Johnny Winter and James Cotton
It may have been a bit warmer everywhere this weekend, but nowhere was it hotter than in Lancaster, PA, where thousands of fans converged for the inaugural offering of the Lancaster Roots & Blues Festival featuring more than 50 roots music artists across nine stages, including the likes of Johnny Winter and James Cotton, Sugar Ray & the Bluetones, Edgar Winter, Loudon Wainwright, the Meditations Reggae Band, Samantha Fish, Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers, Tom Principato, the Tim Warfield Organ Band, the Martini Brothers, and very recent Late Night with David Letterman musical guests Lake Street Dive, to name just a few.
Samantha Fish
Even focusing mostly on blues performers, we weren’t able to see nearly as many of the acts as we would have liked, but what we did see was all pretty spectacular, including Friday night performances from the Heritage Blues Quintet, Chris Thomas King, Tom Principato, and Sugar Ray & the Bluetones, followed the next night by smoking sets from Samantha Fish, Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers, the Johnny Winter Band with special guest James Cotton on harmonica, and a musical nightcap from Delta soulman – “the Arkansas Tornado” – Lonnie Shields.
Sugar Ray Norcia & Monster Mike Welch
We’ll tell you all about it – as well as give you more of a look at the weekend in photos – in the coming days.
Chris Thomas King
Heritage Blues Orchestra
Tommy Conwell