7th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Challenge, Pittsburgh PA

Midnight Express take their turn in the competition.

I saw some great blues music last Saturday at the 7th Annual Blues Challenge sponsored by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania. The blues challenge is an all day contest to determine the area's representatives (one band and one solo act) to the International Blues Competition held each February in Memphis. (I haven't a clue why there are having the competition now other than they might need the time to raise some money to help sponsor the contestants.) The bands started at 1pm and were allowed exactly 20 minutes to highlight their skills.  I was generally impressed by the quality of the bands at the competition. I had seen about half the bands before and about half I had either never heard of or had not seen before. The sad thing is it made me realize how few live music venues exist in the Pittsburgh area and the odds of seeing any of these bands again soon are slim and none. Jill West and the Blues Attack won the award for best band. Jill's band always puts on a solid show although I have to say I've seen her run  through this exact set of songs every time she enters this competition. Chris Yakopcic won the solo category. He is certainly a talented musician although his brand of country blues isn't my favorite style. Below you will find video clips from most of the bands and a few examples of the jam session that occurred after the competition.

I had never heard of Melinda before but she has a great blues voice and a style very reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt.

Wayne and the Wild Root were impressive for featuring a complete horn session and a lead singer in a trench coat and sunglasses. Okay.

Chuck Beatty and Stanley J did some nice acoustic work. Chuck's voice has a definite Howling Wolf quality to it.

It's been a while since I have seen  Dave Iglar's band. They always put on an energetic show and he is a good guitar player. His daughter plays saxophone and....that is all I am going to say.

I had heard of The Blues Junkies but never had a chance to see them before. They play good melodic party blues.

My old favorite Jimmy Adler was great as usual. I would have picked him to win but I think his particular style is perhaps not as user friendly as Jill West's.

Ron Yarosz and The Vehicle was last year's winner and they were impressive again this year. Ron is known for playing a B3 organ but he only played it on one song so I just got him on harmonica.

Midnight Express was a band I had not heard of before the competition. They are a good, if unexciting jump blues band.

Jill West and Blues Attack performed a professional set as always. This clip features Greg Krupa, their excellent guitarist.

Here is the winner of the solo competition. A little too much thumping and growling for my taste.

It had been awhile since I saw Angel Blue as well. Her band is always fun to watch and Angel always puts on a decent show.

She doesn't look like your typical blues singer but Nancy McKeen can really wail. I hope she plays more gigs in the Pittsburgh area soon.

I've seen Craig King before and this was not one of his better nights. He seemed almost sleepy during most of the set. I guess we had all had a long day at this point.

First song of the blues jam after the competition. I'm not sure if Angel Blue knew all the words but she faked it well.

A nice relaxed version of Bill Wither's Use Me to close things down.