The late B.B. King’s band bringing blues to Everett waterfront
Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 27, 2017
He was the king of the blues.
When B.B. King died in 2015 at age 89, he was considered the most influential blues guitarist of all time. It was a huge loss, but his group — the B.B. King Blues Band — is still around. And they will be in Everett on Saturday.
Everett Music Initiative and Scuttlebutt Brewing are presenting “Soothe Your Blues,” featuring four original members of King’s band and others.
The band had stopped playing when King died, but King’s tour manager Myron Johnson rounded them up for a tour that began last year.
“These are some of the best players in the world,” Johnson said, “and they deserved to be on the road.”
The band will be led by Jesse Robinson, who worked as bandleader for Bobby Rush and then went on to perform with Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Little Milton Campbell.
Robinson and King were good friends, having shared a Mississippi Delta upbringing.
Sharing the stage with the blues band will be Seattle soul band The True Loves — veterans of the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival — and DLO3 (the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio).
Soothe Your Blues will offer several food trucks, along with Scuttlebutt taps and wine in the beer garden. Tickets will be available at the door for $30. The event is open to all ages, and children 12 and younger are admitted free.
“People keep asking how this event even came to be,” said Ryan Crowther, founder of Everett Music Initiative. “The truth is that I got a call one afternoon while I was sitting eating lunch.
“The gentleman on the other end said in his accent, ‘This is B.B. King’s manager, and I’m looking for a venue in Everett, Washington,’ and my mouth dropped.
“But I knew this was a perfect show for the waterfront and another perfect opportunity to partner with Scuttlebutt Brewing. This is definitely different than our other events, and I’m excited to see all the new faces who come to enjoy it.”
Attendees are encouraged to find alternative transportation to and from the event due to other events on the waterfront, including weddings and Jetty Island traffic, making parking very difficult to find.
B.B. King Blues Band
Presented by the Everett Music Initiative and Scuttlebutt Brewing Co., the band performs at 4 p.m. July 29 in Boxcar Park, 615 13th St., Everett waterfront. Tickets are $25. Go to http://bit.ly/2q0Sl9n. Also performing are The True Loves and DLO3. Scuttlebutt on tap, food trucks.
The next Everett Music Initiative event is Rock the Boat with Meat Puppets and Sir Mix A Lot at 4 p.m. Aug. 12, also at Boxcar Park. Tickets are $20 at http://bit.ly/2sYFPcy.
