Homemade Jamz’ Blues Band consist of 3 young siblings. The youngest blues band to sign with a major record label (NorthernBlues Music). Ryan Perry 15 yrs old/lead guitar & vocal. Kyle Perry 13 yrs old/bass player and Taya Perry 9 yrs old/drummer.

The youngest (total age) blues band to ever enter the International Blues Challenge & became 2nd Place Winners of the 23rd International Blues Challenge, 2008 (band category). They competed against 93 adult bands from all over the world. Homemade Jamz’ will continue contributing to keeping the blues alive.

Official website

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In the June/July ‘08 issue of Blues Revue Magazine, Robert Fontenot states:"Harmonica wrangler Gary Allegretto is one of the classiest acts in the business today, working only with the best backup musicians and taking the time to craft music noted not only for its quality but for its authenticity…and what's best about his genuineness is its completely offhand quality.  If someone complains to you that they don't make "real" blues records anymore - albums that sound like lost classics yet retain the freshness of an individual - play “Many Shades of Blue” for them.”

In addition to his main stage performance, Gary will be providing harmonica workshops throughout the day on Saturday for all Blues fans (kids & adults), ages 5 and up. Harmonicas will be available at the festival. The Riverfront Blues Festival is a long time supporter of Harmonikids, Gary’s 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that spreads the therapeutic healing power and joy of music by giving harmonicas and lessons to special needs children worldwide.

Harmonikids Website Youtube| Gary's Official Website

Gary will be hosting the Diamond State Blues Society After-party at the Sheraton on Friday night that also doubles as a CD release party for Gary's new album. Learn more

The current edition of The Mannish Boys features a veritable one-band blues festival of talent; most of the members either lead or are integral members of successful touring and recording bands. In August of 2008, Delta Groove has issued a new release from The Mannish Boys, Big Plans. A smorgasbord of blues players and styles, the main featured players are vocalists Finis Tasby and Johnny Dyer with support from the likes of guitarists Frank Goldwasser (Paris Slim), and Kirk Fletcher, pianist Leon Blue, bassist Tom Leavey and drummer Richard Innes.

Delta Groove website

Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets with Sam Myers were one of the best loved and most popular blues artists on record and on the touring circuit throughout their twenty year association. Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets have not toured since 2004. Once long time musical partner Sam Myers took ill, Anson kept off the road to help Sam with the necessities of daily life and shuttle him between numerous doctors appointments. Wary of touring without his long time singer and harp player Anson has spent the last few years raising his family and gigging locally around Dallas TX. Now, at the urging of fans world wide, Anson Funderburgh has teamed up with original vocalist/harpman from the Rockets, Darrell Nulisch and will only be performing at a limited number of festivals, special events and concerts for 2008.

Darrell Nulisch - A first-class bluesman with more natural soul in reserve than many singers can summon up at the peak of their powers, Darrell Nulisch testifies with stirring authority. From the beginning, Darrell exhibited a natural flair for phrasing a lyric, a quality that underscores his relaxed, soulful performances today. He began singing full-time in 1978 as one of the founding members of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets.

official website

Like a freight train rolling through the night, guitarist/vocalist Michael Burks plows through the blues with relentless power and a full head of steam. Combining his remarkable talent with an intense dedication to his craft, Michael has earned well-deserved national recognition and become one of the blues world"s fastest rising blues stars. Although he was a W.C. Handy Award nominee for Best New Artist 2000, Michael is a seasoned veteran in every sense. His first gig came at the age of six, when, during a family trip to southern Arkansas, the fledgling Burks took the stage with his cousin"s band and thrilled an unsuspecting audience. Today, each live performance is a testament to Michael"s thirty-plus years of playing the blues. His hard-driving fretwork and captivating showmanship have ignited a legion of fans, as audiences from coast to coast can"t help but jump on the Michael Burks train.

Official website

Sharrie Williams knows how to sing the Blues…. Because she’s lived the Blues…. Born and raised in the projects of Saginaw, Michigan, Sharrie grew up surrounded by music and singing her entire childhood, being raised in a musical family. "Our house was like a Juke Joint…..Singing, drinking, dancing and the blues playing, with chicken and fish fryin.” She teamed up with The WiseGuys in 1997, and began appearing regularly at Chicago’s renowned Blues Clubs such as Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Her influences are Koko Taylor, Etta James, Pattie Labelle, Aretha Franklin and the legendary Billie Holiday - they have all helped form her unique style. She is poised for the next level. “I love what I do! I can play for five people and feel like I played for 60.000.” Sharrie’s unique style of “Rockin’ Gospel Blues” is surrounded by strong and powerful vocals and arrangements, with songs that grab your soul, like “Hard Drivin’ Woman,” “Travellin’” and “Blues Lover”. Sharrie touches souls with her talent and passion for her music, combined with her smoky, sexy and imitable style she always leaves her audience calling for one more song. She emerges with grace as a humble and rock solid professional, a talented songstress that stands on her own.

Official website

Larry McCray is one of a handful of talented young blues performers leading the genre across boundaries and into the new century. McCray's savage blues-rock guitar and warm, soulful vocals have drawn attention worldwide.

McCray's hard work paid off when he became the first artist signed by Virgin Records' blues division - Pointblank Records. In 1990, they released his debut, "Ambition," which was well received by the U.S. and European press.

McCray also sights a career highlight as being honored as the Orville Gibson 2000 Male Blues Guitarist of the Year. "Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, like seven or eight other people were nominated, as well" stated McCray.

Official website

Official MySpace

Lil’ Ed Williams, although small in stature, is a true giant of the blues, and among the very last authentic West Side Chicago bluesmen. From smoking slide guitar boogies to raw-boned Chicago shuffles to the deepest slow blues, Lil’ Ed Williams is a master bluesman. A gifted guitarist and a remarkably gritty and soulful vocalist, Williams, along with his blistering, road-tested band, The Blues Imperials, has been tearing up clubs and festival stages all over the world for almost 25 years. Not since the heyday of Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers has a Chicago blues band made such a consistently joyous, rollicking noise. Between the band’s wonderfully untamed music and Ed’s flying leaps, his back-bending, his toe-walking through the audience and his sliding across the stage on his knees, it’s no wonder The Boston Globe called Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials “the world’s #1 houserocking band.”

Lil’ Ed boasts a direct bloodline to blues history — his uncle and musical mentor was the great Chicago slide guitarist and recording artist J.B. Hutto. According to The Chicago Tribune, “Williams represents one of the few remaining authentic links to the raucous but pure Chicago blues.”

Official website
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Lil' Ed will be hosting the Diamond State Blues Society After-party at the Sheraton on Saturday night. Learn more

“Blues is my life,” says Grammy Award-winning blues singer Koko Taylor. “It’s a true feeling that comes from the heart, not just something that comes out of my mouth. Blues is what I love, and singing the blues is what I always do.” And, in many ways, blues is what saved Koko Taylor’s life. Back in November of 2003, following emergency surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding, She was struggling just to breathe. Family and friends feared the worst as she was placed on a ventilator. But her forceful will to live, and to sing the blues again, brought her back. Slowly but surely she recovered, and by the following spring she was back on stage singing.

Her resurgence not only led her back to the stage, but also led her back to the recording studio. With her first album in seven years, the aptly titled Old School (AL 4915), Taylor once again shows the world what she does so well. From foot-stomping barnburners to powerful slow blues, Koko proves in an instant that her blues are joyous and life-affirming, powerful and soul-stirring.

With Old School, Taylor brings it all back home, supported by a band of veteran musicians and young revivalists. Singing like she did for Chess Records early in her career, Taylor belts out a set of material that could easily have topped the blues charts in the 1950s, and will certainly reach the top of the blues world today.

Whether Jimmy Thackery headlines a festival in South Dakota or jams for hours in one of numerous blues bars that dot the musical landscape, he'll always unleash an intense volley of rockin' blues guitar guaranteed to leave crowds emotionally spent. His double edged guitar dynamics allow him to fire off tracer missiles, bend a note so it will fit under a limbo bar, run off dive bomber riffs, and find space within the trembling of one stinging note. "I put all my senses on hold and find the zone and follow what's inside. There's an electricity from your mind to your heart to your fingers. You just try and remember to breathe."

He's one of the few blues guitarists who learned first hand from the masters of the blues, not off a blues record or DVD. Though most associate Jimmy with his 15 years as the co-founder of the Nighthawks, he ended his time with them in 1987. Since then, Jimmy has been on the road as a solo musician for 15 years doing nearly 300 shows a year proving each night that he is still the guitar powerhouse in the blues.

Official website

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Grammy Award-winning harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue is not your typical bluesman... Born James Whiting - he was raised in Harlem, New York, where his mother was a singer and dancer at the fabled Apollo Theatre. He spent his childhood among the musicians and show people who knew his mother, including the great Billie Holiday, and decided that he wanted to be a performer. Blue received his first harmonica from his aunt, and proceeded to hone his chops by wailing along with Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder songs on the radio. While in France, Blue hooked up with members of the Rolling Stones , who instantly fell in love with his sound. The Stones invited Blue to join them in the studio. Besides his work on the Some Girls album, he can be heard on Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You . He appeared live with the group on numerous occasions and was offered the session spot indefinitely, but he turned it down, opting instead to return to the States and put his own band together rather than became a full-time sideman. Before returning to the U.S. in 1982, Blue cut a pair of albums, Crossroads and From Paris to Chicago.

Official website

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Elvin Bishop's latest release, Booty Bumpin', captures the blues legend at home in front of a live audience, doing what he does best; stirring up a party with a bluesy stew of slide guitar and groovin' rhythms. With a set featuring both old favorites and recent triumphs, the album exemplifies why Elvin has become one of the most respected and beloved artists to come out of the 60's blues-rock explosion.

In the 60's, Elvin hooked up with Butterfield to form the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, who'd been Howlin' Wolf's rhythm section. Producer Paul Rothchild of Elektra Records encouraged them to add guitarist Michael Bloomfield. "I'd met Bloomfield before, in a pawn shop," says Elvin, "when I was looking for guitars. We got to talking. He got a guitar out, started playing circles around the world."

Official website

Official MySpace