Through film, musical composition, and poetry, artists avery r. young & Amir George answer the question, “What makes the blues blk?“ The blues film presents the process of creating new original blues of protest, joy, and soul. This work specifically created for the 2021 Logan Center Bluesfest referenced The Howlin’ Wolf album (1969—Cadet Concept) & Warrington Hudlin’s 1979 film, Street Corner Stories.

Opening for young will be Melody Angel. A true daughter of Chicago, this native South Sider is a versatile vocalist, guitarist, and actress who has been called “the future of the blues” (Chicago Tribune). During the 2020 COVID lockdown, Angel created and released a powerful album, She Black. For Bluesfest, she and her band will share some of her songs from this new album, alongside what Chicago Blues Guide dubs “her trademark anthems of resistance and survival,” all drawn from the rich and complex experiences and histories of Black women.

Tickets to live performance
Adult: $10 / 21 & under: $5

Every generation or so, a young Bluesman burst onto the scene and sends a jolt through the blues community. Grammy-nominated Jontavious Willis may just have that effect on people. His Grammy-nominated album Spectacular Class showcases Willis at his finest with stand-out fingerpicking, flat-picking, and slide prowess. In this special edition of the Blues & World Report podcast, Bluesfest Programming Director Matthew Skoller holds a conversation with Willis regarding the artist’s journey from Georgia gospel to spellbinding Blues.

Festival Program Director Matthew Skoller takes you into the studio with Daughters & Sons of the Blues concert headliners Shemekia Copeland and Ronnie Baker Brooks. This interview will chart the artists’ journeys as second-generation heirs to Blues legacies, painting a portrait of how that legacy shaped them as young artists and helped mold them into Blues leaders shepherding Blues music well into the new millennium.

This concert is a celebration of the flow of Blues from generation to generation, demonstrating how the voices of Blues elders and ancestors populate the souls and voices of their progeny. 87-year-old Blues legend Bobby Rush will perform a solo acoustic set, followed by a set with his electric band. Opening for Rush will be 24-year-old, delta-style Blues phenom Jontavious Willis. During Rush’s solo set, he will invite Jontavious to the stage so we can witness two extraordinary artists with six-and-a-half decades separating their births speak the language handed down to them from their ancestors.

Tickets to live performance
Adult: $10 / 21 & under: $5

The Mojo Museum is a historical Chicago landmark that belonged to McKinley Morganfield, known professionally as Muddy Waters—the father of modern Chicago blues. This was the first house Waters ever bought and served as a gathering place for Muddy, other musicians, and entertainers, playing host to jam sessions in the basement, creating music that we all enjoy to this day.

The Logan Center Bluesfest is thrilled to host a panel focusing on this truly historical, landmark preservation project. Chandra Cooper (Waters’s great-granddaughter and Mojo Museum President) and her mother Amelia Cooper-Sanders (Waters’s granddaughter and Mojo Museum Boardmember) grew up in the house. Cooper will be joined by museum board members Deitra Farr and Barry Dolins in a discussion about the exciting plans to make The Mojo Museum one of the most important monuments in Chicago. Moderated by Silvia Ewing.

World-renowned music photographer Paul Natkin has worked in the industry for more than five decades. Over the course of his storied career, Natkin has toured with and photographed some of the biggest names in music. For this interview, he will sit down with Rick Kogan—celebrated Chicago newspaperman, author, and host of WGN Radio’s popular After Hours series—to discuss Natkin’s career as a music photographer. Natkin will share stories of his life on the road, backstage, and on private planes getting to know some of the biggest stars in blues music over the past forty-plus years. This interview accompanies the exhibition “Wall of Blues: Photos of Paul Natkin” in Café Logan.

In partnership with the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore, Bluesfest hosts a book signing celebrating the recent release of Bobby Rush’s I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya: My American Blues Story. Experience music history with this rich, evocative memoir by one of the last of the genuine old-school Blues and R&B legends.

Click on this event to read an excerpt from Rush’s memoir.

Festival Director Matthew Skoller interviews legendary Bluesman and two-time Grammy Award-winning artist, Bobby Rush. They will discuss Rush’s illustrious career, his four-plus decades of living in Chicago, his new memoir, this year’s Grammy Award for his album Rawer than Raw, and whatever else this masterful storyteller wants to share.

David Whiteis, who co-authored her 2020 autobiography Always the Queen, will be joined by her daughter, Bridgette Wolfe-Edwards, to discuss Denise LaSalle’s life and legacy as a major figure in modern-day blues and soul-blues. A book signing will follow this presentation.

Featuring Shemekia Copeland & Ronnie Baker Brooks, with special guests Lurrie Bell & Steve Bell, and Demetria Taylor

Blues music has been handed down from generation to generation since its inception. Chicago has the largest concentration of Blues families in the world. In this program, we will be hosting the most celebrated and successful progeny of the Blues.

Tickets to live performance
Adult: $10 / 21 & under: $5

A special edition of Logan Center’s popular Second Monday Blues kicks-off Bluesfest 2021, featuring our special guest, guitarist George Freeman. A live interview precedes this intimate concert, moderated by the series’ three-time, Grammy-nominated curator and host, Billy Branch.

The Midwest Premiere of “Horn from the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story,” the first documentary about the legendary blues harp player. Will include a pre-screening performance of Paul Butterfield songs by local blues legends Corky Siegel and Sam Lay plus a post-screening discussion with John Anderson (filmmaker), Sandy Warren (film producer), Corky Siegel, Sam Lay (original band member), and Mark Naftalin (original band member and UChicago alum).

Panelists include Billy Branch, Deitra Farr, Melody Angel, and Mike Ledbetter, moderated by UChicago Professor Mickie Dietler.

UChicago alum Mark Naftalin (AB ’64) is an award-winning American blues pianist. He appears as a band member on the first five albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band alongside Elvin Bishop and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

Professional and amateur musicians alike are invited to join this one-of-a-kind jam session led by multi-award-winning blues drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, son of the Grammy Award-winning blues drummer and singer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith (1936-2011).

Billy Branch leads a pre-concert panel discussion with Jimmy Johnson, Eddy Clearwater, Corky Siegel, Lil’ Ed, and Melody Angel.

Three-time Grammy nominee Billy Branch hosts friends from across Chicago including Jimmy Johnson, Eddy Clearwater, Corky Siegel, Lil’ Ed, and Melody Angel. Backed by the Sons of Blues, Branch and friends will present unforgettable collaborations for old and new blues fans alike.

Mike Ledbetter has earned a reputation for being one of today’s best blues vocalists. As a trained opera singer and one who has sung in every conceivable genre, Ledbetter channels his range, intonation, and phrasing into what he feels is the most emotional music, the blues. This trio features Ledbetter on guitar and vocals, Dan Carelli of the Sons of Blues on guitar, and Steve Dougherty on drums.

Fruteland Jackson performs Americana, acoustic blues, folk, and traditional singer-songwriter styles from around the world. He is a three-time Blues Music Award Nominee and a recipient of the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive” award.

Students from Fernando Jones' Blues Camp Day workshop perform.

In this lecture-demonstration, Eric Noden will demonstrate and discuss the guitar styles of Big Bill Broonzy, Papa Charlie Jackson, and Kokomo Arnold. This workshop is meant for 18+. Deeply rooted in the music of 20s & 30s blues pioneers, singer/songwriter and guitarist Noden’s style, favored by early bluesmen like Charley Patton, Reverend Gary Davis, and Blind Blake, is one that only a few contemporary bluesmen have mastered.

Learn about warming up one’s voice before singing emotion and lyrics from Terrie Odabi, 2017 Blues Music Award nominee for Best Soul Blues Female Artist and Best Emerging Artist Album.

This workshop includes interactive singing, basic definitions of blues music and oral history, an introduction to various styles of playing the blues, and a Q&A period. Fruteland Jackson grew up in Chicago and created the award-winning All About the Blues Series’ Blues in the Schools program.

In this lecture-demonstration, attendees will learn about the styles of traditional harmonica players from Sonny Terry to Sonny Boy Williamson. Joe Filisko is a master of all the classic blues harmonica styles. His highly prized work and expertise have earned him the rare honor of having his name on one of Hohner’s instruments — the just-released specialty harmonica, the Thunderbird. Filisko was awarded the “Harmonica Player of the Year” in 2001 by the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica.

Chicago Bluesman, author, educator, and founder of Blues Kids of America Fernando Jones presents an afternoon of intimate, hands-on music instruction for student musicians ages 10-15, culminating in a Blues Kids showcase performance from 3:30-4:00 p.m. All ages are welcome to watch the performance.

This double-bill features Elvin Bishop’s deep blues picking and slide guitar with Bob Welsh’s piano and guitar and Willy Jordan’s soul singing and cajun playing. Wee Willie Walker, winner of two 2016 Living Blues Music Awards and Critic’s Poll Comeback Artist of the Year, will be joined by Terrie Odabi, one of the most dynamic blues and soul women to have emerged from the Bay Area. Backing Walker and Odabi is the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra, a full eight-piece band.

Dick Shurman leads a pre-concert interview with Elvin Bishop.

Blues guitarist Eric Noden and harmonica virtuoso Joe Filisko have been performing and recording music as The Roots Duo for well over a decade. Their original blues songs, train imitations, and harmony singing are reminiscent of the 1920s and 30s when acoustic music was prevalent. A few of their influences are Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson, and Mississippi Fred McDowell and Johnny Woods.