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By Charles Robinson
ROCKLAND — The North Atlantic Blues Festival will kick off its ninth season at 11 a.m. July 20, in Rockland’s Harbor Park. Blues musicians from across the land will be strutting their stuff throughout the two-day event. Closing the July 20 show will be Texas guitar great Jimmie Vaughn, brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughn and, for years, lead guitarist of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Vaughn’s set will be preceded by the venerable James Cotton. Cotton, born in Tunica, Miss., has just celebrated his 77th birthday and is going strong. Cotton cut his first record 48 years ago on the Sun label and learned his blues harp style from Sonny Boy Williamson. Cotton replaced the late
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Jimmie Vaughn
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Junior Wells (who made his final concert appearance at the North Atlantic Blues Festival) in the Muddy Waters’ band after arriving in Chicago in 1955.
Also appearing July 20 will be Alligator Records’ star Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Also on the bill for July 20 is Lucky Peterson, 37. Peterson was a child protégé and made appearances on the Tonight and Ed Sullivan shows as a child. At age 17, he joined the Little Milton band and also backed Bobby Bland. Let’s hope for a Saturday night jam featuring Vaughn, Cotton, Peterson and the Nightcats.
The festival’s popular club crawl will keep musicians and fans up late Saturday night. To keep the crawl moving, Maine and New England blues acts will perform in 15 different venues all within walking distance of the festival. If past history holds true, some of the national acts will sit in for some unique, spontaneous jam sessions.
The July 21 show will fire up at 11 a.m., with a set by Readfield resident Pat Pepin, backed by Big Chief. Guitar slinger Deborah Coleman has been booked for a return engagement. Coleman has consistently rocked the house in her several Maine appearances.
John Primer, a native of Camden, Miss., will be making his first Maine appearance with his band. Primer is also a student of Muddy Waters and played for several years with Magic Slim. Primer is a master of the slide and is one of the remaining great exponents of the classic Chicago blues tradition.
Another Muddy Waters’ alumnus is Mississippi native Carey Bell, back for a second festival appearance. Bell, 66, learned his chops with Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williams. His early recordings with Robert Nighthawk on Maxwell Street are classic examples of live blues. Bell is also an outstanding vocalist.
Closing out the July 21 lineup is the legendary Bo Diddley. Born Elias McDaniel in McComb, Miss., in 1928, Diddley embodies the lineage of blues to rock ’n’ roll. His songs have been covered by everyone from the Rolling Stones, Kinks and Yardbirds to the Doors and Bob Seger. Derivatives of Diddley’s rhythms are commonplace in contemporary music. Diddley, armed with his ever-evolving custom-made rectangular guitars, is a living legend and not to be missed.
Festival co-producers Jamie Isaacson and Paul Benjamin earlier this year were honored by the Blues Foundation for organizing and growing the festival. They took home the “Keeping the Blues Alive Award” as promoters of the year.
Isaacson reminded fans that “this is the best way there is to get to know the blues in Maine. We guarantee a good time.”
The festival’s previous eight outings have not disappointed.