Blues Festival Debuts Downtown

/Home/Blues Festivals and Concerts in the US/New York Blues Festivals

Blues Festival Debuts Downtown
July 26, 2011
By Della Hassell
DNAInfo.com

LOWER MANHATTAN — New York's largest free blues festival is about to play for the first time Thursday in Downtown's World Financial Center.

The Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival will be a celebration of all things blues, complete with top-notch music, art and food and set against the backdrop of the Hudson River.

"We wanted to kick it off by celebrating the genre’s deep roots in all aspects of American culture, beyond just music,” said Debra Simon, Artistic Director of the Arts World Financial Center.

“We’re thrilled to bring audiences a complete blues experience where they can catch some of the best blues artists around.”

Celebrated musician Taj Mahal, a Grammy Award winner and international star who has collaborated with Ry Cooder, the Rolling Stones, Etta James and Eric Clapton, will kick off the event Thursday night.

James Blood Ulmer, a South Carolina man and guitar hero, will also strum it out with a newer generation of blues aficiadonos, a group that includes heroes Amy LaVere, The Growlers and The Beauties.
James Blood Ulmer will also play. (Courtesy of the Lowdown Blues Festival)

Other artists will gather from farther south than the Delta, and as far north as Canada to bring some soul to the Big Apple, including New Orleans piano legend Henry Butler and soul prodigy Ryan Shaw, an artist who has also been nominated for two Grammy's.