Schedule:

November 15, 2023

Mikey Junior with Busker Incognito and The SHOW - 6pm

Busker Incognito & The SHOW is the name for the band as well as the name for the concert presentation. Serving up blues-based, original music rooted in the Delta style, yet delivered via an original blend of contemporary lamentations of the human experience, bawdy double entendre expressions of human sexuality, epic outbursts of the blues' baby rock & roll and more, Busker Incognito & The SHOW will both entertain you and get your mojo workin'!

Mikey Junior burst onto the blues scene less than a dozen years ago and since that time has amassed an impressive catalog of music and praise from music fans and industry insiders.

For a musical style that has historically placed so much weight on lineage, the passing of more and more of the old masters poses a dire question: What is the future of the blues and who will lead the charge?

Well, for blues fans in the Northeast, that question is routinely answered every night Mikey Junior hits the stage. His infectious personality and absolute command of his medium leave little doubt the blues is in good hands.

Self-taught from his impressive collection of blues vinyl, Mikey was a full-time musician before he even graduated high school. By the time he was in his early twenties, seasoned players were taking notice and it wasn’t long before one blues society after another scrambled to get him to their stage.

Before long, Mikey was a staple of the blues circuit on the East Coast.

Richard Skelly, Blues Revue Magazine, wrote: “Mikey Junior is exactly what blues needs today — talented, engaging and young. He bridges the gap between generations of music lovers and makes it cool to love something old-school, winning over audiences throughout the country with the sheer power, passion, and sincerity of his live show.”

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November 17, 2023

The Bluesmasters Kickoff Lunch - 11am

Venue: Jimmie Kramer's Peanut Bar Restaurant

The Bluesmasters (also known as The Groovemasters) are three Berks County musicians who have achieved acclaim far beyond these borders: bassist/vocalist Bennie Sims, pianist/vocalist Cliff Starkey and saxophonist/vocalist Erich Cawalla.

Sims and Starkey have performed together for many years as founders of The Groovemasters, notably to kick off Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest each year. Cawalla has performed in recent years with Sims and Starkey in various gigs.

Sims, also a respected writer, producer and music director, has worked with artists like Al Jarreau, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, The Temptations, The Three Degrees, Tower of Power and Pieces of a Dream. Starkey has toured the world playing with top-shelf musical artists like The Three Degrees and Lisa Simone (daughter of Nina); has performed on “Good Morning America” and “The Rachael Ray Show;” and was the house keyboardist on “Emeril Live” on the Food Network for nine years. He was a member of Pieces of a Dream and has performed with many other top jazz musicians.

In 2005, Cawalla started The Uptown Band, headlining hundreds of shows in the Northeast. He teamed up with Sims for his first solo contemporary jazz release, “222 South.”

Cawalla’s first full-length solo album, “The Great American Songbook,” produced by Sims and released in May 2022, features original arrangements by Dave DePalma with a 17-piece big band with strings, featuring Cawalla as soloist on vocals and saxophone.

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Kevin Burt - 5:30pm

Venue: Cheers American Bistro

Blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist Kevin Burt has proven that Iowa can produce great blues performers.

He gives concerts throughout the Midwest and beyond, and his style has been compared to Bill Withers and Aaron Neville.

In the 2018 International Blues Challenge, Burt took first place in the Solo/Duo category and won the Cigar Box Guitar Award for best solo/duo guitarist and the Lee Oskar Award for best harmonica player. Burt’s debut album, “Heartland and Soul” was nominated in 2019 for a BMA in the Best Emerging Artist Album category.

His 2020 album, “Stone Crazy,” on the Gulf Coast Records label, has nine original songs and a cover of Bill Withers’ “Better Off Dead.”

Jimmy Vivino & Friends plus Arlen Roth Band Super Soul Session - 8pm

Venue: DoubleTree Grand Ballroom

Jimmy Vivino (Jimmy V) is best known as the leader of The Basic Cable Band (the house band for TBS’ “Conan”) and, as a member of the house bands for “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” on NBC.

Vivino is a guitarist, keyboard player, singer, producer and music director.

Born and bred in New Jersey, he has been a performing musician all his life, and has toured and recorded as a soloist. He has produced, led bands, played, arranged and recorded for Phoebe Snow, Laura Nyro, Bob Weir, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Levon Helm and many others.

He plays with The Prisoners of Second Avenue, Rumble & Twang, The Fab Faux (Beatles tribute band) and others. His album, “Jimmy Vivino and The Black Italians,” was released in 2013, and Jimmy Vivino and Friends’ “The Extended Play Sessions” are available on YouTube

Many consider Guitar legend Arlen Roth to be one of the most influential musicians in the world.

In addition to his masterful performances on guitar, slide guitar, lap steel and dobro, he has been a pioneer in music education.

Roth’s “Hot Licks Video” has helped guitarists worldwide, along with his online lessons and blogs for Gibson.com, and he has published 11 books on guitar playing.

Born in the Bronx in 1952, Roth got his start playing weekends in Woodstock, N.Y., and he and his band Steel put on the First annual Woodstock Reunion Concert in 1970 in Bethel, N.Y.

He has released 18 albums since his debut, “Guitarist,” in 1978, most recently “Super Soul Session with Jerry Jemmott” this year. Roth has toured and recorded with Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Levon Helm, Ry Cooder, Janis Ian, The Bee Gees and many others

Boston-born Bruce Katz is a six-time BMA nominee for the Pinetop Perkins Award for his Hammond B3 and piano playing.

In 2019, he won a BMA for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year for “Journeys to the Heart of the Blues,” and was nominated again in 2020 for his “Solo Ride.”

Katz was a member of Gregg Allman’s band from 2007 to 2013; he also has toured with the Allman Brothers Band and was a member of Jamoe’s Jasssz Band, Butch Trucks’ Freight Train Band and Les Brers.

He has released 11 albums as a leader, most recently “Connections” (1923), and has recorded on more than 75 records with John Hammond, Delbert McClinton and many others.

Katz is a Berklee grad and taught on the faculty there for 14 years; he also holds a master’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory. He mixes blues with American Roots music, jazz and improv rock.

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James Supra Trio - 10:30pm

Venue: Cheers American Bistro

Lehigh Valley-based James Supra has been highly recognized in the region for his powerful blues harmonica playing and vocals.

Supra performs with his own band, quartet and trio, and has toured throughout the U.S and abroad.

For the Reading Blues Fest, Supra will be joined by vocalist Sarah Ayers and guitarist/vocalist Phil Pilorz.

Ayers is a former opera singer who has expanded her repertoire to include blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. She formed her own blues band in 2002, and has won LVMAs for Best All-Around Performer, Best Female Vocalist, Best Singer-Songwriter and Best Album in 2007 for “3 AM Epiphany.”

Supra won the Lehigh Valley Music Award for Best Harmonica Player for 19 years straight, and after withdrawing further nominations won the first Legacy Award.

He also has won Best All-Around Performer and Best Blues Band. His recordings include “Hard Times” (2005) with Craig Thatcher and “Tip My Hat to the Maker” (World of Harmonica’s Best Album of 2012).

November 18, 2023

Steve Guyger & The Excellos - 10:30am

Venue: DoubleTree Amphitheater

Chicago blues harmonica wizard Steve Guyger heads the latest version of the band he started in 1980, The Excellos.

Born in Philadelphia in 1952, Guyger (who is also a singer/songwriter) got hooked on the blues in his late teens and started performing in the area in the late 1970s.

Guyger’s big break came when Jimmy Rogers invited him to join his band, and he toured and performed with Rogers for about 15 years. He also performed with Charlie Musselwhite, Little Sammy Davis and Mark Hummel. In 1997, Guyger released his debut album, “Last Train to Dover,” and has released four more albums since then.

Dave Keyes - 11:30am

Venue: Cheers American Bistro

Keyes has been nominated for the Blues Foundation’s annual Pinetop Perkins Award for best pianist. His sixth album, “The Healing,” featuring Popa Chubby and other special guests, was released in 2017.

Keyes has had performing relationships with many roots music masters, including Odetta, Gladys Knight, Bo Diddly, Lou Rawls, Levon Helm and more.

In addition to his solo recording and performing career, he has served as a band leader and conductor for Broadway shows, with more than 600 performances of “Smokey Joe’s Café,” and for NBC’s “Ainsley Harriott Show.”

Keyes also writes music in various genres for TV and films through his company, Crave Music, which he owns with saxophonist Chris Eminizer. His latest album is “Rhythm, Blues & Boogie.”

He is the music director of the current off-Broadway show, “Rock & Roll Man.”

Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials - 1pm

Venue: DoubleTree Grand Ballroom

The Chicago Sun-Times called Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials “the hottest purveyors of bottleneck boogie to come out of Chicago since Hound Dog Taylor.”

Slide guitarist/singer/songwriter Ed Williams, born in Chicago in 1955, was taught by his uncle, the esteemed slide guitar master and songwriter J.B. Hutto.

He and his half-brother, bassist James “Pookie” Young, started The Blues Imperials more than three decades ago. Along with guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton, they have played together ever since. Their debut album, “Roughhousin’,” was released by Alligator Records in 1986 to rave reviews, and they released eight more albums with Alligator between 1986 and 2012.

Their latest album is ”The Big Sound of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials” (2016). They have been nominated for the BMA Band of the Year Award eight times and won it in 2007 and 2009.

Guitarist/vocalist J.P. Soars, born in California in 1969, learned guitar from his father, a fan of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

At 16, living in West Palm Beach, Fla., he won an electric guitar and tickets to hear B.B. King in a raffle.

While he went on to play in heavy metal bands, touring with Raped Ape and recording with Malevolent Creation, the blues he had heard in that King concert stuck in his mind.

Then, in 2005, he fell for Gypsy Jazz through recordings of the late guitarist Django Reinhardt, and he formed a jazz combo of his own, with violin. In 2009 his band, The Red Hots, won first place in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. J.P. Soars and the Red Hots (with drummer Chris Peet and bassist Gary Remington) have toured internationally and recorded six albums, most recently “Let Go of the Reins” (2019). Soars has also performed with the all-star blues ensemble Southern Hospitality.

Chicago-based singer/songwriter/violinist Anne Harris will be featured in the Gypsy Blues Revue.

Born in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1966, Harris studied classical violin as a child and earned a music degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She worked as an actor in Chicago, then joined local bands.

She started performing her own material, influenced by Celtic, folk/rock, Afrobeat, soul, chamber music and other genres. Harris has toured and recorded with Otis Taylor. Beginning with her eponymous debut album in 2001, she has released seven albums, most recently “Roots” (2019), on her own label, Rugged Records.

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RMF Guitar Workshop - 4:30m

Venue: DoubleTree Amphitheater

Many consider Guitar legend Arlen Roth to be one of the most influential musicians in the world.

In addition to his masterful performances on guitar, slide guitar, lap steel and dobro, he has been a pioneer in music education.Roth’s “Hot Licks Video” has helped guitarists worldwide, along with his online lessons and blogs for Gibson.com, and he has published 11 books on guitar playing.

Born in the Bronx in 1952, Roth got his start playing weekends in Woodstock, N.Y., and he and his band Steel put on the First annual Woodstock Reunion Concert in 1970 in Bethel, N.Y.

He has released 18 albums since his debut, “Guitarist,” in 1978, most recently “Super Soul Session with Jerry Jemmott” this year. Roth has toured and recorded with Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Levon Helm, Ry Cooder, Janis Ian, The Bee Gees and many others.

Dave Keyes - 5:30pm

Venue: Cheers American Bistro

eyboardist/singer/songwriter Dave Keyes is a 30-year veteran of the blues, roots and Americana music scenes.

Keyes has been nominated for the Blues Foundation’s annual Pinetop Perkins Award for best pianist. His sixth album, “The Healing,” featuring Popa Chubby and other special guests, was released in 2017.

Keyes has had performing relationships with many roots music masters, including Odetta, Gladys Knight, Bo Diddly, Lou Rawls, Levon Helm and more.

In addition to his solo recording and performing career, he has served as a band leader and conductor for Broadway shows, with more than 600 performances of “Smokey Joe’s Café,” and for NBC’s “Ainsley Harriott Show.”

Keyes also writes music in various genres for TV and films through his company, Crave Music, which he owns with saxophonist Chris Eminizer. His latest album is “Rhythm, Blues & Boogie.”

He is the music director of the current off-Broadway show, “Rock & Roll Man.”

Dave Mell Blues Band - 6pm

Venue: Jimmie Kramer's Peanut Bar Restaurant

Guitarist/vocalist Dave Mell has been performing blues, R&B, rock and Motown all over eastern Pennsylvania since 1972.

Based in the Lehigh Valley, Mell has also been a regular at B.B. King’s Club in New York City and has recently toured Ukraine.

He is a recording artist, writer, arranger and educator. His current band includes singer/songwriter Ellen Mell, known for her intense vocal style; bassist/singer/songwriter Tom Arnold (he is also a published poet); drummer/singer/songwriter Fran Trioli of Philadelphia; and, on harmonica, Greg Moles.

The Dave Mell Blues Band’s latest album is “Living Like Strangers” (2016).

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Ruthie Foster - 8pm

Venue: DoubleTree Grand Ballroom

Singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster grew up in a family of gospel singers in Gause, Texas, where she was born in 1964.

Foster formed a blues band as a college student in Waco, performing in local bars, and then joined the U.S. Navy, and sang in its contemporary band, Pride. After her tour of duty, she landed in New York City, singing in folk venues.

Foster was offered a record deal with Atlantic Records, but a family emergency forced her to return to Texas. She self-released her first album, “Full Circle” (1997), and in 2002 started her long relationship with Blue Corn Music with “Runaway Soul.” Her most recent album is “Healing Time” (2022), which she began during the Covid lockdown.

Foster is a three-time Grammy nominee and an eight-time BMA winner, including the Koko Taylor Award in 2019 and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year in 2023.

After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Foster performed in a benefit concert with Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon and James Taylor, and she gave a concert at Carnegie Hall in February 2018.

Blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist Kevin Burt has proven that Iowa can produce great blues performers.

He gives concerts throughout the Midwest and beyond, and his style has been compared to Bill Withers and Aaron Neville.

In the 2018 International Blues Challenge, Burt took first place in the Solo/Duo category and won the Cigar Box Guitar Award for best solo/duo guitarist and the Lee Oskar Award for best harmonica player. Burt’s debut album, “Heartland and Soul” was nominated in 2019 for a BMA in the Best Emerging Artist Album category.

His 2020 album, “Stone Crazy,” on the Gulf Coast Records label, has nine original songs and a cover of Bill Withers’ “Better Off Dead.”

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James Supra Trio - 10:30pm

Venue: Cheers American Bistro

Lehigh Valley-based James Supra has been highly recognized in the region for his powerful blues harmonica playing and vocals.

Supra performs with his own band, quartet and trio, and has toured throughout the U.S and abroad.

For the Reading Blues Fest, Supra will be joined by vocalist Sarah Ayers and guitarist/vocalist Phil Pilorz.

Ayers is a former opera singer who has expanded her repertoire to include blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. She formed her own blues band in 2002, and has won LVMAs for Best All-Around Performer, Best Female Vocalist, Best Singer-Songwriter and Best Album in 2007 for “3 AM Epiphany.”

Supra won the Lehigh Valley Music Award for Best Harmonica Player for 19 years straight, and after withdrawing further nominations won the first Legacy Award.

He also has won Best All-Around Performer and Best Blues Band. His recordings include “Hard Times” (2005) with Craig Thatcher and “Tip My Hat to the Maker” (World of Harmonica’s Best Album of 2012).

November 19, 2023

Dave Keller Band - 9:30am

Venue: DoubleTree Amphitheater

for Reading Blues Fest Platinum Package VIPs only!

Vermont may not be known for being a hotbed for blues, but guitarist/singer/songwriter Dave Keller has been building his career there since 1993.

He has earned three BMA nominations for Best Blues/Soul Album and won the International Blues Challenge award for Best Self-Released CD for his 2011 album, “Where I’m Coming From.”

The Massachusetts native started playing guitar at 16 and sang in his first band at 20. It was a late start, but he more than made up for it by finding the best mentors: soul singer Mighty Sam McClain, soul guitarist Robert Ward, acoustic blues master Paul Rishell and soul/blues man Johnny Rawls.

After singing as a guest on Ronnie Earl’s 2010 album, “Living in the Light,” his career took off. His latest album, “You Get What You Give” (2020), features original duets with guests, including Rawls and Dawn Tyler Watson. All proceeds from sales go to groups working for racial justice and equity.

Conversation with the Artists - 10:30am

Venue: DoubleTree Amphitheater

Mr. Sipp & The True Believers featuring Fresh Wind Gospel Ensemble - 11:30am

Venue: DoubleTree Grand Ballroom

Pre-Concert Brunch served from 11:30 am - 12:30 noon (included in ticket)

Concert begins at 12:30 pm.

Born Castro Coleman in McComb, Miss., Mr. Sipp “The Mississippi Blues Child” is a true down-home Delta blues artist, having first picked up a guitar at age 6.

Coleman spent 22 years as a performer and producer of Gospel music, but he changed direction with a solo blues debut album, “It’s My Guitar” (2013), in which he sang all the vocals and played all the instruments.

In 2014, he won the International Blues Challenge, and has since won a string of awards for his albums, which include “Mississippi Blues Child” (2015), “Back to the Roots” (2018, with his gospel quartet, The True Believers” and “Sippnotized” (2021).

In 2014, he played Les Buie, James Brown’s first guitar player, in the movie “Get On Up.” Whether he’s performing Gospel or blues, Mr. Sipp is the real deal.

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Date: November 15 - 19, 2023

Location: Various Venue in Reading, PA 19606

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