There's more than enough reason to have the blues these days, with the government shutdown, bickering between politicians, and the continuing absence of Twinkies on our local store shelves. So we figure we might as well just celebrate the feeling and sound, and get into the grove at the second annual Sunshine Music & Blues Festival this coming January 18, at Mizner Park Amphitheater in Boca Raton. The festival resurfaces the next day on January 19 at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg for those on the West Coast of the Sunshine State.
Spearheaded once again by Florida's own Tedeschi Trucks Band -- the namesake outfit helmed by husband-wife duo Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi -- this year's event continues the tradition of the Grammy-award-winning outfit recruiting several famous friends to take their festival to the masses.
"We've really wanted to put a festival together where we hit the road and eventually do it nationwide, if we can make it work," Trucks told yours truly last year prior to the initial launch. "So, we put some of our favorite bands together that we would want to go see, and this way we can sit out front and watch. We had a long list and we just tried to piece it together."
After the recent release of their critically acclaimed second studio album, Made Up My Mind, the band are in a stronger position than ever to gather some of the greatest names in modern blues, among them, Leon Russell, Hot Tuna, jazz legend Stanley Clarke, the Ringers (featuring Jimmy Herring from Widespread Panic), Tab Benoit (Boca only), Galactic, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, Keith Carlock and Etienne Mbappe, Bobby Lee Rogers; British blues guitarist and singer Oli Brown, and others yet to be announced.
Sunshine Music & Blues Festival on January 18, at Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. General admission tickets for the all day event cost $49.50. Reserved seating can be purchased for $99.50. VIP packages are also available. Visit livenation.com.
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