Blues great Buddy Guy headlines the Sunday roster at SC Blues Fest.
Bill Welch is a tall, gray-goateed music nut known for breaking into a sweat when talking about a good guitar player or horn blower—and for booking around 300 shows every year at his club, Moe’s Alley. But just in case the locals forget about the steady stream of talent running through his club, in his spare time Welch and his staff also throw together Santa Cruz County’s biggest music showcase, the Santa Cruz Blues Festival.
Graced by such titanic names as B.B. King, Pinetop Perkins, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and Bonnie Raitt, the two-day blues and rock bonanza at Aptos Village Park has been going strong since 1993. This year, besides the great Ben Harper and his rocking new band, the Relentless7, the festival is headlined Sunday by three-time SCBF topper and Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy. For Welch, Guy represents everything good and right in the world of Windy City music.
“Buddy Guy is a musician that is the who’s who. He’s truly at the top of his game,” says Welch. “He and B.B. King are really the biggest connections to the old world of blues that are left around.”
The other eight acts on the weekend’s bill could be—and often are—headliners in their own right. Eric Lindell, the New Orleans soul maestro who never seems far from a Neville, kicks off the weekend early on Saturday with big and bad party blues. Next, as if on cue, Ivan Neville (Aaron’s son and nephew of the “Brothers’”) and his band Dumpstaphunk turn the funk dial up to dangerous heights and bass-heavy lows. With the third slot, the pace slows down a bit as soft-spoken folk and blues indie poet Joseph Arthur croons out his crossroads lament. Finally, around dusk, Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, better known as Taj Mahal, will heat up the stage for Ben Harper with his brand of Grammy Award-winning Caribbean, African and Pacific Island-influenced blues.
“Saturday is an awesome day from front to back,” says Welch. “You’ve got big New Orleans funk and blues, you’ve got some different acts like Joseph Arthur and you’ve got seasoned guys like Taj that actually used to be in Ben Harper’s band. And of course, Ben Harper himself, whose new band is just totally rockin’ blues—just our style.”
On Sunday, famed producer Don Was (see: Stones, Rolling and Raitt, Bonnie) and his crew of deep soul and funk practitioners known as Was (Not Was) belt out a big-horn awakening to those still recovering from too many beers and ribs on Saturday. And no Santa Cruz Blues Festival lineup would be complete without the next act, one Coco Montoya. The 10-time SCBF guest is the “embodiment of what we try and do with this festival,” according to Welch, and he’ll be showcasing classic rockin’ blues in all its amp-blasting glory. Once Coco finishes up, the action jumps the pond when bonafied ’60s British Invasion representatives Eric Burdon & the Animals take the stage to rip some boogie-friendly blues rock and—who knows—maybe a rendition of the perennial hit “House of the Rising Sun.” With the crowd in full swing, up next is the baby-faced member of the Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks and his bride Susan Tedeschi, the only festival performer that boasts two X chromosomes. Described by the Wall Street Journal as “the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today,” Trucks should fully test the electrical capabilities of Welch’s hand-built sound system. Finally, the great Buddy Guy closes things down with all the reasons that he influenced everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton to Angus Young and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Besides the music, festivalgoers can look forward to some great eats from food booths serving barbecue, Asian and Southern-style home food from caterers around the Central Coast and Bay Area. Cash is no good inside the festival gates, however, so make sure and trade your dollars for paper “tickets,” that, while useless outside the festival, may at least remind you of all the fun you used to have at Chuck E. Cheese. Also note that lawn chairs and blankets rule at the show, so if you plan on sitting and relaxing anywhere in the middle-front section of the crowd, you’d better come early and stake out a spot.
For Welch and the rest of the Moe’s Alley staff, months of planning are finally coming to a head. Soon they’ll all be able to go back to their day jobs booking blues, reggae and hip-hop acts nearly every day at their club. But for the 3,000 fans who should be showing up each day to party, they needn’t worry about how a small club staff pulls off a multi-day festival. Their only job is to sit back, relax, crack a beverage and enjoy some of the finest blues and American roots music ever assembled in a single location.
“It’s one of the best and most unique festivals anywhere in the country,” says Welch. “It’s really made a name for itself and I think this year is one of the best so far.”
THE SANTA CRUZ BLUES FESTIVAL rocks Aptos Village Park, 100 Aptos Creek Road, on Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30. Two-day tickets are $140 and single-day tickets are $75 each. For more information and a complete schedule visit www.santacruzbluesfestival.com
