The economy continues to force music festivals nationwide to reconsider their missions, and the Chicago Blues Festival is no exception. In 2009 the Mayor’s Office of Special Events cut the schedule back to three days from four, and that change remains in effect for 2010. The lineup includes a much higher percentage of locals than usual, and you’d have to go back many years to find fewer acts with star power on the bill. The good news, though, is that there are so many quality artists on the Chicago blues scene that a heavily local edition of Blues Fest can be interesting and even inspiring.
The festival’s most notable acts are described below. All events are free. —DW
Eighty-five years old but frisky as ever on the 88s, Baton Rouge-based Henry Gray still lays down a mean boogie and pounds out swampy, tenacious downbeat blues. In the 50s he was one of Chicago’s top pianists, backing the likes of Billy Boy Arnold, Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Rogers, and longtime boss Howlin’ Wolf in the studio. Gray returned to his native Louisiana in 1968 and in the 80s emerged as a bandleader in his own right. Andy Cornett is his bassist and producer. —BD
Saint Louis-based harpist and vocalist Big George rock has a pretty basic style, but what his fatback-and-rotgut sound lacks in sophistication it makes up for with the sweaty funk of a down-home juke on a Saturday night. —DW
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Mississippi Juke Joint
5 PM Adib Sabir
