NORWICH – Organizers of the 14th Annual Chenango Blues Festival say the county fairgrounds will double as an observatory this weekend, as stars from the Gulf Coast are predicted to shower crowds with a musical light that’s all their own.
Two stages, the main and acoustic, will harness a lineup of musicians mostly native to the musical hotbeds throughout Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Diverse through experience and device, their talents are spiced by regional influences in blues, gospel, zydeco, funk, boogie-woogie, rock and roll, and country. Such a guided and relentless rush of music may invoke an unforgettable cultural incarnation within the City of Norwich.
Organizer and longtime Chenango Blues Association member Eric Larsen contends that the charm of eager citizens in Norwich and the surrounding areas is really the draw that makes this festival, and other events in this area, so successful and necessary.
“These events make for a great quality of life,” said Larsen, pointing to the upcoming Colorscape Art and Music Festival, the Gus Macker each July, the Family Bluegrass Festival in June, and a host of others, including the Blues Festival. “We try to put on a family oriented, low cost event with a host of national acts – the festival is as good as the biggest events in the country.”
National acts include event headliner Marcia Ball, an award winning mainstay in the Austin music scene, whose precise piano chops dance audiences up and down a raucous keyboard, and lull them down to bittersweet depths with soulful ballads.
Second in command is Tab Benoit, a bluesman from Baton Rouge who has learned, and taught, his blues guitar skills from a young age. Benoit, bolstered by a dynamic drum and bass duo, is described by festival organizers as being armed with “powerful guitar playing and a leathery, Cajun-spiced vocal attack.”
Music enthusiast and blue-fest patron Spencer Conant said the high quality of the talent and the inclusive environment are his reasons for continually coming back to the festival.
“The blues fest has a great atmosphere,” said Conant, a Norwich resident. “It’s not that often that nationally recognized acts make it to this area.”
