Blues lovers are rewarded with Bluesfest’s 7th artist announcement, Bluesfest is renowned for bringing the world’s best Blues artists to the Tyagarah Tea Tree farm, just outside Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia every Easter. This year the festival begins Thursday, April 13 and finishes on Monday, 17 April. Artists added to Bluesfest’s already stellar lineup today include;
Eric Gales stands head and shoulders among other guitarists in his genre and is out to blow your mind and expand your musical horizons, in fact Joe Bonamassa calls him “One of the best if not the best guitarist in the world today”. He is known for mesmerising fans around the world with his uncanny connection to his guitar, don’t miss this legend make his Bluesfest debut.
Eric Gales
True Blues royalty will take the Bluesfest stage when Mud Morganfield performs. Mud is the son of the legendary Bluesman Muddy Waters and has become a respected artist in his own right. He explains: I’m not Muddy Waters and I’m certainly not trying to be Muddy Waters. I’m Mud Morganfield but when I’m up on stage I always feel pops is there with me and it means so much that I can get on stage and keep his music alive around the world.” Morganfield has described the resemblance of the tone and timber of his voice to that of his father’s voice as a double-edged sword. The similarity is evident in For Pops: A Tribute To Muddy Waters, an album on which Morganfield performs several Muddy Waters songs. This album won a Blues Music Award in the ‘Traditional Blues Album’ category in 2015.
Mud Morganfield
The sandy blonde hair is the same, the body posture is also the same, and there are touches in the voice that have a similar genetic connection, but Devon Allman has toiled long and hard to establish his own musical identity, separate from his legendary dad, Gregg Allman. In 2017 Devon Allman returns to Bluesfest on the back of his critically acclaimed new album Ride or Die which debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues charts. He will once again bring his first-rate guitar skills and powerful vocals to the stage at the festival.
Devon Allman
Bluesfest audiences are in for a thrill when Experience Jimi Hendrix takes the stage. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s unparalleled creative and musical influence Experience Jimi Hendrix brings together an all-star line-up of some of Australia’s guitar greats: Jak Housden – founder of the Badloves, Peter Northcote – who has played with Dragon, Tom Jones and Shania Twain, Dai Pritchard – Billy Thorpe’s right hand man who also plays with Rose Tattoo, Steve Edmonds – of Hoodoo Guru’s fame and Grant Walmsley –founder of the Screaming Jets. There isn’t an audience on the planet more fitting for this homage to the iconic artist’s songs, showmanship and trailblazing technique.
Experience Jimi Hendrix (Dai Pritchard & Grant Walmsley)
Australian-based musician Jeff Lang is head back to the festival in 2017. He has earned worldwide acclaim as a virtuosic guitarist, a dynamic songwriter, and a startlingly unique live performer. Blending rock, roots, folk, Blues, ballads, instrumentals, improvisation and a devastatingly high level of musicality, Jeff Lang is a singularly unique performer in our world.
Jeff Lang
Ray Beadle has ripped it up at Bluesfest in the past, and he is welcomed back with open arms in 2017. Ray’s guitar and vocal styles evoke numerous Blues legends, whilst concocting a breathtaking style all of his own. It is not by chance that Ray has become a favourite amongst Australian Blues fans.
Ray Beadle
One of Australia’s most highly lauded Bluesmen will make his festival debut in 2017. Lloyd Spiegel is an award-winning solo artist on the cutting edge of the Blues scene in Australia. There is no doubt he will be at home on the Bluesfest stage.
Lloyd Spiegel
It was his triumphant performance at Bluesfest in 2014 that sparked the recording of Glenn Cardier’s highly acclaimed album Stranger Than Fiction, so it is with great excitement that the festival announces he will return with his band The Sideshow in 2017. After a successful career in the 70s, Glenn Cardier’s re-emergence has been nothing short of extraordinary. Onstage, there are the trademark flashes of dark humour in his songs of stark beauty and thumping rockabilly/Blues.
Glenn Cardier
All the way from the Isle of Man, Davy Knowles makes his Bluesfest debut in 2017. He is no stranger to festivals having played Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo with his band Back Door Slam. You know you have someone special on your hands when Peter Frampton raves: “He’s definitely the gunslinger guitarist of the 21st century’’.
Davy Knowles
He won the hearts of many Bluesfest goers in 2016, so it’s with great pleasure Bluesfest welcomes Blind Boy Paxton back in 2017. Paxton has earned a reputation for transporting audiences back to the 1920s and making them wish they could stay there for good. This young musician sings and plays banjo, guitar, piano, fiddle, harmonica, Cajun accordion, and the bones (percussion).
Blind Boy Paxton
She may be at the bottom of this announcement, but Melody Angel is destined to be at the top in the near future. She regularly performs at Buddy Guy’s nightclub Legends in Chicago, and has American Blues Scene exclaiming “Besides her playing, what makes Angel such a powerful performer, is her strongly impassioned vocals. We can’t wait to see her continue to grow. What a future she has! If you get a chance to catch Ms. Angel live, do it!” Melody Angel is an important voice and one that deserves to be heard around the world.
Melody Angel
Bluesfest is set to announce more artists over the coming weeks
THE 2017 ARTIST DAILY PLAYING SCHEDULE IS AVAILABLE ON BLUESFEST.COM.AU
All 5, 3 & 1-day Festival and Camping tickets are now on sale through Bluesfest.com.au or by phoning the Bluesfest office on 02 6685 8310
THE SEVENTH 2017 BLUESFEST ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT includes:
ERIC GALES
MUD MORGANFIELD
DEVON ALLMAN
EXPERIENCE JIMI HENDRIX
JEFF LANG
RAY BEADLE AND THE SILVER DOLLARS
LLOYD SPIEGEL
GLENN CARDIER AND THE SIDESHOW
DAVY KNOWLES
BLIND BOY PAXTON
MELODY ANGEL
2017 ARTISTS ALREADY ANNOUNCED:
NEIL YOUNG + PROMISE OF THE REAL
BARRY GIBB
SANTANA
ZAC BROWN BAND
PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND PERFORM HORSES
PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND ACOUSTIC
MARY J. BLIGE
THE LUMINEERS
BUDDY GUY EXCLUSIVE
THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
MADNESS
BONNIE RAITT
MAVIS STAPLES EXCLUSIVE
BILLY BRAGG
BILLY BRAGG AND JOE HENRY
JETHRO TULL
MILES ELECTRIC BAND
TROMBONE SHORTY AND ORLEANS AVENUE
RICKIE LEE JONES
GREGORY PORTER
SNARKY PUPPY
SLIGHTLY STOOPID
ST.PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
MICHAEL KIWANUKA
NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE
GALLANT
BETH HART EXCLUSIVE
LAURA MVULA
ANDREW BIRD
RHIANNON GIDDENS
BOOKER T. PRESENTS THE STAX RECORDS REVIEW
TONY JOE WHITE
ROY AYERS
JOAN OSBORNE
MAX JURY
TURIN BRAKES
THE STRUMBELLAS
JAKE SHIMABUKURO
DUMPSTAPHUNK
THE SUFFERS
THE RECORD COMPANY
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS
NIKKI HILL
THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS
IRISH MYTHEN
TREVOR HALL