Get ready for the inaugural Huntington Beach New Blues Festival, at the Huntington Beach Sports Complex, 18100 Goldenwest St., Saturday, April 27. Showtime: 9am- 9pm (Gates open 9am). Tickets: $40. (General Admission); $75. (Gold Ticket with assigned stage front seating, waitress service, access to all food vendors, merchandise vendors, bar, and beer trailer); $125. (V.I.P. with backstageaccess, artist meet-and-greets, stage front viewing area, catered food, non-alcoholic beverages, exclusive VIP Lounge with VIP Happy Hour, access to all food vendors, merchandise vendors, bar, beer trailer). Info: (562) 338-4805 or visit https://www.newbluesfestival.com/.
The Festival features an eclectic, Orange County-centric Main Stage lineup with eight of the twelve groups – Eric Sardinas, James Harman, The Rhythm Shakers, The Verdoros with Harliss Sweetwater, plus Warren Renfro and Brian Coakley (ex-Cadillac Tramps), The Broughams, Whiskey & The Wolves, and the Michael Mills Band – all calling the OC home. Blues legend Guitar Shorty, New Blues Revolution, Deb Taren Band, and Union Hobos are the other Main Stage acts. The Big Top Stage is headlined by Orange County staple, blues harpist Papa J and Crosscut Delux, plus Jason Robert, Sandy Haley Band, Beano/Mojohand, Runson Willis III, The Motion, Golden Butter Review, Up Jumped The Blues, Jim Fizz Jazztet, and the “6 String Showdown” winner.
The Huntington Beach New Blues Festival is presented in conjunction with the Long Beach Blues Society “Preserve the Past, Promote the Future.”
A Few of This Year’s Main Stage Headliners…
Slide Guitar Master Eric Sardinas
Eric Sardinas: Blues-rock slide guitar ace known for his mastery of the electric resonator guitar and searing live performances including lighting his guitar on fire onstage while soloing….began playing guitar at age six and leaned toward vintage recordings Delta bluesmen Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Big Bill Broonzy, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters…originally played left-handed, but switched to right-handed…moved around the country, landing in Los Angeles in 1990… like early bluesmen, played acoustic for a living on the street, then formed the Eric Sardinas Project (ESP), hooking up with bassist Paul Loranger at a jam session….Blues discoverer Dick Shurman produced Sardinas’ 1999 debut, Treat Me Right… in 2002, Sardinas was featured on Hey Bo Diddley – A Tribute!, performing the song “Ride On Josephine”…signed to Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label and was opening act for Vai’s ‘Real Illusions’ Tour…also released Eric Sardinas and Big Motor on Favored Nations…extremely popular in Europe and Germany…performs as a trio.
The Rhythm Shakers: Red hair flailing and double bass pounding, Marlene Perez of the Rhythm Shakers closes out another show in Los Angeles…ripping wails and howling vocals rocketed from her torso, reminiscent of Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse…The Rhythm Shakers brilliantly gell a late 50’s rock and roll/rockabilly sound… bassist Victor Mendez and drummer Brook Emelio weave a spider web of rhythm, both straight forward and head bobbing, yet technical and algorithmic…guitarist Kevin O’Leary (also front man of The Reckless Ones), embodies the genre while firing creative and precise guitar lines …have traveled the world playing Sjock Festival (Belgium), High Rockabilly (Spain), The Rockabilly Rave (U.K.) and Viva Las Vegas….at their core, have the look and sound of a late 50’s/early 60’s rock and roll band while encompassing the most interesting sounds of 60’s soul, blues and modern music.
Guitar Shorty
Guitar Shorty: Legendary guitarist/vocalist is a giant in the blues world…credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy… has been electrifying audiences for over five decades with his super-charged live shows and incendiary recordings…like a bare-knuckled boxer, Shorty strikes with his blistering, physical guitar playing and fierce vocals, connecting directly with body and soul…what really sets Shorty apart is his unpredictable, off-the-wall guitar playing… reaches for sounds, riffs and licks that other blues players wouldn’t even think of…Amazon.com says his guitar work “sounds like a caged tiger before feeding time…his molten guitar pours his psychedelicized solos like lava over anything in his path”…Chicago Reader declares, “Guitar Shorty is a battle-scarred hard-ass; slices off his phrases and notes with homicidal fury…among the highest-energy blues entertainers on the scene.”
Whiskey & the Wolves: Since its inception, this Santa Ana, California-based rock & roll band has been an ever-evolving project. Founded by three close friends jamming over a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon, Whisky & the Wolves is steeped in whiskey and blues and full of honesty and attitude…now distilled and hungry, the OC quintet takes its first steps…”we aren’t here to bullshit you, we want to play you our stripped-to-the-emotions brand of rock & roll…if it resonates with you the way it does us, if the aether pulls you into that warm embrace, then that is what we want to do…f*** it, we’ll do it live”…their debut album “Fenrir” is now available…The Wolves are coming!
About…The New Blues Festival
The New Blues Festival is now in its sixth big year, first expanding to a two-day event in 2015 due to the overwhelming success of the inaugural NBF, when over two-thousand music lovers of all ages filled POA Park in Long Beach; and now, the inaugural Huntington Beach New Blues Festival in the Spring of 2019.
“Los Angeles and Orange Counties have responded very well to the (New Blues Festival) concept. We definitely hit on a pent-up demand for a long-running inter-generational tradition, and we are excited to once again share all this great music with the public”, says William Grisolia, Producer and Founder of the New Blues Festival.
Past headliners at the previous two New Blues Festival events include some of the biggest names in blues: 2017 Grammy winner, Bobby Rush; female guitar star, Ana Popovic; The Lowrider Band; The Stray Cat’s Lee Rocker; legendary SoCal-based harpist-vocalist, James Harman; The 44’s with Kid Ramos; jazz/blues chanteuse, Barbara Morrison; seminal blues belter Whiteboy James & the Blues Express; the son of blues royalty,Teddy Lee Hooker; and renowned acoustic guitarist-vocalist Bernie Pearl, plus some the best young up-and-coming blues artists, teenage guitarists, Chase Walker and Ray Goren.
(Huntington Beach, CA) – dougdeutschPR