From left, Scott Bowers fills in on bass, performing along with legendary guitarist Mike Wilhelm at the Blue Wing Blues Festival last week. Photo by T. Watts.

Working from the songbooks of Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Jimmy Reed, B.B. King and others the All-Stars delivered a solid set. The versatility of Mike Wilhelm’s playing was evident as he alternated between rhythm and lead licks. He picked up a National Steel Resonator guitar halfway through the set and gave the crowd ample evidence of why Jerry Garcia called Wilhelm his favorite guitarist.

I can’t leave out Jim Williams’ contribution. He contributed several stinging solo’s which left some folk’s open-mouthed. Kudos also to Scott Bowers filling in on the bottom for Jon Hopkins on a moment's notice. If you’d like a little taste of the Lake County Blues All-Stars, they play Blue Mondays at the Blue Wing frequently.

Friday Night headliners, the Ford Blues Band with Patrick Ford and Volker Strifler are connected musically all over the world. Patrick Ford’s brothers, Robben and Mark, have made individual high water music marks as well.

To start, the band ripped through three up-tempo harp-driven, guitar-fueled numbers and quickly had the crowd on its dancing feet. Harp man Andy Just was smoking. Bassist Dwayne Pate anchored the bottom pocket while Patrick Ford’s beat was cool and steady.

Volker Strifler played and sang amazingly well. His version of Howlin’ Wolf’s Spoonfull was very authentic. If there had been a vote for the festival’s best guitar player, Volker would have been hard to beat. If you ever get a chance, catch this band live. They don’t just cook, they sizzle!

T. Watts writes about music and culture for Lake County News.

Singer Neon and bassist Scott Bowers perform during the blues festival. Photo by T. Watts.

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dang!
written by tom, August 11, 2008

I was out of town and couldn't attend. Sure hope the folks at Blue Wing keep this kind of classy and high quality music coming to Lake County. I'll be there next time with wife and friends. Thanks for the show, even thou I wasn't there.

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small corrections to the T. Wa
written by guit_blue, August 20, 2008

Many thanks to T. Watts for the great write-up. The bassist is Scott Powers, not Bowers. The drummer's name wasn't mentioned, he is Patrick Ostrander. This was an absolutely great event with smiles from start to finish from staff, audience and musicians! Hope to be back next year!

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