Page 48 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2022

The thousands of fans who visit our site monthly can look
for upcoming blues festivals, listen to music, peruse back
issues of the magazine – which we made available digitally
in 2012 – and get the latest industry news through our weekly
e-Guide newsletter. Our site also hosts a directory of blues
related businesses, including bands, agents, labels, non-profit
organizations, radio shows, local blues societies and more.
Our unofficial spokesman Bobby Rush calls the Blues Festival
Guide, “The roadmap to everything blues!”
Because fans wanted year-round blues news and
information, in 2006 we started producing an electronic weekly
newsletter called the Blues Festival e-Guide, which includes the
latest CD releases/music, industry news, tour dates, roots blues
airplay charts and, of course, upcoming festivals. We haven’t
missed our weekly edition once in 17 years! It remains free
to the public – our subscriber list has grown to 40,000 opt-in
subscribers – and is underwritten by advertisers.
In 2006, we were awarded The Blues Foundation’s
Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Award for print media. Michele,
Nancy and I went to Memphis to receive our award, which
was such a thrill! It sits proudly on a shelf in my office. We are
big supporters of The Blues Foundation, and somewhere along
the way, we received a brick on their wall for our contributions.
Although we aren’t ever able to donate much money, we give
a lot in the form of advertising and marketing. I’m pleased to
see the cohesiveness of the blues industry, tidily pulled together
by The Blues Foundation and their elected Board of Directors.
Throughout the years we’ve had amazing team members.
From sales to accounting to database administration to
marketing to design production to editorial, the folks who have
helped me produce the Blues Festival Guide are like family.
In addition to our editorial contributors and consultants, our
current crackerjack team is formed by our Editor Irene Johnson,
Sales/Marketing Manager Cheryl O’Grady, Ad Sales Reps
Tom Andrews and Joana LeRoque, e-Guide Newsletter Editor
Michele Lundeen, Director of Operations Heather Penrod-
Rudd and Magazine/Website Designer Goran Petko.

It gives me hope and joy to see blues festivals continuing
to thrive and evolve. On behalf of the Blues Festival Guide
team, past and present, I want to thank our readers, writers,
advertisers, partners and supporters for making what we do
possible and creating such a great community. Blues is our
passion, and it has been a pleasure sharing it with you.

46 Blues Festival Guide 2022