One of my favorite aspects of Merlefest is
Roy Book Binder's World's Greatest Acoustic Blues. Every year Book Binder brings in some amazing talent to fill this bill - usually a couple headliners balanced with a couple "unknown" artists. On Saturday these artists take over the Austin Stage for the entire and on Sunday a few perform at a Gospel blues session at the Americana stage. At least that was the standard operation. This year the organizers added a new wrinkle and schedule some of the blues artists to play at several stages in between sets on Friday. What a great idea - entertain the crowd during a lineup change. Plus it gave the audience a preview to Saturday. And that's how I first heard two "discovered" artists
Ben Prestage and
Harry Manx. Both are extremely unique. Manx is referred as a “Mysticssippi” blues man and fuses Indian ragas into his misssissippi blues. In fact his signature instrument is the 20-stringed Mohan Veena and he studied for five years under the tutelage of the instrument's inventor Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Not surprisingly his sound is rather unique - but it has a memorizing affect on the audience.
Ben Prestage is a one man band and blends Memphis blues with Florida swamp blues while playing a drum kit with his feet and picking an electric or cigar box guitar. He actually has two cigar box guitars, with each containing a couple bass strings plugged into a separate amp. But even with the novelty setup, the guy can play and sing the blues. My favorite performer of the weekend. Yet I almost left him off the itinerary. With a festival as talented as Merlefest there are conflicts arising each hour. And it seemed that Prestage was scheduled against someone else I really wanted to see. But after watching the
Steep Canyon Rangers at the Creekside stage I noticed Ben picking up a cigar box guitar and thought, let's give this kid a listen. Wow - what a performance - love his act introducing the band - all four or five Ben Prestages. I'm sure glad Mrelefest scheduled the blues acts in between sets. I immediately chanced my entire itinerary in order to see his full set Saturday. Plus I purchased his two CDs available in the record tent. Yea, I'm now a Ben Prestage stalker, but take my word and listen to this guy.
The headliners that I was really looking forward to seeing were
Corey Harris and
Phil Wiggins performing together and blues legend
John Hammond. How did Book Binder get Hammond scheduled. And his 45 minute set was awesome; he played a mixture of originals and covers of the fathers of the blues. Plus he was able to introduce each song and recollect when he first heard or met that particular artist - a semi history lesson. Hammond still has it, he can pick, play the harp, and sing - just as when I first heard him two decades ago.
I was able to catch Harris & Wiggins twice, first on the Cabin Stage Friday, then at the Austin Stage Saturday. The two have nice chemistry with Wiggins on harp and Harris on guitar. I've been following Harris since listening to his Alligator release Fish Ain't Bitin'. And its nice to see that he has found a regular spot in the Americana\Bluegrass markets. Wiggins is a DC native, and is better known as one half of Cephas & Wiggins. Soon Harris & Wiggins may be as popular as that duo.
Photos of all the acoustic blues acts are available at the
MyJoog Gallery.
The first day of the Red, White & Blues Festival at Boston’s on the Beach in Delray Beach started out hot and sunny and ended soaked. IKO-IKO started the three day festival off on the main stage and played an hour plus of their finest blues, finishing with their hit Crossroads and covered the famous New Orleans tune IKO IKO. I could listen to these guys all night - from Graham Wood Drout's singing to 'Good Rockin' Johnny Wenzel's lead guitar to Ron Taylor on keyboard to the rhythm section - Mitch Mestel and Daniel East. But that was not to be and while the main stage was dark between acts, one man band Ben Prestage became a crowd favorite at the Tiki Bar. 
This was the first time I got a chance to hear Prestage since Merlefest, and since he planned to play three sets that night - the first was all acoustic. The guy can play and with surprisingly deep, raspy vocals - he is a legitimate blues man. Nicole Hart followed on the main stage and was able to get an entire set in before the ominous rain clouds enveloped Delray Beach. She entertained the crowd with her sultry, soulful vocals while performing a few songs from her latest CD, Treasure
- which was one of my favorite Blues CDs of 2009. This evening we heard the title track and "Heart Trouble" - great tunes. As her set ended we drifted back to the Tiki Bar anticipating another set by Ben Prestage when the skies opened and the downpour commenced and wouldn't stop - at least for the next hour. That's the chances you take holding a festival during Florida's raining season. Boston's then made an excellent decision to clear tables in the restaurant and move Tinsley Ellis indoors. Yes, it was crowded - but who cares, its Tinsley Ellis - right in front of you. 
The guy still has it and his supporting duo rocked; his drummer was awesome. And they played longer than expected - this allowed us to sneak out to hear Prestage's last set which I knew would include his trademark one-man band introduction playing his cigar box electric guitar. Throw in a little gospel and old school country blues - and I decided I couldn't miss his show later in the week at the Norton Museum of Art. We finished the evening listening to more of Tinsley Ellis and thinking that Boston's did a great job compensating for the weather and provided us with some amazing music. Can't wait to see what Day 2 will bring. And more photos are available at the MyJoog Gallery.
