The 27th Annual Long Beach Bayou & Blues Festival | June 22nd-23rd, 2013

Featuring two stages of music with blues and zydeco and Cajun music, plus continuous dancing on a large covered wooden dance floor, and quick and easy dance instruction for all ages, the festival also boasts a festive costumed Mardi Gras parade led each day by the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Band, and a colorful French Quarter marketplace with gumbo, crawfish etoufee, hush puppies, red beans and rice and other Cajun & Creole delicacies, plus coffees and desserts.  With crawfish and watermelon eating contests for the whole family, the Kids’ Bayou Tent  also has extensive children’s activities include making costumes, masks and umbrellas for the mardi gras parade, arts and crafts, storytelling, magic, sing-a-longs, kids’ shows and more.  In addition the Teen Corner has games and activities for older kids. 

Peter Tork & Shoe Suede Blues
Sai Whatt Band
Pine Leaf Boys
Jo Jo Reed & the Happy Hill Zydeco Band
Sweet Baby J’ai
Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots
Blue Dice
Bernie Pearl
T-Lou & His Super Hot Zydeco Band
Bayou Brothers
New Orleans Traditional Jazz Band

SUN, JUNE 23

13 Year Old Guitar Phenom, Ray Goren
Big Jay McNeely
Pine Leaf Boys
Brian Jack & the Zydeco Gamblers
Sherry Pruitt
Seville
Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots
Jo Jo Reed & the Happy Hill Zydeco Band
Artwork Jamal
New Orleans Traditional Jazz Band

 
Headlining the Blues Stage on Saturday is Peter Tork & Shoe Suede Blues. Most well known as a member of the Monkees, Peter Tork along with his band of seasoned pros bring their brand of blues rock/pop in a heartfelt, soulful, uplifting and quite unforgettable mixture to the festival stage. They may even throw in their own renditions of a few Monkees songs.  Thirteen year old Los Angeles guitar phenomenon, Ray Goren headlines Sunday’s Blues Stage with a sizzling mastery of his Fender.  He has played the Chicago and Monterey Blues Festivals, and Detroit Jazz Festival among others. In 2011, the Chicago Tribune said, “No one rattles the place like….Ray Goren…He plays electric guitar -and sings – with a fluency, ease and depth of expression that defy easy explanation.”

   Known for his intense playing and energetic and acrobatic stage performances, Big Jay McNeely will have the crowd jumping.  McNeely was credited for being the most flambuoyant of the “honking” saxophone players and regularly performs at the International Boogie Woogie Festival.  Sweet Baby J’ai is known internationally in the U.S, Europe and Asia, and has been called “swinging..powerful…and haunting” by the Los Angeles Times. Her powerful vocals easily traverse the musical terrain ranging from blues and jazz to pop and R&B.

   Rounding out the Blues Stage is extraordinary R&B/jazz/blues/gospel vocalist, Sherry Pruitt, along with Blue Dice’s unique blend of all-original music combining blues, jazz and funk influences while producing music that stirs the soul,  plus the versatile smooth jazz and R&B flavored, Sai Whatt Band, award-winning blues vocalist, Artwork Jamal, the finger-poppin’ picking blues of Bernie Pearl, and the blues, rock, funk and soul of Seville, whose 35 year history has seen them share the stage with many of the greats from Gladys Knight to Nancy Wilson and gained them a large and loyal following.

   The Cajun/Zydeco stage boasts the best sounds of Louisiana dance clubs and festivals.  The four-time Grammy-nominated Pine Leaf Boys, featuring recent Grammy winner, Wilson Savoy, bring a variety and energy that has evolved into wild shows with mult-faceted angles of Cajun, Creole and Zydeco that link generations.  Brian Jack & the Zydeco Gamblers are one of the zydeco genre’s great successes with performances at major events around the country and an ever increasing fan following.  Add in Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots who wowed the crowd at New Orleans Jazz Fest, T-Lou & His Super Hot Zydeco Band – a leading light in the Los Angeles Zydeco scene, the popular Jo Jo Reed & the Happy Hill Zydeco Band, and the rollicking Cajun, Zydeco and Blues gumbo of San Diego’s Bayou Brothers and the dance floor will be non-stop.