The first of what organizers say will be an annual Railway Blues Festival was deemed a success by organizers, performers, and the minimal crowd.
“I think it was hugely successful. We could always use a couple thousand more people, but we didn’t expect a huge turnout,” co-organizer and general service manager of the Railway and Forestry Museum Shelley Sivell said. As the first year of a festival, she said the turnout was about what she expected.
Blues Underground Network co-hosted the event with the Railway and Forestry Museum.
The audience demanded encores from just about every band that performed, and every band asked came right back out in compliance.
It was certainly befitting to have a blues festival take place at a venue surrounded by trains, as W.C. Handy, the man credited with having discovered and spread the blues style of music, claimed to have made the discovery while waiting at a railway station in Tutwiler Mississippi. In his 1941 biography he wrote “a lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar... the effect was unforgettable. “
Many of the musicians who performed Saturday afternoon and evening commemorated both these humble beginnings and the befitting venue by playing train-related songs.
Beginning the show at 12:30 was local artist Karl Standeven who treated crowds to the bare-bone classic blues music made popular during the early 20th century, including a number about railroad life. Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whitley from Toronto and Kansas restively joined forces to continue the theme that Standeven started, in playing more classic blues guitar riffs, this time with Braithwaite’s powerful soul-filled vocals.
Local group Single Car Garage continued the old-school blues theme, powering through a set of mainly original songs.
The local Kathy Frank Band changed pace a little bit, with the rhythm and blues soulful vocalist Kathy Frank backed by a band of musicians with a unique style of playing. They played many cover songs mixed in with their originals.
Guitarist Jenna Earl was one of the most notable members of the band, dazzling audiences with her slow-hand Clapton-esque guitar solos.
The local Bad Brakes Blues Band followed, playing mainly covers.
In some cases, such as with Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, the guitar riffs were adapted to a more blues-inspired syle of playing, with added guitar solos. They also played covers of Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young, and Santana songs.
Victoria blues artist Layla Zoe followed, backed by Single Car Garage. Zoe spent her set slinking across the stage, belting out lyrics with the full force of her vocal chords. She mixed in a few covers with her original music, most notably the classic Ben E. King song Stand By Me.
The crowd finally started making good use of the dance pit in front of the stage during local group The Rae King Blues Band’s set, as the sun set on the horizon. B&B Music guitar teacher Mark Roland and wife Brenda Roland fronted the band, with Mark on guitars and Brenda on vocals. Mark’s guitar work certainly explains his position as a guitar teacher, as his long guitar solos left the crowd wanting more. They played originals alongside several covers.
Good Dog Bad Dawg, consisting of Victoria guitarist Jason Buie and Edmonton harmonica player Harp Dog, helped the crowd continue dancing in the pit with their long guitar and tobacco-drenched harmonica solos.
“The weather forecast wasn’t in our favour,” but it ended up alright, Sivell said.
By the end of the night it was beginning to get chilly, though for the majority of the evening it was at a pleasant temperature.
Sivell hasn’t quite added up the total ticket sales, though judging from the empty spaces at the event itself, a lot more people could have showed up.
Sivell is hopeful that during the second annual Blues Festival will have a larger turnout.
“In a couple of weeks we’re going to be planning the second blues festival,” said Blues Underground Network spokesman Earl Krushelnicki.
