Journey To Memphis Finals Recap 09/10

If there is any one word I can use to describe this year’s Journey To Memphis finals at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, it has to be WOW!! This had to be one of the absolute best yet!

We started out with 16 acts back the first weekend of June, pared down to the final four who each took center-stage on July 4th before three new judges. Every one of the four came armed for bear and delivered fantastic sets that all received high scores from the judges. I have said it time and again, the judges have the toughest job of anybody for these competitions, because theirs is the decision who decides the act that’ll be going to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge representing the Cascade Blues Association.

The day started off with a burning set from Franco & The Stingers, delivering hard-hitting Chicago-styled blues; the perfect way to get the mood going and the dancers grooving. Following Franco was a picture-perfect performance by Colin Lake & Wellbottom, who had to bear an angry protestor on a bullhorn shouting at the crowd from the Hawthorne Bridge. Colin was later described to me by festival talent producer Peter Dammann as “being in his own world and on a level above us all.” Son Jack, Jr. & Michael Wilde got the audience stirred with their adaptation of Son House’s “John The Revelator” to begin their set and continued to enchant from there.

But the day was destined to belong to the final act, Karen Lovely and her band. Riding on pure emotion, the band arrived from parts afar just in time to gather and perform. Their bassist Bob DiChiro flew in from London the night before, drummer Teri Cote also arrived from Tampa, a new set-list never rehearsed before was thrown together at the last moment, reviewed before going onstage and then delivered in what came across to the judges as the day’s most exceptional performance.

As winners of the 2009 Journey To Memphis, Karen Lovely and her band will receive $1000 from the Cascade Blues Association and another $400 from the Oregon Food Bank to help offset some of their travel expenses this coming January as they compete in The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. They will also be offered the opening set at this year’s Muddy Awards to be held at The Melody Ballroom on Thursday, November 5th and a guaranteed paid set at next year’s Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival. Son Jack, Jr. & Michael Wilde will also be representing the Cascade Blues Association at the International Blues Challenge as our entry for the solo/duo competition as they were our highest placing act in that category and will receive $500 to help defray some of their expenses.

Thanks go out to our judges at this year’s finals: Rob Nelson from Portland Music, blues artist Dan Dalton and KMHD’s Tom Addis. Thanks also to our time-keeper Nadine Colb, CBA board member and score-keeper Jane Manning from KMHD, as well as all the stage crew on the Front Porch Stage. The biggest thanks of all go out to all the performers who took part in this year’s Journey To Memphis; you’re all winners as far as I am concerned!

Please watch the BluesNotes for upcoming fundraisers. The prize money is barely a scratch to get these acts back to Memphis and we’ll want to help them out as much as we can. There are already shows being pieced together that will include multiple-artists, so come on out and have some fun while giving them a hand!

Greg Johnson
Journey To Memphis Chair

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