The 2023 Baton Rouge Blues Festival features 27 acts on three stages plus 11 buskers who’ll roam the festival’s downtown site.
The fun begins Friday with two late-day performances, an appetizer to Saturday and Sunday’s main course of blues and other musical styles touched by blues.
“Our mission is to promote, preserve and propel Louisiana blues,” says Kim Neustrom, executive director of the Baton Rouge Blues Festival and Foundation. “But at the festival, there’s rhythm-and-blues, folk blues, country blues. The idea is to expand the festival while always celebrating Louisiana blues.”
Singer-pianist Hannah PK performs at 4 p.m. Saturday on the Chris Whittington Family LA1 stage.
The festival books talent from Baton Rouge, elsewhere in Louisiana and beyond.
“We try to strike a balance,” Neustrom says, “highlighting the local blues talent in Baton Rouge and the region as well as pulling in musicians from throughout the country who have been inspired by the blues.”
The 2023 Blues Fest is continuing a partnership with Live After Five! that began last year, effectively expanding it to a three-day event.
“We found that more people are visiting from out of town, and they want to start their Blues Fest experience before Saturday,” Neustrom says.
Friday evening features Chris LeBlanc’s 5 p.m. Live After Five! performance at the Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage and singer-pianist Hannah PK’s 4:30 p.m. set at the AARP Front Porch Stage. Blues Fest food and arts vendors and branded merchandise also will be in place.
Admission to the Blues Fest is free, but premium BluesFest Fan Experience passes are available for $200. The passes include food and beverages and perks such as a private bar, bathrooms, space for dancing and sitting plus special viewing areas.
Changes this year include the BluesFest Kids Area’s move to the Old State Capitol grounds, where activities run from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The festival’s Blues Backstage, featuring interviews with performers, moves from inside the Old State Capitol to a tent at North Boulevard and St. Ferdinand Street. In addition to nine interviews there, a screening of the Carol Fran documentary, “Tous Les Jours C’est Pas Le Meme (Every Day Is Not the Same),” is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
Blues Fest Spotlights
- Luther Kent: 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
New Orleans native Kent moved to Baton Rouge when he was 13 years old. But by then, he’d soaked up the rhythm-and-blues hits emanating from New Orleans via such nationally known local artists as Fats Domino, Chris Kenner and Lee Dorsey.
In New Orleans, Kent loved hearing his older brother’s band play local R&B favorites as well as hits by such nonlocal stars as Ray Charles. A year before his mother moved the family to Baton Rouge, Kent first encountered one of his prime inspirations. Walking on Washington Avenue, he heard Bobby “Blue” Bland’s recording of “Don’t Cry No More” playing from a corner bar’s jukebox. Soul star James Brown was another major inspiration.
Five days after Kent closes the Baton Rouge Blues Festival, he’ll make his 42nd appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
- Hannah PK: 4:30 p.m. Friday, AARP Front Porch Stage
A native of South Korea and resident of Rochester, New York, singer-pianist Hannah PK recorded her third album, “Blues All Over My Shoes,” at Kenny Neal’s recording studio in Baton Rouge. Debuting in the U.S. at No. 13 on Billboard’s blues chart, the album reached a worldwide audience.
- Tommy Castro: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
A triple winner at the 2022 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tennessee, Castro clinched the prizes for blues band of the year and album of the year. He was also named B.B. King Entertainer of Year. A singer, guitarist and songwriter, Castro and band, the Painkillers, have toured the world for more than three decades.
- Southern Avenue: 9:15 p.m. Saturday, Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
From Memphis, the Grammy-nominated Southern Avenue performs a rainbow of roots music styles. Israeli-born guitarist Ori Naftaly and lead singer Tierinii Jackson write most of the group’s original material, songs that link their band’s modern-day creativity with their city’s blues and soul heritage.
Houston's Leonard 'Lowdown' Brown takes the Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Leonard "Lowdown" Brown
Photo by Tim Duffy
- Leonard “Lowdown” Brown: 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
Brown, a soon-to-be 70-year-old soul-blues artist from Houston, will release his debut album in June. Playing guitar since he was 6, Brown bases his blues in the gospel music that he and his siblings sang for years in traveling gospel groups.
“When you really listen, all that early gospel music is just the blues with different words put to it,” he says.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
5 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Chris LeBlanc
6:30 p.m.: Intermission by Gymfit
AARP Front Porch Stage
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: Hanna PK
SATURDAY
Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
11:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.: Opening Ceremonies
11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.: The Peterson Brothers
1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Shannon McNally
2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.: TC Carter Band
4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Elizabeth King
5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Brother Dege
7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
9:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.: Southern Avenue
AARP Front Porch Stage
1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Anais St. John
2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Dwight James & The Royals
4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.: Emily & The Fried Honeys
7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.: DK Harrell
LA 1 Stage
12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.: Troy Turner Band
2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Sam Hogan & The Rhythm Ramblers
4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Sundanze
5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Veronica Lewis
Blues Backstage Interviews
12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.: Shannon McNally
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.: TC Carter Band
2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.: The Peterson Brothers
3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Elizabeth King
6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Tommy Castro
7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Southern Avenue
Busker Stop
12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.: Peter Simon
1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Anthony Parker
2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.: Ace Dubois
3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.: Worth Powers
4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Nancy Broussard
5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.: Uncle Chess
SUNDAY
Visit Baton Rouge Swamp Blues Stage
Noon to 1 p.m.: Sugarharp
1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Leonard “Lowdown” Brown
3 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Mia Borders
4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.: Luther Kent
AARP Front Porch Stage
1 p.m. to 2 p.m.: OMT Band featuring Floyd Patterson
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Gregg Martinez featuring TK Hulin and Johnny Allen
4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Kenny Acosta
LA 1 Stage
12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.: Clay Melton
2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Kristen Diable
4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: RL Boyce & Lightnin Malcolm
Blues Backstage Interviews
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Blues Vue-“Carol Fran: Tous Les Jours C’est Pas Le Meme, Every Day Is Not The Same”
1:45 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Sugarharp
2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Leonard “Lowdown” Brown
4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Gregg Martinez featuring TK Hulin & Johnny Allen
Busker Stop
12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.: Cliff Patrick
1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Holger Nozel & Bruce Lamb
2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.: Hex Windham
3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.: Jim Standley
4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Ameal Cameron
