Thank you! We are so very grateful to all of the ticket buying fans, the bands, and the sponsors that have made these first three festivals happen.
We're sorting through the bills, and thinking about what has worked and what has not. In a few months, we'll figure out a plan for 2010. So many bands want to return. Many more want to join in. Our mission remains the same: we like this music and these bands and believe they deserve a wider audience.
- Chris Johnson - Deep Blues Festival
Please stay tuned for a wrap up of 2009. The Film Festival this year was June 27, 28 and July 12th. The music component was July 15 thru to the 19th. About the festival? Ira Brooker writes about it at madeloud.com So what inspired this? Read interview with Chris Johnson in the Decider Twin Cities.
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Schedule
Deep Blues Festival Music schedule click here to view.
For prefestival artist appearances click here to view handbill and schedule.
2009 Info and Contact Quick List
What can we answer for you? Just copy paste this address. Inquires can be directed to:
deepbluesfestival@comcast.net
Media: Are you press or media? |
specify: media |
| Sponsorship: Would you or business like to support this event? |
specify: sponsorship |
| 2009 Vendors: Vendors have sold a variety of merchandise including used records, artwork, photography, jewelry, clothing etc. |
specify: vendor |
| 2009 Volunteers: To work a few hours at the festival but with a few perks. Volunteers will still need to purchase their festival tickets. |
specify: volunteers |
| 2009 Submissions: Are closed, thank you |
specify: submissions |
| 2009 Mailing List: We'll send you an update each month with the latest Deep Blues Festival details. |
specify: mailing list |
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Deep Blues Film Festival
Free and open to the public. Click here to view flyer with schedule, dates, details and films.
27 Jun 2009, 12:00 DB Film Festival @ The St Paul Eagles Club,
St Paul, Minnesota
28 Jun 2009, 19:00 DB Film Festival @ The Cedar Cultural Center,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
28 Jun 2009, 21:00 DB Film Festival afterparty @ Palmer’s Bar
Minneapolis, Minnesota
12 Jul 2009, 19:00 DB Film Festival @ Cedar Cultural Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
12 Jul 2009, 21:00 DB Film Festival afterparty @ Palmer’s Bar
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Location - Directions - Transportation
Wednesday July 15th through Sunday July 19th in Minneapolis MN, USA. The Wednesday show at the 331 Club and the rest of the festival will be at the Cabooze.
The Cabooze is just south of the Cedar Ave exit from I-94 at 917 Cedar Ave South. Cabooze website and directions. The Franklin Ave stop on the Hiawatha Line is next to the club Metrotransit bus and light rail information.
Diamond Taxi has been recommended as being convenient and relatively affordable. Estimates (for up to 4 passengers) are between airport and Holiday Inn St Paul East $30 to $35 between Holiday Inn St Paul East to the Cabooze $25 to $30 651-642-1188
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Accomodations - Camping - Hotels
Camping, there is a campsite 20 minutes East of the Cabooze at St Paul East RV Park. St Paul East RV Park
Area hotels, there are many hotels near the festival site and convenient to the twin cities. Our featured festival hotel where the bands will be staying and Deep Blues Sponsor is:
HOLIDAY INN ST PAUL EAST
2201 BURNS AVE ST PAUL, MN 55119
651-731-2220
Once again, the Holiday Inn St Paul East was proud to be the official lodging choice for the Deep Blues Festival. The hotel is located just 15 minutes down I-94 from the Cabooze. We have something for everyone with a restaurant and lounge onsite; as well as pool, hot tub, fitness center and game room. We also feature free parking and wireless property-wide. The hotel has just completed a multimillion dollar renovation in April 2008. Come and enjoy the new Holiday Inn St Paul East!
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Press 2008-09
Decider Twin Cities July 14, 2009 interview with Chris Johnson
by Christopher Bahn, J. Diers
"Despite the growth, Deep Blues' wild-eyed aesthetic hasn't changed. Besides Ford and the Heavies, headliners include veterans Hezekiah Early and Elmo Williams and new blood like Reverend Deadeye, Radio Moscow, and Left Lane Cruiser. (For more, see the official festival site at deepbluesfestival.com.) Decider talked to Deep Blues Festival organizer Chris Johnson about the origins, tribulations, and value of his hard-stompin' creation." Read on Decider Twin Cities
City Pages, June 19, 2009, Deep Blues Festival by Rick Mason
With an outrageously brilliant concept for a music gathering, the Deep Blues Festival launches its third incarnation this summer in a new setting, still focused on the gritty raw essence of the blues and its natural affinities to punk, roots rock, and seminal folk and bluegrass. After putting 74 acts on the bill, including 14 from such international hot spots as Sweden and France, festival organizers may regret abandoning the relatively bucolic pastures of Lake Elmo for the cramped confines of the Cabooze. But, to their credit, the festival feels like should be somewhere like Mississippi's Hill Country, one fount of ifs generally prevailing spirit. Anyway, many of the participants are obscure even in blues circles, which has no correlation to their abundant talent or the intensity of their performances. There'll be crusty, genuine Mississippi blues vets like Elmo Williams, Hezekiah Early, and T-Model Ford; punk-blues fire-breathers like the Black Diamond Heavies; unique 21st-century country-swamp-blues from such as the North Carolina female duo the Moaners; plus sightings of blues scions like Kent Burnside (R.L.'s grandson) and his New Generation Band. The sizeable Minnesota contingent will include John Koerner, the Brass Kings, Davina & the Vagabonds, and the Roe Family Singers. Don't be misled by the lack of "stars," or the setting. This is an event of major significance.
New York Times, May 10, 2009, Summer Stages: Pop by Amanda Petrusich,
DEEP BLUES Minneapolis MN, July 15-19. Spread out over a handful of small clubs and outdoor settings in Minneapolis, this emerging series isn’t as flashy as some of its festival brethren, but it’s got loads of heart (not unlike the blues itself). Its considerable lineup brings together blues acts from across the country (and Europe).
Deep Blues Festival 2009 preview and June 03 interview on madeloud here by Ira Brooker
The Blues Is Not Dead: The New Blues Underground Rises Up' read about it here at gibson.com.
"A powwow of America's punk-blues underground" - Richard Clayton, London Times
"Ambitious and totally grass roots...there's a blues and old-school R&B resurgence rumbling in the indie-music underground, and it goes well beyond the icky thump of the White Stripes" - Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press
"Pairing gritty, authentic but little known Southern bluesmen with younger, hipper acolytes" - Chris Reimenschneider, Star Tribune
"something special, very special indeed" - Mick Sterling
"It was a reunion of lost relatives. It was like finding the land of misfit toys" - Van Campbell, Black Diamond Heavies
"The largest alternative and punk blues gathering in the world" - Frank-John Hadley, DownBeat Magazine
"Deep Blues is the best thing that has happened to blues music in a long time." - Henry Kammerer, Hillstomp
"It's evidence that people will be playing the blues, or at least music inspired by it, for a long time" Margaret Hair, Steamboat Pilot
"This festival celebrates the alternative and punk blues sound as well as the modern juke joint music of the deep South" - Honest Tune
"Playing Bonnaroo earlier this year was an awesome experience, but there was something extra special about the Deep Blues Festival last month. To be in a place where nobody asks "who's that" when you mention R.L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Junior Kimbrough or, for that matter, Fred McDowell or Son House, is a gift."
Ted Drozdowski - Scissormen
Norway Press! A review and images by Øyvind Pharo.
Honest Tune! Candise Kola's review and photos of the festival.
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Message Board
Going to the festival, share a ride? Want to sort out accomodations? A message board is set up here for folks, friends going down to the festival.
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Friends of the Festival
A few links, with more to follow to some of the many friends of the festival
www.50milesofelbowroom.com
