Boundary Waters Blues Festival is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

music festival in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 2001 by Michael Jankovec—host of a blues radio show in

Ely, Minnesota Ely ( ) is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census. Located on the Vermilion iron range, Ely once had several iron ore mines. It is an entry point for campers and canoers into the Bou ...

—and Deb Pettit and Doug Brown of Timber Wolf Lodge. Jankovec continues to run the festival, which occurs on the weekend before the

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

weekend. The official host of the event is Boundary Waters Radio. Since its conception the Boundary Waters Blues Festival has showcased over 30 different blues acts, including

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include "Baby, I Love ...

Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Pan ...

Ronnie Baker Brooks Ronnie Baker Brooks (born January 23, 1967) is an American Chicago blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a respected club performer in Chicago, even before recording three solo albums for Watchdog Records. The son of fel ...

Reneé Austin Reneé Austin is an American soul music, soul, contemporary R&B, R&B, gospel music, gospel, singer, songwriter, and speaker. She is a six-time Minnesota Music Award Winner including 'Female Vocalist of the Year'. Austin has a wide vocal range, a ...

Larry McCray Larry McCray (born April 5, 1960), is an American blues guitarist and singing, singer from Magnolia, Arkansas. Early life McCray, the second youngest of nine siblings, grew up living on a farm.

Ernie Lancaster Ernie Lancaster (November 30, 1953 – July 17, 2014) was an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist and songwriter. He released two solo albums. Lancaster had the ability to vary his style between strict blues, and rock, jazz, soul an ...

, Floyd Miles,

George "Mojo" Buford George Carter Buford, Jr. (November 10, 1929 – October 11, 2011), known as Mojo Buford, was an American blues harmonica player best known for his work in Muddy Waters's band. Biography Buford relocated from Hernando, Mississippi, to Memp ...

, Jimmy D. Lane, Peach,

Chris Beard Christopher Michael Beard (born February 18, 1973) is an American basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at Austin for the men's team. He previously coached at Texas Tech, Little Rock, Angelo State, and ...

, Kelly Richey, Big Walter Smith,

Rita Chiarelli Rita Chiarelli is a Canadian blues singer. She was called "the goddess of Canadian blues" by Shelagh Rogers at CBC Radio One. Biography Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Chiarelli began performing in Ronnie Hawkins' band in the early 1980s. ...

Fruteland Jackson Fruteland Jackson (born June 9, 1953) is an American electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Henry Townsend stated, "My respect for Fruteland Jackson is very high. He and my boy Alvin Youngblood Hart is the future sound of true acoustic ...

, Diunna Greenleaf, Rico McFarland, and

Johnny Rawls Johnny Rawls (born September 10, 1951) is an American soul blues singer, guitarist, arranger, songwriter and record producer. He was influenced by the deep soul and gospel music of the 1960s, as performed by O. V. Wright, James Carr, and Z. Z. ...

References

External links

Boundary Waters Radio
Blues festivals in the United States Folk festivals in the United States Music festivals established in 2001 Music festivals in Minnesota Tourist attractions in St. Louis County, Minnesota {{music-festival-stub