Blues From the Top: A Photo Essay

Photos by Michael McGrath. Narration by Jim Stick.

I saw these photos shortly after this year's Blues From the Top Festival which was held this June in scenic Winter Park, Colorado. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and these 17 outstanding photographs makes those words ring oh so true. I am taking this month off from writing to give you a visual tour through the lens of Michael McGrath of one of the most scenic festivals in the country--Jim Stick.

Michael McGrath's website info is at the end of the photo essay where you can find more amazing photos from this festival. A big thanks to Michael for graciously allowing these photos to be seen on American Blues News.

All photos ©Michael McGrath

First three photos--guitar virtuoso Walter Trout





The incomparable blues vocalist Danielle Schnebelen of Trampled Under Foot.




Danielle with big brother Nick Schnebelen--winner of the 2008 Albert King Award at the IBC Challenge in Memphis.




The next four photos are of Mike Zito. Mike and Cyril Neville won the award for Blues Song of the Year at this year's Blues Music Awards in Memphis for the title track to Mike's latest release "Pearl River".






Nick Moss with his precious daughter Sadie.



Sadie Moss with Curtis Salgado





JP Soars of JP Soars & the Red Hots--2009 IBC Challenge winners.




The future of the blues: Colorado's own eight year old Sonny Boy Aiden. The next time you run into Bob Margolin--ask him about this young phenom.



Speaking of the future of the blues: here is the very near future of the blues--21 year old Samantha Fish out of Kansas City. She plays with a maturity well beyond her tender years.



All photos ©Michael McGrath

Michael McGrath is a Denver area photographer. His work is featured in the Denver Post Reverb and is available at Twist and Shout Records. Visit his website by clicking here.

Shipless Blues Cruise by Jim Stick

(Boulder, Colorado) On March 12th and 13th of this year the The Boulder Outlook Hotel put on a blues event that was unique in many ways. They called it a "Shipless Blues Cruise". Owner Dan King and booker Honey Sepeda brought in two major national blues acts for the weekend that Neil Simon, who wrote the play "The Odd Couple', would have been proud of the diversity between: Bob Margolin and Jason Ricci and New Blood. They further spiced up the weekend by booking two of the most accomplished Colorado blues bands in The Informants and the Delta Sonics.

It was a fascinating blues experience to see the modern harp wunderkind Ricci and his band, who stretch the modern blues envelope multi-dimensionally to the breaking point with a dazzling display of jazz\blues\funk instrumental wizardry, invite former Muddy Waters band mate and guitar player Margolin on stage to play with them. Then the next night, Margolin returned the favor and invited Ricci up to jam with him. One thing was plainly obvious--though they are on different ends of the blues spectrum--they both have a tremendous amount of respect for each other.


Jason Ricci and Bob Margolin

Margolin explained it to me this way about playing with Jason Ricci & New Blood:

"We call it Jason Ricci & Old Blood when I am up there. Believe me, I live my life around nasty old blues, but I appreciate other kinds of music if it is creative and soulful and that is Jason. I think he is incredibly creative. I don't know how to play that stuff but it sure is fun to try with him and at least try and apply my greasy old blues to his funk songs or more outside things too. It's good fun for me and I am just in awe of him".


Insert the theme music from the TV show "The Odd Couple" here.

Margolin also weighed in on the talents of Ricci & New Blood's guitar player Shawn Starski:

"I'm knocked out. He's got incredible chops and a lot of creativity. What he and Jason are doing together with the band is just spectacular".

Margolin played a short warm up set on Saturday Ricci & New Blood's bass player Todd "Buck Weed" Edmunds who hauled out his acoustic upright bass for the duet. Margolin is also a fan of Edmunds:

"We were playing traditional blues and he can also play funk and jazz and all those other things with amazing chops".

Jason Ricci is a thoughtful, introspective and fascinating human being who has a lot to say. He is a very knowledgeable student on the history of the blues. I asked him about his thoughts on Margolin and the modern versus traditional views on blues. His eyes widened and lit up. He thought for a quick moment, and then a ten minute or so wave of thoughts poured out of his soul. Here are some of the highlights:

"What I found (in Bob) was a very nurturing human individual and I found an individual with an open mind. What I have gotten from Bob Margolin is much more than a traditional musical father figure or a lifetime father figure--although he is both of these--what I have is an ally. I have somebody that could represent better than anyone else the President of the Hate Jason Society---who doesn't hate me--who supports me. I mean the one guy who should--the one guy who has the credentials to say hey this kid ain't doing it right--is saying listen people the kid can do it any way he wants. Muddy did it any way he wanted and by the way when I sit in with your ass I don't want to play blues. I want to play whatever the f*** you guys are playing".


Ricci coaxes high notes out of his harmonica that remind one of a soprano saxophone. A truly amazing and unique musician.

Ricci continued:

"Margolin is his own cat. He doesn't play just like Muddy. If Muddy had played like Charlie Patton---there wouldn't be a Muddy. If some of the guys who play traditional blues today (who look down on modern blues players) were alive in the 50's--they would be telling you that Little Walter is out of control, plays too many notes, and that Sonny Boy I was the real guy. It is so amazing that they don't have the awareness to see themselves like that. Bob's the best and I don't know what I would do without him".

Shawn Starski also had kinds words for his fellow guitar player Margolin:

"With Bob, I consider it as inspiration. His tone is great. His dexterity is great. His element of time and swing is impeccable. I just love it".

There were too many musical highlights during the weekend to list. The bands all played individually and jammed in more combinations than can be remembered. Kudos must go to the Boulder Outlook Hotel for thinking outside of the normal box and coming up with the Shipless Boat Cruise".


Ricci sitting in with The Informants and their sultry lead singer Kerry Pastine.

Owner Dan King explained the origins of the event to me this way:

"The whole idea of the "Shipless Blues Cruise" really started several years ago after talking to people who had gone on the real Blues Cruise. I really want to go too, but with two kids in college--I am about $4000 short! So we decided to do a mini-version here at the hotel and keep the price within reach of more people".


Margolin with Delta Sonics' harp player Al Chesis

Margolin was also impressed with the thought process behind the weekend:

"Usually a new idea takes a few years for it to work out and be profitable. They have done well with it and by the second year, they've sold all the tickets they want to sell and actually are limiting it so it won't be uncomfortably crowded for anybody. Whoever thinks of things like that instead of: gimme the money, gimme the money, gimme the money? One of the things about blues and blues club's owners--and it doesn't happen with everybody--but blues is an asshole filter. People aren't in it for the money. They are usually in it for the love and they use their creativity to try and find ways to make it work. You can't generalize it too much, because each situation is pretty specific, but you can generalize that people do have to think outside the box and be creative".


Denver based The Informants--tied this year for Best Self Produced CD in Memphis at the IBC.

Jim Stick is a blues writer\photographer living in Longmont, CO.
He has his own blues information website for the state of Colorado:
BluesinColorado.com

©Jim Stick, 2010

Colorado Blues Festivals by Jim Stick

(Denver, Colorado) My name is Jim Stick and I will be writing on this informative American Blues News website about all of the goings on in the growing Colorado Blues scene.

If you ask any blues fan in Colorado about the blues scene out here, the first thing you will hear mentioned are the many wonderful blues festivals in the state. With the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the 300 days of sunshine we get in the dry and crisp Colorado air, it is hard to beat some of the magnificent settings we have for blues festivals.

(Left) Tab Benoit at the Blues From The Top Festival, Winter Park, CO

A lot of the small ski resort towns have learned that blues fans love the outdoors in the summer in Colorado. These are ideal festival settings. There are plenty of hotels and condos in the towns from the ski industry being there. The towns are small and everything is within walking distance. Park the car on Friday afternoon and don't get back into it until Monday morning. No worries about DUI's if you care to indulge in some of Colorado's many outstanding fresh microbrew beers.

Telluride

(Right) Telluride, CO--One of the most beautiful settings for a blues festival in the world. The park the festival is held in is at the end of the Main St.

(Left) Shot taken from the festival grounds towards the mountains.

I asked Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin his thoughts on the Colorado blues festivals and he related an experience to me that he had: "The Grand County Blues Society's Blues From The Top Festival (Winter Park), which I played in 2008 left a smile on my face for a long time after. Other folks I know who were there felt it too. I think the combination of soulful music, hospitality, and people enjoying themselves was real vacation for the spirit"

While the mountain towns of Telluride, Winter Park, Beaver Creek, and Keystone host blues festivals in and amongst stunning mountain scenery, there are also several blues festivals along the front range of Colorado at the beginning of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver, Greeley, Arvada, and Trinidad all host fine blues festivals. Most are all VERY affordable festivals to attend. All blues fans should experience the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival once in their lives.

Blues in CO

(Right) Ronnie Baker Brooks and funky bass player extraordinaire Carlton Armstrong at the Greeley Blues Jam in Greeley, CO.

(Left) L'il Ed Williams tears it up at the Trinidaddio Blues Festival in Trinidad, CO

I'll leave the final word on the many fine blues festivals in Colorado to Jimmy Thackery who stated to me: "Colorado seems to have more of this kind of stuff going on than most other states and I hope it continues to grow in the future. The ones I know about from personal experience have all been what they were cracked up to be and then some."

For a detailed look at each blues festival in Colorado you can go to the Festivals page of my website:

www.bluesincolorado.com

There you find the dates, line-ups, ticket and hotel pricing, and info on where to stay. You can contact me from the website and I can help you with any questions you might have on traveling to Colorado this summer for your blues fix. I hope you will discover what I have, that while winters are for blues cruises, summers are for blues festivals in beautiful Colorado.

©Jim Stick, 2010