beyond most. In addition to that, he grew up with many of the Chicago blues legends around him. Eddie Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Eddie C. Campbell, Eddie Clearwater, Lovie Lee, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Dawkins and many more were frequent visitors to his house. They all helped to shape and school him in the blues, but none as much as his father's long time employer Muddy Waters. Lurrie Bell's elegant and intense guitar playing and passionate vocals have made him a favorite at clubs and festivals around the world and have earned him a reputation as one of the “leading lights” in the future of the blues.

"An incendiary fusion of Chicago Blues boilerplate and his own mercurial imagination, hyperkinetic energy, and dazzling technical dexterity." - David Whiteis - Chicago Reader

"If there is a Chicago blues child who perhaps epitomizes the blues life, it's Lurrie Bell...the premier guitarist in the Windy City." - Boston Blues News

<< back to top

Tuesday

Feb 16

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Feb 17

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! LISTEN>>

<< back to top

Thursday

Feb 18

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Feb 19

9:30PM

Sue Foley
website >>
$12

This highly touted vocalist/guitarist originally hails from Ottawa, Canada, although her home base shifted to Austin, TX, when she signed with Antone's Records and cut her debut set, Young Girl Blues, in 1992 (an encore, Without a Warning, quickly followed). Foley's wicked lead guitar makes her a rarity among blueswomen.

When she was a child in Ottawa, Foley listened to rock & roll and blues-rock groups like the Rolling Stones. Although these bands sowed the seeds of her affection for the blues, her love for the music didn't blossom until she witnessed James Cotton in concert when she was 15 years old. Cotton inspired Foley to pick up the electric guitar. During her late teens and early twenties, she jammed with local Ottawa bar bands. She didn't form her own group until she moved to Vancouver in the mid-'80s.

"She's among the handful of guitar-playing blueswomen prepared to carry the mantle Bonnie Raitt currently holds" - Blues Revue

"Foley has a killer voice an impossibly alluring blend of sex and innocence to go with those blazing guitar chops" - Philadelphia Enquirer

<< back to top

Saturday

Feb 20

9:30PM

Dikki Du & the Zydeco Crewe
website >>
$10

Dikki Du (Troy Carrier) was born in 1969 in Church Point, Louisiana and discovered his love for zydeco music at the tender age of nine. After school he would get together with his brother Chubby, sister Elaine and father Roy to play Zydeco music. At the age of twelve Troy moved to a little town called "Lawtell", where his father had owned the Offshore Lounge for over fifteen years. Troy played the washboard for Roy Carrier, his father, on local gigs; he then joined forces with the great C.J. Chenier for two years. Troy's brother Chubby Carrier then started a family band and offered Troy a job playing the drums. Troy toured with his brother from the late 80's until the 90's, when he returned home to pick up the accordion. It has now been eight years that Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe have been on the scene. Dikki Du has incorporated his musical heritage with unique experience to create one of the most innovative zydeco groups around. His original funky and hypnotic zydeco style announces that he has arrived, occupying a spot on par with the best. "Personally the triple row is the sound that I like the best". says Dikki Du. He takes songs from classic zydeco and turns the inside out with fresh and funky renditions driving it to the next level. The krewe’s innovations revitalize zydeco charging it for years to come... most people don't, but Dikki Du!

<< back to top

Tuesday

Feb 23

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Feb 24

9:00PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
website >>
$3

<< back to top

Thursday

Feb 25

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Feb 26

9:30PM

TBA

<< back to top

Saturday

Feb 27

9:30PM

Cool Disposition
website >>
$8

Blues Revue’s Tom Hyslop says of their latest CD “...with Jumping In The Mudd, Cool Disposition solidify their position as Minnesota’s premier blues band”. And legendary Chicago blues producer Dick Shurman adds, “well-spent and very enjoyable hour-plus…I hope it does as well for Cool Disposition as it deserves to do!” Every single night, from Marquette, Michigan to Memphis, Tennessee to Des Moines, Iowa, Cool Disposition takes their audience on a feel-good roller coaster ride with a sound maybe best summed up as Mid West Coast Blues. The music alternately oozes and leaps from the stage with contemporary flair, and an old school attitude. Combining tasteful, jaw dropping guitar work and roaring harmonica, this 5 piece manages a wide variety of original blues without sounding like a blues variety band.

<< back to top

Tuesday

Mar 2

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Mar 3

8:00PM

Early Show!

Jason Ricci
& New Blood
website >>
$10

“The mean, urban edge to his sound often brings to mind Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton and a few of the other great harp players that grew to be legends on the South Side of Chicago in the late 1940s and throughout the ’50s. But Ricci’s sound is also informed by myriad jazz and country influences, both past and present, that he has internalized and assimilated over the years. As much as the endless hours of practice, it is the incessant listening that allows Ricci to always sound just a little bit different — and perhaps much more accomplished — than other harp players. Maybe that’s why so many of his admirers talk about him as if he were the second coming of Rod Piazza". - David Paluzzi, Jazziz Magazine

<< back to top

Thursday

Mar 4

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Mar 5

9:30PM

Harper
website >>
$10

Bling Pig recording artist, Harper, brings
World Blues Fusion from Austrailia!

Part harmonica wizard part rhythmic explorer, Harper is a fiery artist who blurs the lines between rock, blues, soul and world music. Harper’s skill lies in the fact that he is able to tap into the kindred spirits running through his traditional and modern influences, borrowing from western and world music to develop a highly original take on the roots genre. He also takes the harmonica beyond its assigned place. Harper's innovative use of electronic enhancement and feedback breaks the traditional boundaries of the harmonica, giving his music distinctive harmonics and effects.

Multi-award-winning Harper tours the globe incessantly racking up an incredible 250 shows per year. His unique fusion of genres and thought provoking lyrics draw comparisons with early Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Many of Harper's songs have been featured on major film sound tracks & award winning Television series.

<< back to top

Saturday

Mar 6

9:30PM

The Grand Marquis
website >>
$8

The Grand Marquis are guardians of a musical portal, weaving catchy originals with classy covers. Music meteorologists, if you will, concocting their own brand of weathered styles. It's old-school jump blues, rockabilly and fiery jazz balled up into one big hit of red hot Rhythm 'n' Roll. Once injected, don't be alarmed; you might see through blurry eyes and nicotine haze the ghosts of America's musical past, conjuring delusions of 30s KC, 50s Memphis, Village hangouts, or the jazz jungle of Harlem. Yet these are merely roots from which their music grows; twisting and blending, melding until you catch a glimpse of things to come. Awaken from the intoxicating fog while their songs linger on your ear, echoing the chant of the Blue Devil, and you're sure of one thing: you gotta go back for more.

<< back to top

Sunday

Mar 7

7:00PM

Early 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.”

<< back to top

Tuesday

Mar 9

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Mar 10

9:00PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
website >>
$3

<< back to top

Thursday

Mar 11

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Mar 12

9:30PM

Corey Stevens
website >>
$12

Don't let the cowboy getup fool you. While Corey Stevens plays a style of blues that interjects a country flavor, he's a blues player first and foremost. Early on, Stevens was compared to Stevie Ray Vaughn for his Texas style fret work and rightfully so. He began his recording career as Corey Stevens and the Texas Flood which only added to the resemblance of Stevens to Stevie. However, despite the comparisons, Corey Stevens is blazing his own trail and his latest, Bring On The Blues, is a testament to this. - Tony Engelhart

<< back to top

Saturday

Mar 13

9:30PM

Davina & the Vagabonds
website >>
$8

Sowers is a classically trained pianist, originally from Florida, who now calls Minnesota her home. With years of experience in piano performance, she can belt it out with the grit of Joplin or bring down the house with melodic phrasing that reminds one of Bonnie Raitt. Sowers says she grew up listening to jazz standards on her father’s old Victrola record player. “The rasp and the tonal quality put a twisted edge on those standards,” she says. She earned her music degree in music composition and has since shared the stage with Little Feat, Buddy Guy, Elvin Bishop, The Lamont Cranston Band, and The Blues Brothers, among others. Check out Davina's MySpace here>>

photo by Jeff Peabody

<< back to top

Tuesday

Mar 16

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Mar 17

8:00PM

Early Show!

Super Chikan
website >>
$10

James "Super Chikan" Johnson is today's Delta Bluesman, hatched in Clarksdale, Mississippi, just like the Blues itself. One of his trademarks is the spontaneous fun and humor he brings to his music, both live and recorded. Whenever you hear him, it's 3 a.m. Sunday morning in a crowded roadhouse. Super Chikan is recognized worldwide as one of today's most entertaining and authentic Blues performers.

He is a multiple Blues Music Award nominee, has received five Living Blues Awards, an Excellence in Performance Governor's Award from Mexico City, and a Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. That's a long way to go with cluckin' and pluckin'.

Another Super Chikan trademark is his "chik-can-tars” – he crafts ornate, funky gas can and broomstick stringed instruments on which he paints scenes from the Delta. They are symbols of a life of making do with what he had in order to give voice to his talent, as authentic and original as the Blues itself. He also plays the hell out of more conventional electric guitars.

He earned his "Chikan Boy" nickname when he was a boy, he tried to talk to chickens and understand their fascinating sounds. As he grew up with the sounds of the barnyard and Blues all around him, he learned to play and was inspired by Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Slim Harpo. Soon he was performing with his uncle, Big Jack Johnson, and Sam Carr, Frank Frost, Wesley Jefferson, and Jackie Brenston.

<< back to top

Thursday

Mar 18

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Mar 19

9:30PM

Debbie Davies & Robin Rogers $10

Debbie Davies website >> Debbie Davies was exposed to the music scene at an early age through her musician parents (her father wrote arrangements for Ray Charles and made sessions with such industry heavyweights as Frank Sinatra and Pearl Bailey). She came up playing in blues and rock ‘n’ roll bands in the San Francisco Bay Area before returning to Los Angeles in 1984 and landing the lead guitar spot a year later in Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs, an all female R&B band led by the wife of British blues pioneer John Mayall (Debbie later performed on John Mayall’s 1990 album A Sense of Place). In 1988, she was drafted into Albert Collins & the Icebreakers and for the next three years was featured guitarist, performing night after night behind one of the most innovative blues legends of all time. She appeared on Collins’ 1991 Grammy-nominated self-titled release for Point Blank/Virgin Records.

"She pulls out all of the stops. She can play it all: seductive, soulful material, down-home Delta blues or humorous tales of life on the road." - Blues Revue

Robin Rogers website >> Music has been Robin Rogers' consuming passion ever since her days as a teenaged street singer. Possessing a deeply expressive and soulful voice and an infectious enthusiasm for the blues, Robin and her band have developed a devoted and growing following. They were finalists in the Blues Foundation's 2004 International Blues Challenge, and the following year won the Foundation's "Best Produced CD" Award for Rogers' sophomore release, Crazy Cryin' Blues. Robin, who also plays a mean blues harmonica, has opened for the likes of Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray.

Rogers' Blind Pig debut, entitled Treat Me Right, fulfills the promise of her previous two releases, revealing an accomplished artist of rare polish and originality. It is a showcase for Robin’s stylistic variety and vocal intensity, from the rolling R&B title track to the jazzy “Nobody Stays,” to the soulful groove of “Nobody’s Gonna Hurt You.” Treat Me Right features perhaps Rogers' most powerful composition, "Color-Blind Angel," a moving account of the life and death of white civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, who was assassinated by the KKK in 1965. AllMusic said of the album "the combination of excellent material and Rogers' compelling voice is what makes this a winner," while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said it "is consistently good -- no matter what she sings, Rogers pours herself into it. She's tough and tender, sometimes both at the same time." Robin is a 2009 Blues Music Award Nominee for "Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year."

<< back to top

Saturday

Mar 20

9:30PM

The Insomniacs
website >>
$10

The Insomniacs are waking up the West Coast with a fresh outlook on vintage blues. This Jump Blues band ignites a party wherever they perform as they consistently fill the dance floor with a groove that is layered with taste, soul, and an authentic style melded with a traditional blend of jump, blues and roots rock & roll.

"The Insomniacs are the new generation of high-energy, authentic, young-bloods who have done their homework and incorporated their own unique soulful style" - Randy Chorktoff, Delta Groove Records

<< back to top

Tuesday

Mar 23

8:00PM

Early Show!

Rick Estrin & the Nightcats
website >>
$12

Rick Estrin ranks among the very best harp players, singers and songwriters in the blues world today. His work on the reeds is deep in the tradition of harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs, while at the same time pushing that tradition forward. The Associated Press called his harp playing, "endlessly impressive." ... MORE>>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Mar 24

8:00PM

Early Show!

Shane Dwight
website >>
$8

American Roots Music Artist for the 21st century–a killer Blues player who can rock the house all night long with the best of them, and an introspective singer-songwriter whose voice rings true at alt-country, Americana, R&B, and flat-out Rock N Roll. There is no pigeonhole for Shane...

“Dwight explores a multitude of musical realms... funk, soul and laid-back grooves find their way into his repertoire." He's been known to incite the girls to crazy-wild behavior." (Metro Silicon Valley)

"California by way of Nashville, gunslinger Shane Dwight does indeed play rocked-up blues, and fans of Stevie Ray and George Thorogood will find much to love. But he's adept at Dickie Betts/Allman Brothers southern rock jams, Stonesy blues rockers, and some Pete Yorn inspired chugging roots rock as well." (PASTE Magazine)

"Shane Dwight has been likened to George Thorogood; both are hard-charging blues rockers who put plenty of blood, toil and sweat into their performances. And while Dwight is a better singer and songwriter, and his guitar playing is also more subtle, more dynamic and draws on more varied sources." (Rick Allen - Vintage Guitar Magazine)

“Tough, lean guitar work and commanding vocals, he is a tour de force... Shane is a killer songwriter, singer, guitarist and performer... he is an artist who's creating a soulful Americana sound” (Andrew Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News)

"...electrifying live performances, it would be worth your while to check him out when he comes through your town" (Reverend Keith A. Gordon, about.com)

<< back to top

Thursday

Mar 25

9:30PM

<< back to top

Friday

Mar 26

9:30PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
CD RELEASE PARTY!
website >>
$6

<< back to top

Saturday

Mar 27

9:30PM

Kinsey Report
website >>
$10

This family band is solidly based in the blues as a result of lifelong training in The Big Daddy Kinsey household. The Kinsey scions are also versed in a broad range of music. The older brothers Donald and Ralph had an early blues-rock trio (White Lightnin') in the mid-'70s, long before they regrouped as The Kinsey Report in 1984 and began to launch new excursions into rock. Donald also recorded and toured with Albert King and with Bob Marley, and the influence of those giants (as well as that of Big Daddy Kinsey, naturally) show through in the music of The Kinsey Report. The band expertly covers all the bases from Chicago blues through reggae, rock, funk, and soul, and their recordings are also distinguished by the songwriting talents and self-contained production approach of The Kinseys. - All Music Guide

<< back to top

Tuesday

Mar 30

9:00PM

Bob Pace &
the Blues Groove
website >>

<< back to top

Wednesday

Mar 31

9:00PM

Matt Woods & the Thunderbolts
website >>
$3

<< back to top

dates added as info is received... call 515.244.3092 for additional info