Kicking off on June 12 with Castro, the WLAV Budweiser Blues on the Mall series returns with free Wednesday shows at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids. See the full schedule.
West Michigan faves Tommy Castro, Nick Moss and Walter Trout are back.
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And there’s a fair amount of anticipation for first-timers, like up-and-coming Cincinnati blues guitarist Scotty Bratcher, who’s been making waves in Ohio and beyond.
Welcome to Season 22 of the WLAV Budweiser Blues on the Mall series in downtown Grand Rapids.
The free Wednesday night celebration of the blues kicks off at Rosa Parks Circle on June 12 with the return of California’s Castro, who has cultivated a wildly enthusiastic cadre of West Michigan fans over the years, making Grand Rapids a regular stop on his national tours. He’ll be performing with his band, The Painkillers.
The award-winning guitarist and singer is now on Alligator Records, which released a Castro 45-rpm record (“Greedy/That’s All I Got”) last fall; he also was named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year at the
Blues Music Awards in 2010.
But that’s just the beginning for the 10-week series, which draws a diverse crowd of thousands to downtown at mid-week every summer, with familiar and emerging blues stars in the 2013 lineup.
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WLAV/Budweiser Blues on the Mall Series
Where: Rosa Parks Circle, Monroe Center NW, Grand Rapids
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays
Admission: Free
The Lineup:
June 12 – Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
June 19 – Sena Ehrhardt
June 26 – Poppa Chubby
July 3 – Nick Moss
July 10 – Walter Trout
July 17 – Scotty Bratcher
July 24 – Kelly Richey
July 31 – Rick Estrin
Aug. 7 – Cashbox Kings
Aug. 14 – Wayne Baker Brooks
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The return of Trout, an iconic guitarist, on July 10 promises to be a high point for Steve Aldrich of WLAV-FM (96.9), who helped book this year’s series. He said he’s particularly “looking forward to seeing Walter Trout, as his new album, out June 11th, is a Luther Allison tribute.”
Aldrich says he knew Allison and booked the Chicago guitarist in Grand Rapids “a couple of times.” With the tribute album being released next month, Aldrich anticipates Trout will be “featuring a lot of that music in the show.”
Beyond that, he said, “Kelly Richey should be amazing. She’s a wicked guitar player we’ve wanted to bring here in before, but with Freekbass in the trio, this should get real interesting. The most unknown guy is Scotty Bratcher, who’s something of a legend in the Cincinnati area.”
As always, the free shows will feature two sets by the performers, with vendors also on hand for concertgoers.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music