Changing of the guard at Blues Fest.
You’re not imagining things if mid-August feels a bit early to be catching the blues at Hawrelak Park.
The Edmonton Blues Festival usually runs a week later but the 15th annual event, happening this Friday through Sunday, was forced to move up one weekend. The City of Edmonton has leased the park space to the neighbouring Royal Mayfair Golf Club for parking when it hosts the 2013 Canadian Women’s Open Aug. 19-25.
“We’re not sure how much the change will affect ticket sales,” says co-producer Cam Hayden, “but our fans are pretty loyal. It’s funny because when this festival started, we were one of the only events that used the site (with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival and Symphony Under The Sky.) Now it’s booked almost every weekend of the summer.”
While some passes are still available for each day, nontransferable passes are sold out. The festival has hit sellout status on Saturdays and overall sales of more than 90 per cent for the past five years. (Expect the event to be back at its regular time next year).
Co-founders Hayden and Carrol Deen already had more than a decade of concert-promoting experience behind them when they launched the event in 1999, so making it a long-term entity was part of the plan.
“We had hopes and dreams,” he recalls, “but to be honest, it was really organic the way things built and it’s still kind of surprising to look back. Every year there are just so many moving parts it becomes bewildering at times. But it’s always worth it in the end to see those happy smiling faces on the dance floor.”
Apart from satisfying countless fans over the years, the fest has drawn international attention to Edmonton as a city of music appreciators. Proof of that came when the festival won the Keeping The Blues Alive Award from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation in 2008 (the only Canadian event to receive that award).
Apart from the many tweaks they’ve made over the years, Hayden’s booking credo hasn’t really changed. It’s similar to the approach he takes to programming Friday Night Blues Party, the radio show he’s hosted on CKUA for 23 years.
“Nobody wants to hear 12bar shuffles for six hours. It’s always been about searching for that perfect balance between the old and the new, the legends and the up-andcomers, the styles and types and instrumentation. Then it’s about programming so you get that flow.”
One external factor has been the changing of the guard in touring blues artists.
“It hit me how many of those artists that we all consider to be originators of the postwar Chicago sound — that we’ve had the opportunity to host — have passed away, like Koko Taylor, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and Hubert Sumlin. But there have been encouraging signs in the last few years. One is the number of people between the ages of 18 and 30 that we’re seeing at the festival, and the really good credible blues performers in the 20-to-40 range.”
To that end, Year 15 of the festival offers some intriguing first-timers, including the Mississippi sibling trio Homemade Jamz Blues Band, California’s Cafe R’n’B, Yugoslavian-born guitar whiz Ana Popovic and the Dickinson sibling band North Mississippi All Stars, along with certified greats James Cotton and Roomful of Blues late Friday night.
Meanwhile, there’s a change at the top of the festival. After many years together as personal and professional partners, Hayden and Deen have announced they’re splitting up. But their love of the blues and respect for the blues community lives on and the two founders promise that the festival will continue, with details to be worked out after this year’s event.