Monterey Blues Festival Review

By Michael Shea

The Monterey Blues Festival is held each year over the last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in June. One of the things I like about the Monterey festival is that it’s more Afro-centric than many other festivals I’ve attended.

For soul food aficionados, this is the place to be, with vendors advertising “Mom’s Soul Rice Bowls – Oxtail, Chitling, Hot Links,” “La Cajun Red Beans & Hamhocks with Rice,” “Catfish fillets,” and “Bayou Chicken.” There is also a wide selection of ethnic clothing and jewelry in African, Swahili, Egyptian, and Rastafarian designs, plus Eracism and Obama T-Shirts and Negro league sports memorabilia.

The festival venue is the Monterey Fairgrounds and features two general stages; the Presidents Stage and Garden Stage, which all attendees have unlimited access to, and a third stage – the main Arena Stage – where attendees pay an additional price to see the headline acts. There are always a great combination of blues and R&B artists performing on each stage, and in many cases the headline acts also perform on one of the general admission stages.

Here are my personal highlights of the performances this last summer, in order of appearance:

Alvon Johnson. I’d heard Alvon at the 2007 Monterey festival when he played on the general admission Presidents Stage. By the end of his set, he had convinced an enthusiastic crowd that he belonged on the main Arena Stage. He wasn’t at the festival in 2008, but this year he opened the festival on the main Arena Stage. Great showman.

Lenny Williams. Lenny was lead singer for the popular 1970’s soul band, “Tower of Power.” Although the years have diminished the power of Lenny’s voice, it was still a treat to hear him sing old “Tower of Power” hits, like You’re Still a Young Man and So Very Hard To Go. The crowd adored him.

Leah Tysse and the O.G.s. Powerful singer and tight band. I had heard of Leah Tysse’s penchant for getting down on her knees while singing, but when she walked on the stage in an all-white outfit I thought, “No way – that’s not happening.” I was wrong! Leah and the O.G.s get the endurance award for doing an hour set on the Arena Stage and then putting in another two hours on the Garden Stage. (A month after the festival, where she had played before crowds numbering in the hundreds, I heard Leah sing at a tiny bar near my home town of Grass Valley before an enthusiastic crowd of maybe 30 people. Such is the life of a working musician.)

Eric Bibb. Accompanied only by Grant Dermody on harmonica, Eric played his guitar with such passion and intensity, and his sound was so full, that I never thought about the lack of bass, drums, keyboards or horns. I was more impressed with Eric and Grant than all the other great musicians who played the festival.  Maybe it was because they chose to present their music in the same manner as the earliest blues players, so that even in a large crowd I felt the intimacy I might have at a juke joint. Eric and Grant received a standing ovation at 1:30 in the afternoon! If you’ve ever been to an outdoor, daytime festival, you know that it takes a special act to get people on their feet under a blazing sun.

Homemade Jamz Band. The muffler guitar kids were back and it was fun to see how Ryan, Kyle, and Taya had matured over the last year. Another change, Ryan is now playing a double neck guitar.

Elvin Bishop. I’d seen Elvin a couple of times over the past two years and each time I gained a deeper appreciation of how entertaining he is. Besides playing some awesome music, Elvin comes out with lots of great down-home sayings.  For example, when talking about a fishing buddy, Elvin claimed, “I knew all his lies and he knew all mine.”

Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I rounded a corner and the Garden Stage came into view. There was this 1950’s- looking blonde dancing up a storm all over the stage, wearing a sexy dress, fishnet stockings, high heels, and a flower in her hair. What a turn on! And to make a good thing even better, she was playing a big ole Gibson ES-175D! She being Carmen Getit, the guitarist for Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums band. Bandleader Steve Lucky was also a trip. He had a load of that greasy kids stuff in his hair and sported a distinctive soul patch. His look and sense of humor and his interaction with Carmen made for one of the most enjoyable sets of the festival.

Kenny Neal. Always a pleasure. Kenny plays a beat up Telecaster that looks like it came out of a garbage dump. I’ve seen homeless people with better looking guitars! Not only can one revel in his musical virtuosity, but Kenny’s infectious smile radiates a warmth that cheers up the whole crowd.  Kenny’s picture graced this years festival program.

The Neville Brothers. The Neville Brothers fascinate me, especially Arron with his huge biceps, tattoos, and serious appearance. He doesn’t look like the kind of guy that could hit those really high notes. And Cyrus, he seems so voodoo, it’s easy to imagine him out in a swamp somewhere mixing up a magic potion. I’d never seen or heard brother Charles before, but I immediately liked him, all big smiles and signing “I Love You” and “Peace” at the end of their performance. Big brother, “Poppa Funk” Art, was almost inconspicuous off to the side on his Hammond, letting his younger brothers take the spotlight. I wondered what it was like in the Neville household when the brothers were growing up. Wouldn’t you have loved to be one of their friends, hanging out at their house? The Monterey Blues Festival is a fantastic experience and I encourage all roots music lovers to come to Monterey in 2010 and enjoy. You can fly into San Jose, California and rent a car, Monterey being less than two hours away. Lodging in Monterey is expensive during the festival weekend, but less expensive accommodations can be found in nearby Seaside and Salinas. Monterey is home to Cannery Row, made famous by the great writer John Steinbeck, and to the world-reknown Monterey Bay Aquarium. The nearby California coast offers so much to do – Santa Cruz, Carmel, Point Lobos, and Big Sur for starters – I promise you won’t have enough time to do it all. See ya next year!

Crosscut Saw Photography Monterey Blues Festival

Click on photos to enlarge. Photo captions are actual quotes from the artists.