new JOOKS OF KENT video

Previous Jooks Post Here

MORE iNFO ON THE DEEP BLUES FESTiVAL

City Pages
June 19, 2009

Deep Blues Festival

With an outrageously brilliant concept for a music gathering, the Deep Blues Festival launches its third incarnation this summer in a new setting, still focused on the gritty raw essence of the blues and its natural affinities to punk, roots rock, and seminal folk and bluegrass. After putting 74 acts on the bill, including 14 from such international hot spots as Sweden and France, festival organizers may regret abandoning the relatively bucolic pastures of Lake Elmo for the cramped confines of the Cabooze. But, to their credit, the festival feels like should be somewhere like Mississippi's Hill Country, one fount of ifs generally prevailing spirit. Anyway, many of the participants are obscure even in blues circles, which has no correlation to their abundant talent or the intensity of their performances. There'll be crusty, genuine Mississippi blues vets like Elmo Williams, Hezekiah Early, and T-Model Ford; punk-blues fire-breathers like the Black Diamond Heavies; unique 21st-century country-swamp-blues from such as the North Carolina female duo the Moaners; plus sightings of blues scions like Kent Burnside (R.L.'s grandson) and his New Generation Band. The sizeable Minnesota contingent will include John Koerner, the Brass Kings, Davina & the Vagabonds, and the Roe Family Singers. Don't be misled by the lack of "stars," or the setting. This is an event of major significance. 18+, $100 for festival pass; $20-$50 for individual days; free Sunday. 917 Cedar Ave S., Minneapolis; 612-338-6425. - Rick Mason

AMERiCAN RELAY GOES DOWN: LAST SHOW TO BE DEEP BLUES FESTiVAL

I'm saddened to learn to the demise of the soulful wicked dirty Denver two-piece American Relay. Nick and Al are great dudes and incredible musicians and while this is a loss to the alt-blues scene (whatever that is) I firmly believe that inspite of a door closing two will open. Cheers fellahs!

More info HERE

Interview with Chris Johnson of The Deep Blues Festival

Written By Ira Brooker

There’s a reason the summer festival season is the high point of the year for a lot of concertgoers. Like cooking burgers or shooting hoops, watching live music is one of those indoor activities that takes on whole new dimensions when moved outdoors. Every summer sees a ton of ink spilled on the likes of Sasquatch, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, but oftentimes it’s the smaller, more niche-y festivals that capture the true charm of the season.

As difficult as it must be for mega-fest organizers to wrangle all of their various stars and stages, their more understated brethren face a different, possibly even more daunting set of challenges. Case in point: The Deep Blues Festival, a Minnesota-based celebration focused on a fairly specific genre-within-a-genre.

Borrowing a name from blues aficionado Rick Saunders website (inspired in turn by Robert Mugge’s documentary and Robert Palmer’s book, both titled Deep Blues), founder Chris Johnson describes the Deep Blues Festival as “a niche event that I don't think has to be a niche. I really think anyone that enjoys music can find something in these bands that they can be very happy with. This music is blues and blues influenced. The bands have put their own spin and direction to where this music is going. You'll find folk, country, rock, punk, bluegrass, and many other sounds.”

Johnson got the idea for the fest after watching a number of his favorite artists play to sparse crowds in clubs around the Twin Cities. Believing that this music deserved a wider audience, Johnson started booking some Deep Blues acts for block parties and charity events he helped organize. “After one party with the Black Diamond Heavies and Scott H. Biram, they suggested I rent a room and sell tickets so I didn't have to pay for it all myself. I liked this idea and thought I might put on a show with four or five bands. I wrote emails to about 20 bands from across the country, and almost everyone replied immediately that they wanted to play. Rather than turn any down, we planned a one day event for 18 bands. From start to finish, this happened in under 90 days. That was the first annual Deep Blues Festival in 2007.”

Suddenly, Johnson had become a full-fledged concert promoter, and he was working more or less without a template. “There is no other fest like this,” he says. “Trust me, I wish there were. I never would have done this and would just buy a ticket and travel to see theirs.” Once the bands were booked, the next order of business was to line up a venue. “I planned the first fest as how I wanted to see an event as a fan: family friendly, outdoors, continuous live music, affordable, et cetera.” Deep Blues eventually set up shop on the grounds of a rural golf course near River Falls, Wisconsin. The inaugural fest was marred by a full day of pounding rain, but still drew an enthusiastic crowd of about 200. “They stayed through the rain, and almost everyone there thanked me for having the event and encouraged me to try it again,” Johnson says.

And so he did, expanding the festival to three days the following year and moving the venue to a fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. The buzz from the first year allowed Johnson to book more than 40 acts, including comparatively bigger names like Delta blues legend T-Model Ford, Flat Duo Jets founder Dex Romweber and gonzo one-man band Bob Log III.

Even though attendance at the second installment grew to 500 people per day, with even more expected for this year’s 74-band set at Minneapolis’ venerable Cabooze club, the Deep Blues organizers remain a long way from easy street. “We have almost no cash sponsor support,” Johnson says. “Our bands are relatively unknown. Our ticket sales have been small, but there are a number of fans from all around the world that appreciate what we're doing.”

Unable to lure the corporate sponsors who back the bigger festivals, Deep Blues takes a more organic approach that relies heavily on online word-of-mouth. “We've had volunteers help with our website and through their blogs to help spread the word,” Johnson says. “It's really up to the fans. If they think $100 for 74 bands and 5 days of music is a value, we won't have a problem coming back even bigger in 2010… The bands themselves are probably the biggest marketing tool. They tell their fans and post to their email lists and websites.”

Johnson points to that DIY attitude and spirit of community as the major factor that sets fests like Deep Blues apart from their mass-market cousins. “Many of these bands knew and supported one another long before we started the fest. I do think we've helped and encouraged them to build new and stronger ties with one another. They tour together. They support each other with local shows. They'll turn their fans on to one another. At the fest, you're likely to see the front of the stage filled with as many musicians as fans. Van Campbell of the Black Diamond Heavies was quoted as saying that this fest is like getting ‘to the island of misfit toys.’ Everyone belongs here, and they don't often feel that support.”

With little money to be made, a roster of largely unknown acts and a perpetually uncertain future, Deep Blues appears to be one festival that, in clichéd terms, really is all about the music. “I've always encouraged the bands to think of this festival as theirs,” Johnson explains. “If there is a profit (maybe this year we'll have one), it will all be split between the bands. I'm not doing this for my gain. I've given all my time for the past two years and quite a bit of money to make this happen. I've been fortunate, and this has been my way to give a little back. Some people support the classical arts. I choose to support alternative and outsider blues.”

http://www.madeloud.com/article/deepblues

SiSTER GERTRUDE MORGAN

Via WiKiPEDiA:
Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was a preacher, missionary, artist, musician, and poet who worked in New Orleans in the 1960s and '70s, notable primarily for her folk art. She was born in 1900 in Lafayette, Alabama, and moved to Columbus, Georgia at the age of eighteen. She was married to Will Morgan in 1928, but at the age of 38 heard a voice from God telling her to become a street evangelist. She left her family and husband to move to New Orleans, where she organized an orphanage with two other missionaries. God told her to begin painting in 1956 and in 1957 heard a voice telling her that she was the Bride of Christ. Hearing this news, she adopted a white habit and moved out of the orphanage to establish "The Everlasting Gospel Mission" in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Music was one of the tools of her ministry, and in the early 1970s, Let's Make A Record was recorded in order to capture Morgan singing and playing her tambourine. She painted in order to create visual aids for her preaching, and her paintings use a colorful religious iconography. Some of her favorite subjects are the Book of Revelation and her and Jesus flying in an airplane, this last accompanied by the poem "Jesus is my air Plane." She painted on whatever was at hand, including styrofoam trays, window shades and even toilet paper rolls. Her art brought her fame and notoriety, and in 1974 she announced that the Lord had ordered her to cease painting in order to concentrate on her preaching and poetry. She died in 1980. In 2005, the New Orleans Museum of Art presented the first comprehensive collection of her art. Also in 2005, the Ropeadope label released King Britt presents Sister Gertrude Morgan, which took the a cappella/tambourine recordings of Let's Make A Record and added contemporary beat programming and instrumentation. The album received rave reviews and created a new, young audience for Sister Gertrude Morgan.

Sister Gertrude Morgan - Let's Make A Record (BUY iT!)
Sister Gertrude: Let Us Make A record- MP3
Sister Gertrude: If You Live Like Jesus Told You - MP3
Sister Gertrude: I Am The Living Bread- MP3
Sister Gertrude: Power - MP3

King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan ( BUY iT!) :
Let's Make a Record - Mp3
I was Healed By The Wounds - MP3
Power (VooDoo Version) - MP3

DEEP BLUES MUSiC FESTiVAL LINE-UP!

"Over 70 bands are confirmed from 19 states and 5 countries. Dates will be Wednesday July 15th through Sunday July 19th in Minneapolis MN, USA. The Wednesday show will be at the 331 Club and the rest of the festival will be at the Cabooze with a Thursday evening show. Friday and Saturday will be all day events with both indoor and outdoor stages. Sunday will be a gospel brunch."

CLiCK IMAGE TO ENLARGE!

DEEP BLUES FiLM FESTiVAL

CLiCK IMAGE TO EMBiGGiN!