Music festival to bring women blues artists to McIntosh, Minnesota, on Friday and Saturday
May 30—McINTOSH, Minn. — Little Bobby's Bar and Grill will host the "Women of the Blues Festival 2024" on Friday and Saturday, May 31-June 1, in McIntosh.
The free event, featuring the Laurie Morvan Band, Dwa Brown, Amanda Fish and Shannon Curfman, will be presented in the former opera house theater that was built in the 1880s, according to Bobby Houle, event organizers and owner of Little Bobby's Bar and Grill.
Several of the musicians have become nationally known, Houle said.
The event kicks off at 8 p.m. Friday, with the "Blues Jam," hosted by the Laurie Morvan Band, Houle said. Female musicians in attendance are welcome to jam with the band that evening.
The guest artists who will perform Saturday are: Dwa Brown, 5 p.m.; Amanda Fish, 6 p.m.; Shannon Curfman, 8 p.m.; and the Laurie Morvan Band, 10 p.m. Because of limited space inside Little Bobby's, TV screens will be placed outside for the benefit of the overflow crowd.
Jacquie "Lady J" Maddix, who hosts the "Songs of The Soul" program on the Twin Cities radio station KFAI 90.3FM, will serve as master of ceremonies for the entire event, Houle said.
Maddix has been an important part of Minnesota radio and TV entertainment for more than 30 years, he said.
"She is one of the best blues storytellers in America, telling her listeners the backstories of the greatest blues music classics out there," he said.
Maddix, who was inducted into the Minnesota Blue Society Hall of Fame, is author of a book, "Root Wisdom from the Elders' Circle," published in 2020, which focuses on maintaining an everyday spirituality.
Saturday's events will also include a breakfast brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Little Bobby's Bar and Grill, 295 SW Cleveland Ave. A free will offering will be accepted. All proceeds will go to the Win-E-Mac School's Alumni Association to fund college scholarships, as well as the school's music programs, Girl Scouts and the Women of Today organization.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, an art and wine event, featuring the works of Rebecca Brown, daughter of Dwa Brown, and local visual artists, is planned. Their artworks, including paintings, prints and beadwork, will be available for purchase, Houle said.
And at 4 p.m. Saturday, there will be a ribbon-cutting at "Little Bobby's Walk of Fame," which will display the names of more than 40 regional, national and international artists who have played the McIntosh venue over the past four years. Among them are Blind Joe, Dion Pride, Indigenous, Cathy Erickson, Kelly Baker and Lydia Rose, Houle said. Artists' names have been cut in metal stars that will be mounted on the side of the building facing Highway 2.
The Laurie Morvan Band, which advanced to the finals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, was nominated for Best New Artist at the Independent Blues Awards ceremony in May 2018. Laurie Morvan is the band's guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Dwa Brown, a Leech Lake Ojibwe recording artist, and her band, The Spirit Remains, have played hundreds of shows locally and regionally, including the Moondance Jam music festival in Walker, Minnesota, and in Sturgis, South Dakota. The band is known for insightful, powerful music that serves as a salve for personal pain amid the chaos and uncertainty of this world.
Singer-songwriter Amanda Fish released her first all-original LP, "Down In The Dirt," for which she was awarded the 2016 "Sean Costello Rising Star" Blues Blast Music Award. Her second all-original studio album, "Free," debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart and nabbed a 2019 Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist Album. Her long-awaited, third studio record, "Kingdom," is set for release this summer.
Shannon Curfman has been performing as a guitarist, duet partner and singer-songwriter with Kid Rock's band, Twisted Brown Truckers, since 2010. She has sold a quarter-million albums and has opened for John Cougar Mellencamp, Buddy Guy, The Indigo Girls, ZZ Top, Page/Plant, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck and others. She's recorded with artists including John Fogerty, Bob Seger, Buddy Buy, Keb Mo, Kid Rock, John Mayall and Joe Bonamassa.
In McIntosh, the annual festival started a few years ago with a focus on country music, but last year was changed to highlight female blues musicians, Houle said. He was encouraged by last year's turnout of between 300 and 400 to continue with the same theme this year.
In metropolitan areas, especially, it is difficult for female blues musicians to garner the attention they deserve, Houle said.
"So many great artists don't get the opportunity to shine," he said.
He hopes this festival will help to change that.
"We started it last year to bring attention to all the amazingly talented blues women (that) are out there," said Tanya Nelson, Houle's publicist. "Women in blues go widely unrecognized and underappreciated."
Houle and others chose to schedule the festival the weekend after Memorial Day to position it as one of the first summer music festivals in the U.S.
To reserve space at the campsite in McIntosh this weekend, call (218) 563-3043.
This event has been made possible with support from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council, through funding from the Minnesota State Legislature, in partnership with the Win-E-Mac Alumni Association.
For more information, go online to
or contact Nelson at (218) 693-8075 or
.
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