Winter Blues Fest 2026
Downtown Marriott
Des Moines, Iowa
February 13-14, 2026

By Phillip Smith; Feb. 16, 2026

Original source: phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

For the third year in a row, I made the trek to Des Moines, Iowa to soak in the goodness of the Central Iowa Blues Society’s Winter Blues Fest. With temperatures in the sixties this time, the drive to the capital city and back was a quite pleasant one. This was the first time for me to attend the festival both days, making for an extended, blues-soaked weekend with the blues tribe. Acts I was able to catch on the first day included Paul Mayasich, Too Slim & the Tail Draggers, Kevin Burt, Brandon Santini, GA-20, and Chris Cain. Miraculously I saw every artist that played on the Friday bill. On Saturday, it was more challenging for me to see everyone, so there were a few acts I unfortunately missed. With five stages of music going from 4:00pm until 12:30am, I had to make some tough choices. The shows I did catch were Hudspeth & Taylor, Andrew Duncanson & Take a Ride, Bambi Alexandra Band, Heath Alan’s Iowa Blues Expo (featuring Jason Christensen on guitar, Tom “T-Bone” Giblin on keys, Dan Johnson on bass, and Eric Douglas on drums), Delta Generators, Kings of the Blues (featuring Nick Schnebelen, Kris Lager, Brandon Hudspeth, and Hector Anchondo), and closing act Nikki Hill featuring the 2023 Blues Music Award Guitarist of the Year Laura Chavez. It was an amazing show to say the least. I loved every bit of it.