Santa Cruz Blues Festival organizer Bill Welch consistently books top-of-the-shelf talent to headline the annual Memorial weekend blues party. Following up previous headliners such as Buddy Guy and B.B. King is a tough proposition, so for the 19th annual festival, Welch, who also owns Moe’s Alley, has one-upped himself with a revolving cast of blues players, each of whom could credibly top the bill on his own.
Saturday night’s lineup culminates with Experience Hendrix, a three-hour tribute to the incendiary Jimi Hendrix that features his sideman Billy Cox, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the North Mississippi Allstars Duo, Los Lobos’s David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas, Steve Vai, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, Living Colour, Ernie Isley, the Slide Brothers, Mato Nanji from Indigenous and more. It’s no small feat to get that kind of marquee-topping star power on the same stage for one night. “Getting all these guys’ schedules in order during prime touring time is pretty phenomenal,” Welch says. More than a serious booking coup, the set is an opportunity for Welch to pay tribute to the player that influenced him to pursue a career in the music industry. “Jimi was my inspiration for getting into music,” Welch says. “I saw him live when I was 14—the point where my mom would say I should have turned right and I turned left!”
The festival’s Saturday schedule has traditionally featured up-and-comers, and true to form the festival opens with emerging Cajun siren Mia Borders, singer-songwriter Jackie Greene and the party-starting Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, who have become Santa Cruz favorites thanks to frequent barn-burning performances in town.
Sunday’s lineup features familiar names with deep roots in the Bay Area. The day opens up South Bay fret wizard Chris Cain, followed by Tommy Castro, who is coming off four wins at the Blues Music Awards, including Entertainer of the Year. The festival looks southward with an appearance by the Blasters’ Dave Alvin, debuting his new backing band the Guilty Ones. The evening closes out with what Welch descrbes as “the two major sounds of the Bay Area from the ‘70s”, funk godfathers Tower of Power and blue-eyed soul maven Boz Scaggs. It’s a murderer’s row of performers that demonstrates that in its 19th year, the Santa Cruz Blues Festival continues to firmly root itself in the now, looking toward the future of blues while spotlighting the players who laid the groundwork.
THE 19TH SANTA CRUZ BLUES FESTIVAL is Saturday-Sunday, May 28-29. Tickets go on sale Thursday, March 3 at www.santacruzbluesfestival.com.
