The 2005 Chicago Blues Festival featured many national and international blues luminaries, but this year's line-up also featured a solid cast of home-grown Chicago blues talent, including Buddy Guy, Jody Williams, Koko Taylor, Billy Branch, and Nick Moss and the Flip Tops. Over 750,000 people attended - setting a record in its 22nd year - and this year's festival is one of the high points in my 30-plus year love affair with the blues.

The Chicago Blues Festival caps a month of blues activities in nightclubs like Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy's Legends as well as lunchtime events at Daley Plaza and the Chicago Cultural Center. Tying "Blues Season" together is the world's largest free blues festival featuring 70-plus performers on six stages in Grant Park over four days.

This year's theme, Chicago Breakdown, honored Big Maceo Merriweather's song of the same name and the centennials of Jimmy Walker and Meade Lux Lewis. Chicago Breakdown is also the title of a groundbreaking book on Chicago blues by British writer Mike Rowe, who joined compatriots Bill Greensmith and Bob Hall in a panel facilitated by Living Blues co-founder Jim O'Neal at the Route 66 Roadhouse Stage.

While the Louisiana Office of Tourism Juke Joint, US Cellular Front Porch, Gibson Crossroads, and the Mississippi Division of Tourism Route 66 Roadhouse each had impressive line-ups, I divided my time between the Best Buy Showcase Stage and the Petrillo Music Shell, the main stage.

[Pictured: Pat Smillie]

The Best Buy Showcase Stage featured artists that fly just under the radar; some unsigned artists do their own promotion and production, while others are on boutique labels. This year's showcase included Michael Powers, Howard and the Whiteboys, Scott Bradbury, the Steepwater Band, and Steve Arvey and Kraig Kenning. Liz Mandville Greeson brought her own bawdy brand of blues, and the versatile Kankakee-area After Midnight Blues Band played their excellent Love Gamble CD. Returning to the festival, local bluesman Pat Smillie sang some of his best work from his Letter to Hampton CD, including "13 Below Zero" and "Last Time I Saw Him."

I wasn't alone in discovering Showcase Stage talent. I had the good fortune to hang out with Pat Smillie and a couple of very talented blueswomen, known as two of "Chicago's Leading Ladies of the Blues." While each has a different style and approach to the music, Deb Seitz and Marilynn Claire could easily fit in with Pacific Northwest blueswomen like Mary McPage, Stickshift Annie, or Alice Stuart.

These pictures hint at the magic I felt at the festival:

Warming the stage for Howlin' Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin, "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin scorched his slide on "Mean Old Chicago," written en route to Jimmy Rogers' funeral in 1997. Bob brought bassist Mookie Brill from North Carolina, and this dream-team featured Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums and Pinetop Perkins on piano. "Hoochie Coochie Man," "I'm Ready," and "Little Red Rooster" reminded me of the first time I heard them live 30 years ago.
	Buddy Guy's impassioned "Feels Like Rain" reminded me why I continue to love electric Chicago blues. Rain clouds hovered while Buddy played some extended solos around one of John Hiatt's signature tunes.
Jody Williams played his Red Lightnin' Gibson on a rousing send-up of "Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am," and played several cuts off his latest Evidence CD, You Left Me in the Dark. Blues Foundation Executive Director Jay Sieleman presented the 2005 Howlin' Wolf Award to Jody, who beamed with gratitude.
	David "Honeyboy" Edwards celebrated his 90th birthday on the main stage, but what struck me was how Sam Lay played his National steel guitar in a soulful "Star Spangled Banner" to begin Honeyboy's concert. When Sam sat down at his drum kit, Honeyboy showed us he's still got it on the slide guitar.

The Chicago Blues Festival features many exhibits and food vendors. Both Louisiana and Mississippi had blues-focused displays, and I wanted to extend my trip a month and return via Clarksdale or Baton Rouge. Two exhibits really piqued my interest: the new Chicago Blues Museum's History of Chicago Blues traveling exhibit, and the Blues Heaven Foundation's programs to help artists and youth. The Blues Heaven Foundation is located at what is arguably the blues' most respected street address, 2120 South Michigan Avenue, the former home of Chess Records. While the music was a high point for me at the festival, it was a thrill (tongue-tied with goosepimples) to share stories with Marie Dixon, Willie Dixon's widow and leader of Blues Heaven. I told her how I enjoyed meeting Willie on his last visit to Seattle, and that I continue to play his music.

The Chicago Blues Festival has something for everyone: acoustic or electric, Piedmont or West Side, spoken word or soul cooking. Next year, the festival will turn 23, but this year's line-up, with the array of local blues talent selected by Barry Dolins and the Mayor's Office for Special Events, will be very hard to beat.


[Editor's Note: Eric Steiner is a blues columnist at Cosmik Debris (www.cosmik.com) and Midwest Beat (www.midwestbeat.com) and is a frequent contributor to Northwest Runner magazine (www.nwrunner.com).]

© 2005 - Eric Steiner