The Deep Blues Festival, an annual celebration of “outsider blues”, will be reborn this Saturday, July 16, at the Beachland Ballroom in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. The original incarnation of DBF – which featured some NTSIB favorites like Patrick Sweany, the Black Diamond Heavies, Scott H. Biram and T-Model Ford with GravelRoad – saw it’s end with an announcement from founder Chris Johnson in February of 2010. (Check out this interview with Johnson for a brief history of the fest.)
Unwilling to let DBF die, Ted Drozdowski of Scissormen and Jim Chilson of the Ten Foot Polecats took over the name and the spirit – with Chris Johnson’s blessing – and moved the fest from Minnesota to Ohio. And we are freaking excited about it.
In this week leading up to DBF11, we’re going to spotlight a few of this year’s artists each day, along with some DBF alumni.
Name: Left Lane Cruiser
Homebase: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Related artists: The Black Diamond Heavies, James Leg, Scott H. Biram
Left Lane Cruiser – Set Me Down – DBF08
Left Lane Cruiser @ Alive Records
Name: Mark Porkchop Holder
Homebase: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Related artists: The Black Diamond Heavies
Mark Porkchop Holder – My Black Name – DBF09
Mark Porkchop Holder @ MySpace
Name: Javier & the Innocent Sons
Homebase: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Javier & the Innocent Sons – Poor Boy Blues
Javier & the Innocent Sons @ MySpace
DBF Alumnus
The Black Diamond Heavies
The Black Diamond Heavies with Mark Porkchop Holder, Andy Jody and U.S. Justin – Nutbush City Limits – DBF09