Paoli Blues Fest slated for Saturday (October 1, 2011)

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Paoli Blues Fest slated for Saturday
September 26, 2011
By Alan Thomas
Mainline Media News

t’s not Clarkesdale, Memphis or ”Nawlins,” but Paoli may be developing a Blues tradition of its own. Saturday, Oct 1 will mark the third Paoli Blues Festival, from noon to 6 p.m., in the town’s center. If you’re in Paoli, you won’t be able to miss it.

Six blues performers will share the main stage in the Paoli Village Shoppes parking lot, while, a block away, the “Baby Blues stage” in the Malvern Federal Savings parking lot will have music with a younger flavor and also a storyteller. An 11:15 warm-up will highlight young blues musicians from the Berwyn School of Rock.

The entry fee to the Blues Fest is a donation of non-perishable food for the benefit of REACT, which gives food to 60 to 80 area families per month, people who are really experiencing the blues.

Paoli Hospital, Main Line Today Magazine and WXPN head a long list of sponsors. Volunteers do a lot of work before, during and after the event.

According to Pattye Benson, one of the three board members for the non-profit Paoli Blues Fest, the festival is the largest Blues event in the Philadelphia area, will have over 100 vendors plus a beer and wine garden and will award two scholarships of $500 each to young musicians studying at the Berwyn School of Rock and the Music Workshop, also in Berwyn.

But the main reason for the festival, Benson said “is to educate the public about Blues music.”

The Blues has evolved from the spirituals, work songs and simple ballads of African American communities in the deep South in the 19th century into jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. As it progressed, it developed its own musical forms and traditions about its lyrics.

Parking will be available at Good Samaritan Church, Paoli Train Station, Paoli Baptist Church, Paoli Presbyterian church and Station Square. Parking is within walking distance.

Performers will include Blues-rockers David Coppa &Scrapple, the Philadelphia-based Angel Blue Band, the Chicago-Mississippi blend of Russ Lambert and the Snakedancer Band, the high-energy Scoville Blues, Philadelphia blues and soul Deb Callahan’s Band and self-taught prodigy Mikey Jr.