Event organizers prepare for the Brownsville Blues Festival in September

The tall timbers of the foothills will serve as a venue backdrop for a longrunning blues event in September.

The Brownsville Blues Festival, which began in the 1990s, is set to go in the cool and shaded Brownsville Amphitheater on Ponderosa Way in Brownsville.

“The festival started in the early 1990’s when I saw a void after Phil Givant discontinued the Sacramento Blues Festival. Stevie Ray Vaughan also died that year and we dedicated the show to his memory,” said Clay Thompson. “Minus a few years, we have been doing this the whole time.”

Thompson said the lineup includes several wellknown artists that make the trek to rural Brownsville for the show.

“Almost from the very beginning, the Backyard Blues Band has been with us and Mario Ramirez, brother to the late Ritchie Valens, is in the band,” Thompson said. “Hailing from Oakland, one of the most in demand bands in the Bay Area, Willie G., joins us again this year with his tremendous horn section to the delight of the audience.”

He said Andy Santana, a long time Bay Area blues artist will be at the show performing his West Coast shuffles in Brownsville.

“Our long running Brownsville Blues Festival has increased in popularity and many musicians want to be part of the festival,” Thompson said. “Our standard is high and we’re blessed to

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WHAT: WHEN: WHERE: have them.”

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