The Pittsburgh Blues Festival, presented by First Commonwealth, takes place at Hartwood Acres this weekend, July 24 - 26. The Blues Festival is Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s largest fundraiser of the year.

The list of performers on this 15th anniversary year exemplifies the usual mix of blues legends and up-and-comers. The Festival begins with Free Friday; admission is free with the donation of a bag of non-perishable groceries for the Food Bank (last year, more than 13 tons of food were donated). Friday’s bands are Eric Lindell, and Cyril Neville and Tribe 13.

Saturday’s headliner is the legendary Los Lobos. Other groups performing on Saturday include Shannon Curfman, Shawn Kellerman, and Curtis Salgado.

The Festival closes Sunday with “master bluesman and storyteller” Robert Cray. Other Sunday performers are Deb Callahan and JJ Grey & Mofro.

“The Blues Festival is our largest annual fundraiser,” said Joyce Rothermel, CEO of the Food Bank, “but it is also the Food Bank’s way of honoring our community’s support by giving back a Festival of joy, celebration and America’s great music – the blues. We are so grateful to our sponsors and to our volunteers for making the Blues Festival possible.”

Interspersed with this line-up will be local blues bands, including Glenn Pavone & the Cyclones, Jill West & Blues Attack, Eugene & the Nightcrawlers, the Jimmy Adler Blues Band, Ron Yarosz & the Vehicle, and the local International Blues Challenge winners Felix & the Hurricanes.

One exciting new feature added to the Festival this year is called Blues in the Tents, an interactive kids’ music workshop series. Added to the usual crafts and games for kids at the Festival’s KidZone will be interactive music presentations by local blues musicians and include age-appropriate story-telling, blues history, and sing-alongs.

The Pittsburgh Blues Festival takes place on July 24-26, 2009, at Hartwood Acres, Allegheny County’s park in Hampton Township. Tickets to the Festival on Saturday and Sunday are $25.00 each day (or $40.00 for a weekend pass). Parking is free, as is admission for children under 12. The Blues Festival is family friendly, with children’s activities planned all weekend at the Festival’s KidZone.

The Pittsburgh Blues Festival reached the total fundraising milestone of $1 million last summer. Thanks to generous sponsorship, all money raised at the Blues Festival goes directly to support the Food Bank’s programs for helping the hungry. An estimated 300,000 people are at risk of hunger in southwestern Pennsylvania, the number estimated to be living below the federal poverty level (a 2007 pre-economic downturn statistic).

2009 Blues Festival Schedule:

Friday – gates open 4:00 pm – 10:30 pm

5:00 pm – (Main Stage) – Glenn Pavone & the Cyclones

6:00 pm – (Giant Eagle Express Stage) – Jimmy Adler Band

7:00 pm – (Main Stage) – Eric Lindell (play till 8:30)

8:45 pm – (Main Stage) – Cyril Neville & Tribe 13

Saturday – gates open 1:00 pm – 11:00 pm

1:45 pm – (Giant Eagle Express Stage) Eugene & the Nightcrawlers

2:45 pm – (Main Stage) – Shannon Curfman

4:15 pm – (Giant Eagle Express Stage) – Ron Yarosz & the Vehicle

5:15 pm – (Main Stage) – Shawn Kellerman

6:45 pm – (Main Stage) – Curtis Salgado

8:30 pm – (Main Stage) – Los Lobos

Sunday – gates open 1:30 - 10:00 pm

2:30 pm – (Giant Eagle Express Stage) – Jill West & Blues Attack

3:30 pm – (Main Stage) – Deb Callahan

5:15 pm – (Main Stage) – JJ Grey & Mofro

6:45 pm – (Giant Eagle Express Stage) –Felix & the Hurricanes

8:00 pm – (Main Stage) – Robert Cray Band

Blues in the Tents - Schedule

Presented by Pittsburgh Blues Festival 2009 with generous sponsorship from Fidelity Investments

Coordinators: June Esser and Jimmy Adler

“Blues in the Tents” Workshops are designed to educate and entertain children of all ages about the history and importance of Blues music as America’s living legacy to the world. All presenters are working blues musicians and performers with decades of experience. All presentations last about 40 minutes

FRIDAY, July 24

5:00 pm: Jimmy Adler presents Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago

Learn a little about different blues legends like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed, and sing along, exploring blues styles and rhythms.

6:00 pm: Bubs McKeg presents Story Telling in the Blues

Everyone has a story to tell, whether it be about heartbreak, loss or simple day-to-day living. Kids can learn how to write their own blues lyrics, and then experiment with those lyrics in a song.

7:00 pm: Eugene Morgan presents South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues

Field hollers and children’s sing-alongs. Kids will experience the origins of this regional blues style through the experience of a man who was born in the sharecropping south.

SATURDAY, July 25

3:00 pm: Jimmy Adler presents Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago

4:00 pm: Eugene Morgan presents South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues

5:00 pm: Bubs McKeg presents Story Telling in the Blues

6:00 pm: Bill Weiner presents Folk Blues for Children of all Ages

Briefly explore the structure and meaning of folk blues music, rhythm and melody, the idea of the one-man band, and how music changes (from non-electric to electric).

SUNDAY, July 26

2:50 pm: Jimmy Adler presents Blues History: From the Delta to Chicago

3:50 pm: Eugene Morgan presents “South Georgia’s Back Porch Blues”

4:50 pm: Larry Nath presents Turn Around and Testify

Explore the basic “call and response” blues format, popular with blues artists from Muddy Waters to Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn, then construct your own call and response verses drawing inspiration from personal experiences. Emphasis on the blues’ unique tendency to “testify” to the joys and sorrows of the human experience makes this presentation both entertaining and enlightening.

5:50 pm: Bob and Andy Gabig present The Influence of Blues in Appalachian Music

See how cultures blend to influence blues and folk music, showing the connections between artists, like Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, and Sonny Terry & Brownie Mcgee.

6:50 pm: Bubs McKeg presents Story Telling in the Blues