Price: $25, $39, $55
Venue: Harveys Outdoor Arena
Online Reservations: Purchase Tickets

LONNIE BROOKS
Over the course of his career, guitarist/vocalist Lonnie Brooks has come a long way. From his early days backing zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier to his years as a hit-producing Gulf Coast rock and rolling R&B singer to his emergence in Chicago as an innovative blues man in his own right, Lonnie shaped a signature
sound and style. Combining rock and roll, rhythm and blues, Cajun boogie, country twang, and hard Chicago blues, Brooks defies simple classification. His massive voice and blistering guitar playing make every song he sings his own. And as anyone who’s seen him in concert can attest, his live performances are
legendary for kick-starting many a party and spreading a rollicking good time. According to the Village Voice, “Sheer energy and excitement…Brings an original brilliance to the blues.”

EDDY “THE CHIEF” CLEARWATER & JIMMY JOHNSON
During the 1950s, Chicago’s West Side was a breeding ground for some of the world’s greatest blues men. Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Freddie King and others ruled the clubs. With his fierce guitar playing, soulful and emotive vocals and wild stage shows, Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater easily belongs on this list. A Chicago legend, Clearwater is an intense, flamboyant blues-rocking showman. He’s equally comfortable playing the deepest, most heartfelt blues or rocking, good-time party music. DownBeat said, “Left-hander Eddy Clearwater is a forceful six-stringer...He lays down some gritty West Side shuffles and belly-grinding slow blues that highlight his raw chops, soulful vocals, and earthy, humorous lyrics.”

JIMMY JOHNSON
His first solo material appeared on Alligator Records and Delmark Records in 1978-79, when he was fifty years old. His career continued to pick up until December 2, 1988, when his touring van crashed in Indiana, killing his keyboardist St. James Bryant and bassist Larry Exum. Johnson was injured and took an extended hiatus from music, but returned to record for Verve Records in 1994. In 2002 he cut a record with his brother Syl.

MAVIS STAPLES
Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from high school in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleo, Yvonne, and Pervis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."

ELVIN BISHOP
Growing up in the 1940s on a farm in Iowa with a loving but non musical family, Elvin seldom heard music as a kid. "This was before TV," Elvin says, "and on the radio you got a lot of Frank Sinatra and ‘How Much Is That Doggie In the Window' type of stuff." The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when Elvin was 10, in 1952. Tulsa was "totally segregated," says Elvin, "I mean, hard core." However, "the one thing they couldn't segregate was the airwaves. When rock and roll started up in the mid-'50s, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard showed up on white radio."

THE MANNISH BOYS
Fresh out of the recording studio after laying down 17 tracks for their third studio release, The Mannish Boys come to you with more polished grit than ever before.  Returning to, in essence, the original core of the band, The Mannish Boys have added even more show stopping musicians to the already dynamic lineup which makes up the one band blues festival that is The Mannish Boys.  Assembled from the cream of the crop of today’s blues veterans and young bloods, the flexible and rotating cast of vigorous musicians and entertainers keep things interesting and fresh.

MITCH KASHMAR
Noted by his peers as one of the most soulful and powerful blues singers in the business today, Mitch Kashmar has shared the stage with some of the most influential blues musicians including John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Turner, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Pee Wee Crayton, Johnny Adams and many others.