If you remember… back before Voodoo Fest, I was in the process of reviewing the Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. Well, I still haven’t forgotten about it, and I have the final review in my sights. But, for now, let me refresh your memories with a couple of photosets from the event…

Crescent City Blues and BBQ Fest Day 1



This photoset features Buddy Guy, Moreland & Arbuckle, Sonny Landreth, Robert Belfour, Guitar Shorty, Amedee Frederick, Luther Kent & Trick Bag, and JD Hill & the Jammers.

Crescent City Blues and BBQ Fest Day 2



This photoset features Bobby Rush, T Model Ford, Bill Abel, Irma Thomas, Chris Smither, Jumpin’ Johnny Sansonne, Gaynielle Neville, Cyril Neville, and Andrew Duhon & the Lonesome Crows.

For more shots from the New Orleans music scene, check out Groovescapes' Flickr photostream.

To get you in the mood for Voodoo Fest, I’ll begin a review from another recent, New Orleans festival, the Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. In it’s fourth year, this free, two-day event, hosted by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and held in Lafayette Square has grown into one of the city’s best and most enjoyable outings. This year’s lineup featured the likes of blues giant Buddy Guy, slide guitar gunslinger Sonny Landreth, Mississippi bluesman T Model Ford, and New Orleans legend Irma Thomas. When I arrived at the Square on Saturday, October 17th, I walked up to the smaller of the two stages where JD Hill and the Jammers were absolutely smoking. As I listened to Hill, a fixture on the local blues scene for the past three decades, wail on his harmonica, I realized that it had been a while since I had settled into the blues, and, boy, was I going to have a hell of a time this weekend getting back into ‘em! With a washboard hanging from his shoulders and a set of spoons in his hands, Hill and company delivered a thrilling version of Jimi Hendrix’s “May This Be Love,” which would remain one of my favorite performances of the festival.