Blues University®, Blues Festival Guide, Jazz Record Mart, and the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office of Special Events invite music fans to celebrate the “Blues Season” and the vitality of the blues, from Chicago and beyond, on Saturday, May 22nd. Join the Chicago Blues Tour™, a “pub crawl” event, connecting 10 Chicago venues featuring live blues as it departs from the “hub” of the tour, Lizzie McNeill’s, at 400 N. McClurg Ct. Tickets ($45) include all transportation and admission charges for a nightlong blues adventure, with 11 live blues bands performing all night long. Buses depart from Lizzie’s every ten to twenty minutes from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., and then begin shuttling between clubs until 2:00 a.m. Tickets are available through the Chicago Blues Tour website, www.chicagobluestour.com, or by phone via Ticketweb at 866.468.3401. A limited supply of tickets may be available at the door, but advance tickets are strongly recommended, as the tour often sells out. For further information, visit the website or call the toll-free BluesLine at 866-LIVEBLUES (866-548-3258). Maps, schedules, and an FAQ are also updated frequently at the website.
Chris Canas
The BluesTour continues its tradition of featuring emerging blues artists and the dynamic evolution and revitalization of blues, with “young gun” guitarist Chris Canas, and the re-emergence of veteran Michael Coleman, while also celebrating the “Southern Soul” tradition with singers JoJo Murray and Sherman “Moody” Thomas, and rising guitar stars like Canas and “Chicago Blues Challenge” finalist Chainsaw Dupont, as well
Michael Coleman
as axe vets like Vance Kelly and Linsey Alexander.
The tour also features favorites of Chicago’s soul-blues underground, Super Percy and Fantastic L-Roy, who infuse their blues with inventive hybrids of jazz, rock, soul, funk, and even hip-hop elements. The Tour emphasizes off-the-beaten-path, classic lounges on Chicago’s south and west side blues circuits, with audiences drawn from the neighborhood, who favor entertaining variety over purity of tradition.
Peaches Staten
The Chicago BluesTour™, now entering its 20th anniversary year, is part of a slate of “Chicago Blues Weekend” events that celebrates the vitality of the Chicago blues club scene (www.chicagobluesweekend.com) and which also includes Chainsaw Dupont’s CD release party on Friday, and a Maxwell Street Blues Jam Shuttle and walking tour on Sunday.
Blues University® sponsors classes and events that expand the understanding and audience for blues music. The Chicago Blues Tour™, which showcases the wide variety of modern blues talent on display in Chicago, began in 1990 as the West Side
Chainsaw Dupont
Blues Tour and has expanded in scope to include live blues venues throughout Chicago, and has helped promote blues with assistance from the Mayor’s Office of Special Events since 1998. Blues U.® maintains an online archive of blues information and also launched a blues news service, BluesWire, in 2008.
