Mt Dora Blues N' Groove

Venue:  Elizabeth Evans Park
Location: Mt Dora                                                 

Date: 5/20/17

     Beautiful Mt Dora was once again the picturesque location of the ninth annual Blues N Groove Festival held one week ago. The Orange Blossom Blues Society organized the spectacular event this year and as usual, it was a tremendous success! Saturday's festivities began with some of the best national talent in the land as The Nouveaux Honkies were introduced .The talented and unorthodox musical duo of Tim ( guitar & vocals) and Rebecca O'Donnell ( fiddle & vocals) are riveting. The Honkies flawlessly delivered songs that covered nearly every genre of music known to mankind today. They preformed many tunes from their popular release: Blues For Country, to the delight of the crowd. Love this band!
     JP Soars & The Red Hots took the stage next, noted for their high powered blues- rock which ignited the festival goers. The band really cooks and when the Arkansas native brought out his hand made cigar box guitar, everyone really got into it! JP Soars & The Red Hots is one of the hardest working bands in the land!, and they certainly lived up to that in their spirited set.
     Bradenton's own Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones took up where JP Soars left off. Doug IS Rockabilly and Swing Blues at it's best. The addition of the legendary Madison Slim on harp is noteworthy. His style and expertise solidifies the rhythm section of Andrew Gohman on bass and Sam Farmer on drums. It was 4 PM and the hot, humid Florida sun was raising the temperature and Doug Deming was keeping pace. So glad  Doug is making his mark on blues worldwide. A new recording is now in the works and I can't wait!
     Closing things out for the day and headlining, was Californian John Clifton & his band. Virtually unknown on the east coast, the Florida blues crowd were cordiality introduced to his style of "in your face" blues, soul and funk. Any band that wears great looking suits in the sweltering Florida heat has my total respect. Clifton can flat out blow the harp and sing . . .and that he did! They covered a wide variety of bluesy, soul standards and sprinkled some originals in the mix. John & company are welcome back to the sunshine state anytime.
     As is usually the case, I had the trusty Nikon with me and captured a few frames of the event. It was one for the books and I am already looking forward to next year.