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5th annual Flathead Lake Blues Festival brings world-class blues to Polson

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News from the Flathead Lake Blues Festival

POLSON — Back for its fifth year, with an outstanding array of award-winning talent, the Flathead Lake Blues Festival is set for Aug. 14 and 15 on the lakeshore at Salish Point in Polson.

This year’s event features seven blues acts from across the country.

“We’re excited to bring many award-winning performers, including an International Blues Challenge double winner, finalists and semifinalists, and many regional award winners to the stage this year,” David Venters said, one of the festival founders and organizers. 

One of the last stops along the Northern Rockies Blues Trail, the festival will showcase styles from across the blues spectrum including traditional country blues, Texas blues, jump swing, Kansas City swing, West Coast, Piedmont, Delta, New Orleans, and Chicago blues, North-Mississippi-style rocking blues, and rock and alternative blues. Bands will perform originals as well as interpretations of classics by greats such as Willie Dixon, Leadbelly, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Warren Haynes, Bobbie Bland, Albert Collins, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

Tickets are available online at FlatheadLakeBluesFestival.com, in Polson at The UPS Store and The Sandpiper Art Gallery, in Kalispell at Music One Workshop, and in Missoula at Rockin’ Rudy’s. Children age 12 and under are admitted free with each adult admission. 

Festival grounds open two hours before each day’s show. On Friday Aug. 14 the show opens at 6 p.m. with The Kenny James Miller Band, from Flathead Valley. KJMB puts Power into the term “power trio.” 

“We are so pleased to bring them to the stage, with some fresh work, an even more finely tuned performance, and an album set to release in late August,” Venters said. 

Robbie Laws Band of Portland, Oregon takes the stage at 6 p.m. on Friday with their four-piece band. Robbie Laws is one of the most decorated and in-demand blues guitarists in the Pacific Northwest. Friday night wraps up with The Lionel Young Band out of Colorado. Lionel Young is a high-energy performer with a bent for the blues. 

On Saturday Aug. 15, kicks off at 4 p.m. with regional favorite, Gladys Friday Band. The five-piece blues/soul/funk/rock band plays a very diverse selection of classic and original music. Gladys Friday’s most unique feature is their lead singer, Kelley Sinclair. She is one of those rare vocalists who can truly do justice to an Aretha song and grind out a Bonnie Raitt rocker and make it her own.

Levee Town, a hot rockin’ Americana foursome out of Kansas City takes the stage at 6 p.m.

“We wanted to bring this band the minute we heard their album,” said Venters. “They will get everyone up and dancing.” 

The Rafael Tranquilino Band, a modern rock/blues band with a touch of Fusion and a jam expression on stage performs at 8 p.m. on Saturday. From the Seattle, Washington area, RTB is an instrumental power trio, plus one, of guitar, bass, drums, and vocals that fuses rock, blues and funk with an alternative and fresh sound. 

Taking the stage to wrap up the evening, is Kevin Selfe and the Tornadoes, a seven-piece band out of Portland, Oregon, in their only Montana show this season. The group is led by guitar virtuoso, and former Virginian, Kevin Selfe, who effortlessly combines guitar traditions of the legends and modern masters into his own unique approach. His live shows have grown in legend, largely due to his unique gift for communicating, through guitar, the complex range of moods revealed only by blues.

An advance pass for both days is $40, with single-day tickets also available.

The event is organized by Festivals on the Flathead, a group of volunteers with the long-term goals include terracing the hillside on Salish Point to make the park an even better venue for events such as concerts, plays, graduation ceremonies and other events. The group is also working to promote music education in the area. A full 10 percent of ticket sales are split between the Salish Point Renovation Fund and the Student Instrument Fund which will help provide band instruments to local students.

For more information, visit www.FlatheadLakeBluesFestival.com or call 406-646-6816.

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