This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Maybe you know the third annual Utah Blues Festival is coming this Saturday to the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City, and maybe you don't.
"So what?" you might say.
After all, you, grown adult, are not a blues fan. You may be getting older, but you're not ancient. Blues?! Please — you grew up in the halcyon days of rock 'n' roll, with all those classic bands of the '60s and '70s.
Actually, notes Brian Kelm, President of the Utah Blues Society, blues is "the exact foundation of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, all of whom acknowledge the influence of the blues. … The Rolling Stones, in fact, got their name from a Muddy Waters song."
OK, fine. There's some overlap with the bands you love. Doesn't really matter — it's not like you're gonna convince your hip-hop-obsessed teen to give up his or her Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar playlists on Spotify for a day to come with you and listen to some old people who have zero relevance to the music that inspires them.
Except …
"Rap is just urban, contemporary, 21st century blues," Kelm added. "It's the same thing."
Really, what he's getting at is, "Everybody's a blues fan — they just might not know it yet."
If you need more convincing, Kelm and Tripp Hopkins, the UBS Treasurer and festival organizer, wouldn't mind one bit if you showed up on Saturday to check things out.
The Utah Blues Festival serves a fundraiser for the nonprofit Blues Society, with proceeds going toward Blues in the Schools programs, student sponsorships, and local artist support.
A $35 ticket gets you into the seven acts that will be performing at the Gallivan Center between noon and 10 p.m., plus access to three workshops (cigar-box guitar making, bottleneck guitar slide, and blues harp) taking place at the Salt Lake City Marriott Center (the former has limited space, and requires pre-registration and additional fees).
As for the lineup, the festival will kick off, as usual, with a Utah Blues Society youth showcase, then local acts Better Off With The Blues and Harry Lee & The Back Alley Blues Band will follow. Four national acts have been booked this year, in Annika Chambers, Samantha Fish, Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, and Kenny Neal.
Hopkins, who also serves on the board of directors for the national overseer program based in Memphis, The Blues Foundation, said bolstering the bill with new talent was a must to keep building interest.
"The reality is, as I tell Brian — Brian was lucky enough to be friends with B.B. King, but … B.B.'s dead. James Cotton's dead. The only guy left, really, from that group — there's a few obscure players — is Buddy Guy. But all those other guys from that group, they're gone," Hopkins said. "So it really is the perfect time to kind of rebirth the blues, because the people who are headlining our shows, they're gonna be the [next] B.B. Kings. Twenty years from now, they're gonna be the guys and gals doing it."
Hopkins concedes Salt Lake City does not have deep historical ties to the genre, noting "it's not a Kansas City or a Chicago or the Mississippi Delta," but "Utah's a very transformative state — a lot of people move here from other places."
Still, the leadership of both the Utah Blues Society and the national Blues Foundation recognize that the genre they love has a perception problem, in that everyone simply assumes it's music for old people.
Kelm, who also emcees the "Red, White & Blues" show on KRCL 90.9 FM, believes true music lovers eventually are drawn to blues because of its authenticity.
"It's constantly on our minds: 'How do we get the younger generation into this greatest of all American artforms?' It's definitely a challenge," he said. "But what we've got going for us is that it's real, and it's organic. That alone resonates with a lot of people who may be sick of electronified, saccharine, soulless crap that you can get elsewhere. This is tangible and real, and it resonates with their soul."
Meanwhile, they go into middle schools to do presentations. What dispels many of their preconceived ideas, Hopkins said, is when he's able to illustrate the direct links between the modern musicians they love and the original blues musicians and songs that inspired them.
"It's really a uniquely American art form, born in the poor regions of the Delta," he said. "And a lot of times, we'll pull that over, because rap and hip-hop is really nothing more than an urban manifestation. It's storytelling at its basic point."
The efforts are making an impact. Hopkins noted that a recent presentation to a group of 200 students resulted in 60 of them taking him up on an offer for tickets to the festival.
Meanwhile, festival attendance went from roughly 500 in year one to more than 3,000 in year two.
"We have learned there is a demand for it and an appreciation for it, because it just keeps getting bigger and better," Kelm said. "And that's what keeps us engaged in it."
But, while spreading the good word of the blues helps improve awareness, telling people and explaining to people why they might like the blues isn't really the ultimate difference-maker.
Seeing and hearing it live for yourself, however, usually has a long-lasting impact.
"As soon as you get 'em to a show, particularly a festival like ours," Kelm said, "if they don't groove to most, if not all, of the bands there, they got a hole in their soul."
Twitter: @esotericwalden —
Music schedule
At Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main Street, Salt Lake City
Noon • UBS Youth Showcase
1 p.m. • Better Off With The Blues
2:20 p.m. • Harry Lee & The Back Alley Blues Band
3:40 p.m. • Annika Chambers
5:15 p.m. • Samantha Fish
6:50 p.m. • Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers
8:25 p.m. • Kenny Neal
Workshop programs
At Marriott Conference Center (Capital C Room), 220 S. State St., Salt Lake City
Cigar-box guitar making, 12:15-3:15 p.m. • Hands-on instruction for making your own fretless electric cigar-box guitar. Space is limited. Pre-register with Tripp Hopkins at hopkinso@comcast.net and pre-pay $25 for parts and materials to reserve your spot.
Bottleneck guitar slide, 1-3 p.m. • Learn how to make your own slide out of the neck of a bottle, the way old-school blues players did.
Blues harp, 3:15-4:15 p.m. • The first 110 attendees will receive a free Hohner harmonica. Will include instruction in blues harp riffs and a Q&A session.