Blues by the Bay starts Friday
by John Morris

EAST TAWAS - A central Michigan-raised musician will headline the seventh annual Blues by the Bay this weekend in East Tawas.

Jan James, who was raised on a family-run fishing resort, is this year’s main act and will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The three-day Blues by the Bay begins Friday and ends Sunday at East Tawas Harbor Park at the corner of US-23 and Newman Street. The festival is put on by the Tawas Bay Blues Society. Admission is a $20 button, good for the weekend, or a $10 daily wristband.

James eventually found her way to Chicago, after having learned licks on a guitar from a Tennessee guy named “Catfish.”

“The more I played guitar and the more I tried out the voice I learned to use in the church choir,” James said, “the more I liked it.”

James met her partner, songwriter/guitarist Craig Calvert, while they were both attending Michigan State University. She was working in a duo, performing regularly at a small cafe. When she needed to replace her guitar player, the timing was right. It was perfect. Craig was taking a break from his punk band; they met and developed a musical chemistry that has evolved into a big sound and feel that is colored with blues, soul and the dynamics of the best rock.

All told, this year’s blues festival will offer 10 bands.

Leading off this year’s festival at 6 p.m. Friday is Chris Canas, a previous Blues by the Bay performer. Canas, of the Chris Canas Blues Revolution, was first exposed to the genre as a toddler when his mother took him to his first Jazz and Blues Festival at Hart Plaza in Detroit. He writes, arranges, performs and engineers all of his music and has been on a mission to present the blues to a new generation while keeping it alive for veteran fans. Canas is a product of the Farmington music program and the Ann Arbor School of Performing Arts.

Friday’s feature act at 8 p.m. is Sharrie Williams and the WiseGuys. Williams also is a previous Blues by the Bay performer. Williams has a unique style of “Rockin’ Gospel Blues, which she belts out with strong and powerful vocals.” Born and raised in Saginaw, she grew up surrounded by music and singing her entire childhood, being raised in a musical family. She teamed up with The WiseGuys in 1997 and began appearing regularly at Chicago’s renowned blues clubs, such as Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Also returning to Blues by the Bay is Witch Doctors, which begins the blues festival at noon on Saturday. The band specializes in original lyric-driven blues.

Chef Chris performs at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Chef Chris’ first significant cooking job came at the age of 19 in Columbus, Ohio, when he joined the staff at the Grandview Inn, an historic place known as a stopover for famous jazz musicians, like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. His musical break came in 2002 after he and his band traveled to Memphis, Tenn., and won the prestigious Blues Challenge. The Blues Foundation named Chef Chris and his Nairobi trio “The Best Unsigned Blues Band in the World.”

Formed in the fall of 2002, Horse Cave Trio is set to perform at 4 p.m. Trio member Ron DeVore had achieved success with his hard rocking band, Empty Set, but wanted to go back to the roots of the genre. He found the perfect partner in guitarist Lou Simon, a veteran of the Detroit music scene, and rounding out the trio is drummer Tony Bizon. The band is named after a small town in Kentucky where DeVore’s parents lived.

Friday’s feature act at 8 p.m. is Sharrie Williams and the WiseGuys. Williams also is a previous Blues by the Bay performer. Williams has a unique style of “Rockin’ Gospel Blues, which she belts out with strong and powerful vocals.” Born and raised in Saginaw, she grew up surrounded by music and singing her entire childhood, being raised in a musical family. She teamed up with The WiseGuys in 1997 and began appearing regularly at Chicago’s renowned blues clubs, such as Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Also returning to Blues by the Bay is Witch Doctors, which begins the blues festival at noon on Saturday. The band specializes in original lyric-driven blues.

Chef Chris performs at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Chef Chris’ first significant cooking job came at the age of 19 in Columbus, Ohio, when he joined the staff at the Grandview Inn, an historic place known as a stopover for famous jazz musicians, like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. His musical break came in 2002 after he and his band traveled to Memphis, Tenn., and won the prestigious Blues Challenge. The Blues Foundation named Chef Chris and his Nairobi trio “The Best Unsigned Blues Band in the World.”

Formed in the fall of 2002, Horse Cave Trio is set to perform at 4 p.m. Trio member Ron DeVore had achieved success with his hard rocking band, Empty Set, but wanted to go back to the roots of the genre. He found the perfect partner in guitarist Lou Simon, a veteran of the Detroit music scene, and rounding out the trio is drummer Tony Bizon. The band is named after a small town in Kentucky where DeVore’s parents lived.

Out of Rogers City, the Jim Cummings Band will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday. At the core of most of the band’s music is a funk/blues feel, but the stylistic circle around that core is a broad one, including rhythm and blues and cover tunes. Cummings’ years of experience have led his band to work with bands, such as The Beach Boys, The Tubes, Edgar Winter, Greg Allman, Grand Funk and Alice Cooper, among others.

Winners of the 2005 Blues by the Bay Challenge, Blues Abusers leads off Sunday’s performers at noon. The local band is a staple on the Northeast Michigan blues scene, having played extensively at festivals, clubs and at other venues. Collectively, they share a genuine passion for the blues.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Sonny Moorman Group is a blues/rock band that formed in 1994. The band is a nine-time CAMMY (Cincinnati Area Music) award winner, is a Super Six finalist in the 97Xposure Music Competition and a winner in the Budweiser True Music Search. Moorman also has been chosen as the solo/duo “Blues Artist on the Rise 2008” by Blues Festival Guide Magazine and Blues Festival E-Guide. The band will play Sunday at 2 p.m.

Wrapping up the festival Sunday is Chicago’s Dave Weld and the Imperial Flames, which performs at 4 p.m. Born in Chicago in 1952, Weld was first influenced as a child when he found an old Victrola in the basement and wore out the blues albums. After high school, Weld moved to New Mexico and studied guitar under Kurt Black. He moved back to Chicago and formed the band in 1988.