The Pop Ferguson Blues Heritage Festival
is a living documentary that makes every attempt to promote, preserve and advance the culture of Blues music as an art form in America. The festival gives its audiences an experiential day with the sights, sounds, smells and music from the Piedmont to the West Coast.
The first year, we presented the Blues as it was and as it is today. The theme was Introducing the Blues. The second year Pop and friends presented the Blues as it appears from the different regions in the United States. The theme was Geographical Blues. Each band represented a different style of Blues based on the region it was created. Year 3 we wanted to take you a little deeper into the making of the Blues with our headliner bands piecing the puzzle together. A family from Kenya told the story from Africa to America. Pop and the Blues guys told the story from the slave fields to Swing. A storyteller told the story of Amazing Grace and about the Spirituals of that time. Another storyteller spoke about the affects of Blues on the hill folk. A Jazz artist told the story from Swing to R&B. The R&B artist told the story up to the “gray out” the 60s when the British and white America embraced the Blues; this artist finished the story with modern renditions of the Blues. Year four presented the Blues in its raw and pure form of the east coast or Piedmont Blues with original headliners, ranging in age from 69 years old to 84 years old. To enhance the opportunity to advance the culture of Blues music as an art form we added interactive workshops: Blues Harmonica, Blues slide Guitar, Finger picking Blues guitar, A late night “juke joint” with an open jam with the festival headliners.
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Year 5 offers even more to make your festival experience one that you will not forget any time soon; just take a peek. The theme is “Celebrating the Women of the Blues”. There will be twenty acts on five stages with everything from one-act dramas to Great Authentic Blues and wonderful food. The workshops will be: “How to Sing the Blues”, back by popular demand, “How to Play Blues Harmonica”, “Learn to Play Blues Instantly on the Guitar”. We hope to offer a sneak peek on Thursday evening at a VIP dinner (made to feel like the Cotton Club). Friday night there will be two Blues Supper Clubs and after dinner our own “Late Night Juke Joint” with all the fixins of greasy chicken and greens. Saturday we would like to offer an interactive children’s corner for age appropriate learning, storytelling some factual some folklore and a walk-through Blues Museum. You will think you are in Memphis or St. Louis or the Smithsonian when you see the history and live Grammy and Emmy winners, the national and the international Blues Musicians around you for those two days. You will feel like you have gone back in time expecting that you will hear and see Ma Rainey or Son House with Mississippi John Hurt at any time. Maybe the Delta gang is in the next venue you know guys like Bukka White, Skip James, Lonnie Young, or hear the guitar master Lonnie Johnson. Do not forget Big Mama Thornton, Victoria Spivey, and Big Mae Belle with Pink Anderson singing “Baby Please Don’t Go”. Just maybe the gals and guys from Carolina will show up, Carolina Slim, Blind Boy Fuller, or Rev. Gary Davis. Sounds like a make believe thing but that’s what we wish for you.
What we do:
The Pop Ferguson Blues Heritage Festival is more than just events. It is a non-profit, community-based organization's contribution to the economic growth of the community. It attempts to foster civic pride, promote awareness of Caldwell County’s cultural heritage and develops diversity and cultural turism.
