Press Release
5th Annual Crossroads Blues Festival
August 8, 2014
Lurrie Bell, the great multiple Blues Music Award nominee
and 2014 BMA winning artist for top blues song of the year, will headline the
Fifth Annual Crossroads Blues Festival.
Held for the last four years in Byron, IL, the fest has moved to Lyran
Park and will be held on Saturday, August 23rd. Gates open at 10 AM and the music starts at
noon. Advanced tickets are $5 and entry
is $10 at the gate. 5 and under get in
free with an adult. Camping is available
for both Friday and Saturday night on a limited basis. $20 per day for campers and RVs, tents are
$10 each per day.
Lurrie Bell now records on the Chicago legendary blues label
Delmark Records and his latest release Blues In My Soul was one of 2013’s top
albums. His 2012 The Devil Ain’t Got No
Music was also highly acclaimed and featured Lurrie in an acoustic mode doing
Gospel and Delta blues in a truly amazing set of performances on Aria
Records. He was also a fixture on both
volumes of Chicago Blues: A Living History and has a number of great prior
releases. Son of the famed harp player
Carey Bell, Lurrie has been playing guitar since he was five years old. After
years playing church as a youth, he was playing with Willie Dixon at the age of
17. In 1977 he was one of the Founding
members of Dixon’s and Billy Branch’s Sons of the Blues. A year or so later he was touring with Koko
Taylor.
A series of personal demons beset him but they were overcome
and he released several albums for Delmark and then released a BMA nominated
album with Dad Carey on Alligator Records.
He then began recording on his own label, Aria Records and later was
part of the Chicago Blues Living History sessions prior to his return to his
old “home” at Delmark Records. His
recordings and works have been nominated for a host of prestigious awards. Bell goes on stage at 8 PM with his band and
they are also some of the best in the blues world. Melvin Smith joins Lurrie on bass. Melvin was Koko Taylor’s bass player and
traveled the world with her. He now
plays with both Lurrie and John Primer and is one of the greatest bass players
out there! Willie “The Touch” Hayes
appears on drums. Willie was also with
Koko and has played with greats like Luther Allison. He is one of the most respected
percussionists around! Roosevelt “Mad Hatter”
Purfoy performs a jazz inflected blues style deeply influenced by gospel music
on keyboards; he is highly in demand and has performed with many greats.
This 8 PM show will cap off a day of blues with four other
great bands and two performers. The
Westside Andy/Mel Ford Band with Barrelhouse Chuck goes on at 6 PM, Reverend
Raven and the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys are on at 4 PM, Dave Weld and the
Imperial Flames go on at 2 PM and the day opens at noon with Stormcellar, a
blues and root band all the way from Sydney, Australia! Joe Filisko will hold a harmonica workshop at
2 PM and RAMI Youth Jam winner Justin “Boots” Gates performs between the stage acts
over in the park’s pavilion.
Call 779-537-4006 for more info!
if we buy tickets online, how do we get them?
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