Page 76 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2015

HoW, WHen, WHere

DiD You First

Get Bit BY tHe

Blues BuG?

compiled by our friends on Facebook.com/Blues Festival Guide.
Illustrations by matt o’Brien

“When it dawned on me that the ‘rock’ music that I liked the “Free Johnny Copeland concert in Key West in ‘87.”
best was really blues music.” – Randy Johnson – Ridge Yates
“The first time I heard ‘Red House.’” – Josh Whitener “I saw this dude on The Gong Show play a shuffle on a Gibson
335 when I was like 10 years old. I knew right away that's
“Way back in the '60s, I bought what I wanted to do to.” – Joe Sheeran
an album, The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band, solely because of one guy: “Highway 61 radio show, hosted by Bill Ferris, Saturday nights
Sam Lay wearing gold shoes on the on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.” – Don Allan Mitchell
cover. That's when it started for me.” “When I heard Albert King and
– Stew Kupperman ‘Born Under a Bad Sign,’”
“When I first heard ‘Mannish Boy’ by Muddy Waters on the – James Francis Jr.
radio. I was 16 and not very sweet.” – Michel Rouxel
“B.B. King sealed the deal in Lake
“Stevie. Ray. Vaughan.” – Dave Pelfrey
Tahoe in 1977 when I fell in love
“We are snowbirds and were on our way home from Arizona with the blues.”
to Iowa when we made a detour to Clarksdale, MS. We have – Claire Blackmon Adams
been back countless times and now consider Clarksdale our “In college, a buddy of mine gave
home away from home. Live music seven days a week can't me a tape of Skip James. Still the
be beat, unless you are on the Blues Cruise.” – Cindy Power
most hauntingly beautiful voice ever
“I always liked rock bands like Zeppelin and Bad Company, recorded.” – Dennis Hagerich
just never knew why. My big switch from rock to blues started “The B.B. King album Live at the Regal
with Robert Cray in the mid ’90s.” – Steve Hinson was the big moment for me back in
“I was 16 years old in 1968, and was with an old friend, the '60s.” – Nancy Moreman
watching and hearing Charlie Musselwhite and Jimmy
Witherspoon in Monterey, CA.” – Lou Jones
Publisher's Note
“I took a trip to Memphis. I went into a small music store and
told the lady I wanted to buy a blues CD to commemorate my How, When, Where did YoU get bit by the blues bug?
trip. She insisted that I buy Susan Tedeschi’s Just Won't Burn Go to Facebook.com/BluesFestivalGuide
album. I was so hooked that I started surrounding myself with
blues music.” – Sandy Ramsur Santora and message us with your story.
“I was always at jazz shows and then I saw Roomful of Blues. We will post it on our wall and enter you to
Next thing you know, I'm volunteering for the Boston Blues win a GIFT BAG full of blues CDs!
Society.” – Nancy J. Weston

74 Blues Festival Guide 2015