North Atlantic Blues Festival Has Stellar Line Up

While I will not be attending it, this year’s North Atlantic Blues Festival has among the finest line-ups of blues festivals I have seen. Like the Pennsylvania Blues Festival, the focus of who is booked is on “blues,” not on blues rockers than might be at some over-hyped festival that books a few real deal blues acts. In any event, the 18th edition of the Festival takes place in Rockland, Maine on July 16 and July 17.


Saturday, July 16 the line-up include the soul-blues of Nellie Tiger Travis and then some of the leading names of Chicago blues today. Eddy “the Chief” Clearwater; Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials; Billy Branch & the Sons of the Blues; Magic Slim and the Teardrops and the Brooks Family Reunion with Lonnie, Ronnie and Wayne Baker. I wonder when a non-Chicago based festival had all these acts on the same day. This is a fairly heavyweight day of blues.


Sunday, July 17 has the family band Trampled Under Foot followed by James Armstrong,Tony Lynn Washington, Eric Bibb and Robert Cray. There will be performances by Gina Sicilia & Dave Gross between sets and they have a Saturday Night Pub Crawl that has become a tradition at this festival.

James Armstrong

The Festival is located at Rockland’s Public Landing, so you sit in a City Park with a terrific view of the harbor as your listen to blues from this truly sterling line-up. Paul Benjamin and company may have out-done themselves with this year’s Festival. Particularly to folks from New York up through New England, this is a must see Festival.  


The festivals' website is http://www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com/ and their facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Atlantic-Blues-Festival/182157101315.