Bluesmore Festival 2025
Brucemore Mansion
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
August 2, 2025

By Phillip Smith; August 3, 2025

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

It has been twelve years since the Linn County Blues Society from Cedar Rapids, Iowa has produced an event on the front lawn of the historic Brucemore Mansion. It felt really good to be back where our blues festivals began in 1994. The weather was perfect, and the tribe of blues fans which made the pilgrimage was a most impressive one. Three amazing bands played yesterday for a total of over six hours, making for an extraordinary music-event. The first act was Buckmiller/Schwager Band from Des Moines, Iowa comprised of Tom Buckmiller, Brian Schwager, bassist Eric Smidt drummer Drew Salim, and special guest Tom ‘T-Bone’ Giblin on keys. Next was Quad-Cities-based Avey Grouws Band with Chris Avey, Jeni Grouws, bassist Randy Leasman, and drummer Bryan West. Des Moines-based multi-instrumentalist Heath Alan made an appearance to perform with the band toward the end of their set, before playing the rest of the evening with the headliners Ghost Town Blues Band. Fronted by guitarist/vocalist Matt Isbell, this Memphis-based band is comprised of bassist Matt Karner, Grayson Smith on keys, and Garrett Marshall on drums. Heath Alan and Michael Peloquin both performed on sax. I could not have asked for a better evening of music. It was an absolute blast.

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· *All photos by Phillip Smith

Buckmiller/Schwager Band

Avey Grouws Band

Ghost Town Blues Band

*All photos by Phillip Smith

For more info on Buckmiller/Schwager Band, visit their website at https://www.buckmillerschwager.com/

For more info on Avey Grouws Band, visit their website at https://www.aveygrouwsband.com/

For more info on Ghost Town Blues Band, visit their website at https://www.ghosttownbluesband.com/

For more info on Linn County Blues Society, visit their website at https://www.lcbs.org

Read my previous reviews for Buckmiller/Schwager Band > https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Buckmiller+Schwager

Read my previous reviews for Avey Grouws Band > https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Avey+Grouws

Read my previous reviews for Ghost Town Blues Band > https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Ghost+Town+Blues+Band

North Liberty Blues & BBQ Festival 2024

Centennial Park
North Liberty, Iowa
July 13, 2024

By Phillip Smith; July 13, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Barbeque and blues are about as perfect of a food and music pairing as I can think of. I can’t think of a more popular culinary-audio combination, unless one is in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where the delta tamales rule the roost. Yesterday, North Liberty, Iowa hosted their annual North Liberty Blues & BBQ Festival for the sixteenth time, and the event remains one of my favorite blues festivals. Admission is always free, and the barbeque trucks are abundant. The weather held up quite nicely, and the occasional breeze was a blessing for those of us baking in the ninety-degree heat.

I arrived just in time to catch Charlotte Blu originally from Rock Island, Illinois. Her angelic voice and impressive performance on acoustic guitar pulled me right in to a fabulous set. She played through a mix of terrific originals including her song “Strange” and striking covers which included B.B. King’s “Thrill is Gone”, Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”, Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey’, and Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One More Reason”. She even performed the Amy Winehouse song “Love is a Losing Game”, which she sang for her audition of season 20 of The Voice in 2019.

Iowa-based Cedar County Cobras took the stage after Charlotte Blu. With Tom Spielbauer on guitar and April Dirks on upright bass, they are one of my favorite blues duos. I love their unique take on Delta blues and Mississippi Hill Country blues. Their covers of songs like R.L. Burnside’s “Old Black Mattie and “Going Down South”, Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues”, and “Going Down South”, and Acey Payton’s “I Love You” keep my full attention. They played several of my favorite originals, “Voodoo Doll”, “Utah”, and “Gimme Lightnin’” before closing with a spirit-lifting cover of Pops Staples’ “Get Right Church”.

Iowa City’s Dave Zollo and the Body Electric took the stage next, for a high-energy groove-filled show of roots, blues, and soul originals such as “Strawberry Wine” and “Ain’t No God but God”. I enjoyed this show immensely.

Finally, I caught Blake Shaw’s Big(ish) Band, an Iowa City-based ten-piece jazz ensemble featuring a seven-piece horn section with Shaw on bass/lead vocals, and Dan Padley on lead guitar. They kicked off their riveting show with the blues standard favorite “Every Day I Got the Blues”. They played the jazz-fueled mash up “All Houses of the Rising Blues” and “Willow Weep For Me” off Shaw’s 2019 album It Happened, and covered The Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love”, bringing their sensational set to a close with Stevie Wonder’s “You Can Feel it All Over”.

With the heat taking its toll, and the fact that I wasn’t familiar with either of the final two acts Jeremie Albino, and The White Buffalo, I called it a day.

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· All Photos by Phillip Smith