The Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival is an annual event in

Rentiesville, Oklahoma Rentiesville is a town in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, McIntosh County, Oklahoma, United States. It was founded in 1903 and named for William Rentie, a local landowner. It was one of 50 all-black towns in Oklahoma and one of 13 that still survives.O' ...

, United States, which attracts many national and internationally known

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 ...

artists.

Background

The festival attracts blues musicians and fans of the blues who make their way there from across the many parts of the United States. The festival was first put together in Rentiesville, Oklahoma by blues musician D.C. Minner and his wife

Selby Minner Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

in 1991. They had six acts heading the festival. About 700 people came along on the first weekend. By the early 2000s, the festival was attracting 5,000. It is now considered to be part of Oklahoma's blues heritage. When it ran in 2001 from August 31 to September 2, the acts included

Flash Terry Flash Terry (June 17, 1934 – March 18, 2004) was an American guitarist and singer. Terry was notably instrumental in the birth of blues and blues rock in the state of Oklahoma. He was born Verbie Gene Terry in Inola, Oklahoma, United State ...

, D.C. Minner, Selby & Blues on the Move and Tony Matthews. Minner died in 2008 but the festival has continued after his death.

Recent

In September 2015, the 25th annual festival ran. It featured around 35 acts performing on stage, from 5 PM until 5 AM, over a period of three days on

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 from Friday to Sunday. Some of the acts scheduled to perform were the Checotah High School Jazz Band on stage with blues guitarist

Roger "Hurricane" Wilson Roger "Hurricane" Wilson (born July 27, 1953) is an American electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has also worked as a music educator, radio DJ, music journalist and broadcaster. In addition he is an advisory board member of the ...

, The Roxy Spotlighters,

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. ...

and

Larry Garner Larry Garner (born July 8, 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is a Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album ''Too Blues''., quote: " One music journalist noted "If you define 'blues' by the rigid categories of structur ...

.''Muskogee Phoenix'' Thursday, September
Page 3, Blues festival celebrates 25th year By Cathy Spaulding Phoenix Staff Writer
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References

{{Reflist 1991 establishments in Oklahoma Music festivals established in 1991 Blues festivals in the United States Music festivals in Oklahoma