Get ready for Grammy winning blues & smokin’ ribs – Sat. Oct. 1

September 14, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Music, Our Events

As the summer is winding down and fall festivities begin, make sure you’ve got one of Roanoke’s Best Festivals marked on your calendar. The fifth annual SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival will take place on October 1, 2011 in Elmwood Park downtown Roanoke.

This year we’ve got an award winning musical line up in store. Three time Grammy winner, Delbert McClinton is back to headline this rockin’ blues festival and he’s not coming alone! As members of Texas R&B/country Delbert McClinton’s band, the musicians of Dick50––Steve Mackey, Kevin McKendree, Rob McNelley, Lynn Williams will be sharing the stage with the soul legend. SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival is thrilled that we were included in one of the few U.S. shows that Bernard Allison has scheduled this year. Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues.

As if these tremendous national acts weren’t enough, a local legend, The Fat Daddy Band will grace the stage at BLB. Since 1995, The Fat Daddy Band has been delivering what many call exceptional Blue Ridge blues to the Roanoke Valley and beyond. This band’s success has allowed them to open for headliners such as The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Train, Susan Tedeschi, and the legendary Nighthawks! To start this day of fantastic blues music, from early funk, blues, rock and soul, Skinny Velvet will be sure to get you on your feet and groovin’ to the smooth sounds of your favorite blues tunes. Who is Skinny Velvet? That’s a great question that is not easily answered. As a man, Skinny is an enigma….a dark, southern, musical mystery. As a band, Skinny Velvet is the brainchild of four of the Carolina’s most talented and determined troubadours! Skinny Velvet was conceived from several of North Carolina’s finest groups. These boys have toured the U.S. in their well respected bands for years and now come together to make one of the strongest line-ups around!

The music is not the only award winning aspect of this festival- what goes hand in hand with blues music? Mouth watering ribs- not only mouth watering but award winning! That’s right; we’ve got your favorite rib vendors back again to battle it out for the bragging rights of best rack in town! It’s not just the familiar veterans such as Martin’s Downtown Grill, Blue 5, Thelma’s Chicken & Waffles and Bastians.; there are some rookie competitors stepping up this year! And for those of you with a competitive edge yourself; be sure to sign up for the popular Martin’s Rib Eating contest. This festival is sure to leave you with a full stomach and a satisfied soul!

The 5^th annual SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival kicks off at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 1. Music begins at 2:15pm with the winner of the Blue Ridge Blues Society competition, Skinny Velvet. And in case you’re wondering how you are going to be able to catch the game and enjoy all this event has to offer- we thought of that too! We will have a game day area with a big screen showing college football as well as all your favorite tailgate games brought to you by Tailgaters United! Tickets are $24.00 in advance and if you’re a SunTrust customer, it’s cheaper than that! Tickets are available at all local SunTrust branch locations as well as online at www.BigLickBlues.org

Tags: Bernard Allison, big lick blues, delbert mcclinton, eventzone, festival, Roanoke, Skinny Velvet, suntrust, The Fat Daddy Band, va, virginia

DELBERT McClinton headlines SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival – Sat. Oct.1

July 21, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events, Volunteers

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Delbert McClinton

It’s Roanoke’s award winning “Sizzlin’ Hot Blues & Smokin’ Ribs Festival” – the SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival. Make plans now for Sat. Oct. 1, 2012 in Elmwood Park, downtown Roanoke VA. This year we’re planning to bring you some killer music and killer food. Starting with the return of 3x Grammy winner Delbert McClinton and his band Dick 50. Delbert was a huge hit at the festival in 2009, plus we know he had a great time too, as his folks called us to request coming back! Also on the bill is Bernard Allison, son of the legendary bluesman Luther Allison. Bernard spends most of his touring in Europe but this fall he has scheduled a few U.S. shows – including the SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival – we are thrilled! And more including Roanoke’s own The Fat Daddy Band and and the yet to be determined winning act from the upcoming Blue Ridge Blue’s Society’s competition. By the way that competition takes place at the Blue Ridge Blues & BBQ Fest scheduled for Sat. July 16 here in Roanoke as well (headlined by Tommy Castro).

Don’t forget the SunTrust Big Lick Blues also features finger lickin’ eats as well – with a emphasis on ribs. Each year local restaurants serve up delicious food and we have plenty of cold beverages as well. This fine combination of world class blues artists, and world class eats makes the SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival one of the region’s “must attend” festivals each year.

Advance discount tickets are available now online. Make plans now!

Bernard Allison

See the SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival web site for complete details.

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Tags: Bernard Allison, blues, delbert mcclinton, festival, Roanoke, SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival

Blues Traveler’s John Popper Headlines Saturday at Festival in the Park

May 10, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events, Volunteers

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Saturday night, May 28, in Elmwood Park on the Festival in the Park big stage with the big screen, up close it’s John Popper, the enigmatic front-man of multi-platinum Grammy winners, Blues Traveler! John and his awesome new band,The Duskray Troubadours, will be playing songs from their just released CD, and some Blues Traveler classics such as “Run-Around” and “Hook.”

This new project is labor of love says Popper, “Something in me kicked in and I just floored it,” says the singer/harp slinger. “It was absolutely exhilarating. I felt free, because I was going to do something I loved, and just for me.” That something was a month-long recording session in the mountains of New Mexico. The result was the self-titled debut CD of John Popper and The Duskray Troubadours.

This is a side project for John, it’s like a part-time scrappy, roots-rock extension of Popper’s work in Blues Traveler. But before you get the wrong idea, John Popper and The Duskray Troubadours is more than a Popper-led solo project or a back-to-basics whiff of nostalgia. It’s the sum of six rock-solid players—rounded out by bassist Steve Lindsay, drummer Mark Clark, guitarists Kevin Trainor and Aaron Beavers, and guitarist/producer Jono Manson—coming together to channel the loose, limit-less spirit of simpler days. “What I love about this album is that I’m playing differently,” says Popper, “and not because I tried to, either. The music led me there, which is the best way to do it, really. On this album, melody is what drove everything.”