BLUES FOR THE ZOO

The Friends of The Big Bear Alpine Zoo announce their 4th Annual BLUES FOR THE ZOO music festival to celebrate this unique mountain animal rescue sanctuary. 
 
The lakeside setting offers a scenic backdrop for an afternoon of internationally recognized musicians along with a selection of local arts and crafts and a freshly prepared food/beverage menu.  Headlining the afternoon of music will be the Windy City Harmonica Breakdown, bringing together two generations of Chicago musicians, with a rare west coast appearance by preeminent harmonica great Billy Branch, a charismatic stage performer and respected educator.  Branch hand-picked fellow harpists Russ Green and Omar Coleman to showcase the best of Chicago blues for this event.
 
Popular Southern California group Cafe R&B, are also on the bill.  New Times describes the band’s lead singer; “Roach has a voice like a velvet-covered freight train, sliding down honey-coated tracks. She shimmies and shakes, vibrates and vamps, titters and taps like a country preacher with two fists full of snakes.”  Guitarist Byl Carruthers punctuates the music with his deep blues electric style and drives Cafe R&B through a set of well-known blues classics plus a selection of original material.
 
Opening the festival will be the boogie woogie grooves of pianist Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, considered one of the missing links between the past and modern-day blues piano players. From Vancouver, British Columbia, this Juno Award-winning (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy Award) artist -resplendent in a brightly colored, French custom-tailored stage suit -  hammers out deeply felt blues, and puts a fresh coat of paint on traditional roots-based rock and roll.

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