Sutton Blues Festival

Sutton Blues Festival off to a swinging start

Jerome Godboo - courtesy of his web-site
By Manfried Rieder Starhemberg
On October 29, visitors and locals of Sutton will have the opportunity to see Jerome Godboo at the third in a series on concerts called "Sutton En Blues". The concerts, held at the Auberge Appalaches on Sutton mountain, will continue until November 26. This weekend's feature, Jerone Godboo is one of the highlights of this years tenth's anniversary of the blues festival. Mr. Godboo is a giant in the music scene in Canada, He has played with such greats as Prince, James Cotton, The Tragically Hip, Johnny Winter, Jose Feliciano and more, The "Globe and Mail" said about Jerome: "He commands a harmonica the way Jimi Hendrix commanded a guitar".
On November 5, the series will continue with a concert by Bharath & His Rythm Four, a long time favorite of Sutton's blues fans. The group won the Maple Blues award in 2003, they are playing with amps and mikes from the 60's and represent an incredible replica of the golden age of Blues.
On November 12 Toronto's Jack de Keyser is on stage. He is originally from the United Kingdom but has made Toronto his home for years now. He has won seven Maple blues awards, two Junos and in 2008 he won Nashville's international songwriting competition. Bob Dylan in a recent interview spoke of Jack de Keyser: "If Jack was from Chicago or New York or L.A., he would be world famous..."

 Photo courtesy of Jack de Kayser
November 19 will be a rocking evening with Treasa Levasseur on stage. This incredibly gifted woman has become somewhat of a "Blues Diva" in Canada and her funky delivery, her sometimes smoky voice which evokes memories of old Bogart movies, has made her a darling of this festival's connoisseurs.
 The end of this year's run of concerts is on November 26 when Sutton will be happy to once again welcome "MonkeyJunk" from Ottawa, who have been winning awards all over the globe lately, from the Maple Blues to the "Electric Act of the Year" ,for the second year in a row, "Harmonica player of the year", the third year in a row for Steve Marriner and "drummer of the year" for Matt Sobb.
This will be a great finale for this anniversary event of great music in Sutton at a fine venue, presided over by owner Patricia Gerard, an original music lover and  generous host at her Auberge Appalaches.