Louisville Blues Festival
On March 15th 2009, Louisville will get a major case of the BLUES! Playing The Louisville Palace at 8pm, The Louisville Blues Festival is a fantastic celebration that delivers the dynamics of high-energy music and entertainment with love, happiness and nostalgia - all in the name of the Blues. World-class blues entertainers Bobby 'Blue' Bland, Willie Clayton, Shirley Brown, Floyd Taylor and Bobby Rush will all share the Louisville Palace stage!
Bobby 'Blue' Bland, began asserting his characteristic gospel, blues and R&B vocal style in melodic big-band blues singles, including "Farther Up The Road" (1957) and "Little Boy Blue" (1958) which reached the US R&B Top 10. Bobby's craft was most clearly heard on a series of early 1960s releases including "Cry Cry Cry," "I Pity The Fool" and the sparkling " Turn On Your Love Light," which became a much-covered standard. Bland's lead-off track from his 1971 album; Dreamer, "Ain't No Love In the Heart of the City," was a minor pop hit, but it would eventually become Bland's best-known song, thanks to a cover by the hard rock band Whitesnake and a sample on Jay-Z's 2001 album The Blueprint. In 1985, Bland was signed by Malaco Records, which partnership yielded a series of well-crafted albums. In 1992, Bobby Bland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1997 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shirley Brown is a soul singer, who has been professionally performing since the age of 22. Brown was one of the first signings of Clive Davis' Arista Records. She remains one of the few vocalists whose range and power invite comparison with Aretha Franklin. She vaulted to national attention with the 1974 hit 'Woman to Woman' taken from the 1974 album of the same name. Soul critic Ron Wynn went on to call 'Woman to Woman' a 'seminal confessional and confrontational soul masterpiece'.
Floyd Taylor; Johnnie Taylor's son, is reigning over the Southern Soul world. "Baby I've Changed" was the jam of the year in 2005 and the album "No Doubt" is filled to the brim with silky slow jams and steppin' R & B that makes ladies swoon and the fellas nod their heads. During Johnnie's "Disco Lady" days (the 70s) Floyd joined his father on several concert tours and also performed with other big names like Natalie Cole, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Bobby Womack, & more. Floyd was even voted the 1998 Entertainer of the Year by the Chicago Blues Society. This helped propel Floyd closer to that coveted recording contract. In 2002 the appropriately titled "Legacy" was released on Malaco Records.
Willie Clayton grew up listening and singing to blues music. In 1971, Clayton left his hometown to pursue his dreams of becoming a singer in Chicago. There the young singer landed a contract with Hi Records in Memphis, where he worked with veteran producer Willie Mitchell. In 1984, Clayton made the R&B charts with his songs "Tell Me" and "What a Way to Put It". In 1993, Clayton recorded Let's Get Together, a smooth soul-blues album with several original songs, but named after Al Green's hit song. In his follow-up album, Simply Beautiful, Clayton mixed Al Green and Aretha Franklin with his own music. His next album, It's About Love, was released in 1999. Changing Tha Game and Full Circle followed. Clayton's latest album, released in October 2006, is titled Gifted.
Bobby Rush began to achieve national acclaim in 1971 following the success of his hit "Chicken Heads" on Galaxy records. Over the next decade he recorded for labels including Jewel, Philadelphia International and Warner Brothers, In the early 80's, he recorded a series of albums for the LeJam, Ichiban, and Malaco labels, and gained the title of "king of the chitlin circuit" in the wake of hits including "Sue," "Wearin' It Out," "Ain't Studdin' You," and "Hoochie Man." In the last decade Rush has gained new audiences through performances at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and on festival stages in Europe and Japan.