Page 52 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2025 Digital Edition

Feel the magic of the blues in one of Switzerland’s village squares, like this one
in Brontallo, at a Vallemaggia Magic Blues event.
Photo courtesy of Vallemaggia Magic Blues
AUGUST
Since 1988, the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway
has brought the very best in Norwegian and international
blues, rock, soul and gospel music. This year, the festival will
run July 31-August 3, featuring headliners Mavis Staples,
Jimmie Vaughan, Keb’ Mo’, Sue Foley, Southern Avenue,
Walter Trout, D.K. Harrell, John Primer & Bob Corritore
Allstars and many more. The festival hosts 13 different venues
and stages throughout the entire town, ranging from large
outdoor stages like the tented Hovigs Hangar and the historic Music plays out of the Barker Common gazebo at the Red, White and Blues Festival in
arena Myrens Dam (a UNESCO World Heritage site built in Fredonia, NY. Photo courtesy of Red, White and Blues Festival
the late 19th century), to club, church and library venues like
the Bellman Culture Pub, the Notodden Theater and the Heddal SEPTEMBER
Stave Church (which dates back to the mid-13th century). Set The annual Red, White and Blues Festival in Fredonia,
in Notodden’s city center, the festival’s 40,000+ attendees NY, is held every September, the weekend after Labor Day
can walk the town’s beautiful streets, check out educational (2025’s dates are Sept. 5-6). Taking over downtown Fredonia
workshops and youth band camps, taste food from all corners at 12+ venues including bars, restaurants and Barker
of the world and see free daytime concerts. Bluesfest.no Commons, this two-day music event showcases the area’s
wine industry, hence the “Red” and “White,” along with the
“Blues” of regional and national artists. Not only will there
be live music every half-hour to hour at a different downtown
venue, the Red, White and Blues Festival also includes food
trucks, craft and wine vendors, 50/50 and basket raffles to
benefit the Literacy Volunteers of CHQ, the Fredonia Farmers’
Market and a 9/11 memorial motorcycle run fundraiser and
raffle to benefit the VA Clinic. Join in on this village-wide
block party! FestivalsFredoniaNY.org/Red-White-Blues

OCTOBER
Founded in 1986, the King Biscuit Blues Festival
attracts thousands of blues enthusiasts from around the world
to the banks of the Mississippi River in Helena, AR, each
October (this year’s dates are October 8-11). Named after the
longest-running daily radio show, this iconic festival not only
involves the whole town, but continues to preserve the music
of the Delta. Consisting of five stages (including the levee-
Imagine experiencing the blues at the Notodden Blues Festival’s Heddal Stave Church top amphitheater “Main Stage” and the historic renovated
venue, which dates back to the mid-13th century! Malco Theater) presenting stirring performances, the festival
Photo courtesy of Notodden Blues Festival also includes a Blues Symposium, wide variety of buskers,

50 Blues Festival Guide 2025