THE IRRESISTABLES SWEET SOUL & GOSPEL SHOW
featuring MICK STERLING
Sunday, August 15th
11:45am - 1:00pm
Leinenkugel's Stage
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You have to hand it to Mick Sterling. When he puts a band together, good things happen.

The Irresistibles  was formed by front man Sterling, a popular Twin-Cities based musician and multiple Minnesota Music Award winner. The nine-piece band plays the best of American and British Retro-Soul and R&B. The play list includes Marvin Gaye, Staple Singers, Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Carole King, James Brown, and Otis Redding just to name a few.

Since Sterling is well-connected in the Twin Cities music scene, he might have been tempted to go after the tried and true talent. Instead he went looking for some fresh faces, and he found two soulful singers in Shalo Lee and Cate Fierro.

The horn section features two players from the highly-regarded Jack Brass Band and the rhythm section is led by Toby Marshall on the Hammond organ.

But Sterling is still the leader of the pack. He’s been a popular Bayfront performer for over a decade. Crowds love his energy and the way he draws them in to each performance. He’s capable of taking over a show with his personality alone.

One of the best things about him, though, is that he doesn’t. Sterling is at his best when he’s surrounded by talented musicians. Then he lets them do what they’re great at. When you see the Irresistibles you get an entire show – professional vocalists, a large, razor-sharp band, and plenty of room for showmanship for Sterling and his band.

MOLLY MAHER
Sunday, August 15th
1:05pm  - 1:35pm
Acoustic Tent Stage
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Conventional is not what Molly Maher is all about. She plays her guitars (including a ’38 Regal/Dobro resonator, ’62 ToneMaster/Valco) upside down and in different tunings, and she and her band can take a ballad and whip it into an epic rocker. Her songwriting has depth and groove, and Richard Thomas of Reader Weekly called her voice “the apparent love child of Ricki Lee Jones and Bonnie Raitt.” Hailing from St. Paul, Maher plays music that’s got a sound blended out of the blues, rock, and folk. Some call it Americana, but that would be giving it one label, which would be conventional. Her musical sound is diverse, and she has shared the stage with some diverse national acts including Los Lobos, Ralph Stanley, Michelle Shocked, Marc Cohen, the Waco Brothers, Hot Club of Cowtown, Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey, and Charlie Parr. Her latest CD, “Balms of Gilead,” includes guest musicians Jessy Green, members of the Jayhawks, Mark Anderson, and Dean Magraw. Maher lists as influences Doug Sahm, Ry Cooder, Jesse Mae Hempill, Latin Playboys, Calexico, Rickie Lee Jones, Ennio Morricone, Nick Lowe, Pieta Brown, Richard Buckner, Joe Ely, Freddy Fender, RL Burnside “…and anything else that has substance, melody and groove.” Substance, melody and groove. Now there’s a better label.

THE INSOMNIACS
Sunday, August 15th
1:40pm - 2:40pm
Leinenkugel's Stage
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The Insomniacs burst onto the blues scene in 2007 when they self-released their first album, titled “Left Coast Blues.” By “self-release,” we mean that they recorded it in their bass player Dean Mueller’s living room. No matter, though. The album went all the way to number five on the national blues charts, making everyone pay attention. They grabbed a Blues Foundation nomination for Best New Artist Debut and a Muddy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Act. People expected great things. The Blues Review said, “The Insomniacs could become legendary,” and Big City Blues praised, “The Insomniacs are in a league all their own.” They didn’t disappoint with their second album, “At Least I’m Not With You” in 2009. They recorded it in just two days, having spent years perfecting the songs on the road. Their mix of blues, swing, jump and roots rock is generating quite a following across the country. This young group of blues musicians is part of a growing number of new generation talent taking the blues to a new level. Front man Vyasa Dodson says, “The Blues isn’t dead. It’s just going in different directions. B.B. King and Buddy Guy got started when they were young. The same thing is happening today.” Joining Dodson are Mueller on bass, Alex Shekeri on keys, and Dave Melyan on drums.  While they may play vintage instruments in an old-time blues style, there is a new sound coming from the Insomniacs. Be sure to check it out.

HUD WITH HURRICANE HAROLD
Sunday, August 15th
2:45pm  - 3:15pm
Acoustic Tent Stage
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Javier Matos plays bottleneck slide blues like he was born to it, and with this latest incarnation of a band he’s found the perfect foil for his riffs and vocals. HUD plays blues with an edge, and with Javier Matos as front man and Twin Cities harmonica ace Hurricane Harold thrown in, we’re in for a great ride. Matos got hooked on the blues when he discovered his father’s record collection as a kid. He began playing professionally around the Twin Cities 14 years later. After a lot of late nights and hard luck he enlisted in the Army, which took him to Alaska and where he continued to play the blues. It was in Anchorage where he was discovered by Storyville Records. In 1999 he released his debut album “Comin’ Home” under the stage name Jake Matson. Later he formed the Blue Shadows in L.A., who were voted the “Best Blues Band” by L.A. City Rock News and were featured on the cover of Billboard Magazine in August of 2002. The Blues Shadows disbanded and Matos returned to his adopted hometown of Minneapolis. Now, Matos joins Grant Wibben on upright bass and Page Burkum on drums to form HUD. They’ve released their first album, recorded as Javier & the Innocent Sons and titled “Lost in Loretto.” Hurricane Harold Tremblay regularly performs with the trio, rounding out HUD’s Delta and early Chicago sound.

SISTA MONICA
Sunday, August 15th
3:20pm - 4:35pm
Leinenkugel's Stage
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Sista Monica grew her gospel roots singing and touring with the Great Band Missionary Baptist church Choir as a child. She might have had a life of singing for family and friends had she not tuned into the Arsenio Hall show one night and saw her neighbor Stanley Burrell (AKA M.C. Hammer) perform. She decided then and there to go pro. We are so glad she did. She set to work and was soon sharing the stage with Etta James, Gladys Knight, Koko Taylor, and other greats from the blues and R&B. Critical acclaim came soon after. Blues Revue magazine wrote, “She’s star material all the way…Her huge voice and incredible chops give her one of the best instruments around.” She released her debut CD “Get Out of My Way!” in 1995 and co-produced the self-titled “Sista Monica” just two years later. In 2000, she released “People Love the Blues,” which stirred talk of a Grammy nod, and in 2001 she released her first traditional gospel CD, “Gimme That Old Time Religion,” cementing her as one of the top gospel singers in the nation. She then won the Artist of the Year Award at the prestigious Monterey Bay Blues Festival. The future looked bright, but then she was diagnosed with a rare and severe cancer and was given just three months to live. That was seven years ago. Since then she has released several more CDs and maintains a wide touring and recording schedule. Don’t miss one of the most admired women on the international festival music scene.

ALISON SCOTT & KEVIN BOWE
Sunday, August 15th
4:40pm  - 5:10pm
Acoustic Tent Stage
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A couple years ago a young singer/pianist named Alison Scott joined veteran Kevin Bowe onstage at Bayfront, giving us a tantalizing taste of things to come.

This year they’re onstage together again, and performer/songwriter/producer Bowe couldn’t be more excited about the collaboration.

“She’s it. The one,” Bowe says.  “I love playing and recording her songs more than any other young artist I’ve ever worked with. Imagine Carole King with a little Laura Nyro tossed in there and add some volume.”

Alison Scott has been taking the Twin Cities music scene by storm and getting national attention with her soulful performances. She’s got three albums under her belt and this past May she opened for Bon Jovi.

That’s right – Bon Jovi. There was some brouhaha over it. The radio station running the contest for the opening act told Scott she won the vote count - and the next day said she didn’t. Her fans were outraged. And Jon Bon Jovi, appreciating how graciously Scott handled the situation, stepped in and asked her to perform.

As for Bowe, he’s a Minneapolis music mover and shaker who was first discovered at a club gig by producer David Z (Prince, Fine Young Cannibals, Big Head Todd). Since then Bowe has had a prolific career writing and producing for other artists, with his cuts appearing on gold and platinum Grammy-winning albums for artists like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, and Etta James.

This is your chance to hear for yourself what the fuss is all about.

CHRIS DUARTE
Sunday, August 15th
5:15pm - 6:30pm
Leinenkugel's Stage
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San Antonio native, Chris Duarte, was born in 1963, or, as he likes to tell it, the same year as his Strat guitar. That probably gives you an idea of the kind of person we’re talking about here. Duarte was so enthusiastic about a life in music that he picked up the guitar at age 15 and left school and moved to Austin just a year later to get started. He hasn’t looked back since. His early influences were John Coltrane and Miles Davis, but he soon developed a style all his own. A few years after moving to Austin, Duarte met John Jordan. The two of them founded the Chris Duarte Group and, with Jordan on the bass, began a musical partnership that booked 300 gigs per year for 15 years. The band produced seven albums – Texas Sugar Strat Magic (1994), Tailspin Headwhack (1997), Love in is Greater Than Me (2000), Blue Velocity (2007), Vantage Point (2008), and 396 (2009). After releasing the “Texas Sugar” album, Duarte was named “Best New Talent” by a 1995 Guitar Player reader poll, and he finished fourth behind legends Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and B.B. King for “Best Blues Guitarist.” Jordan eventually left to start his own recording studio and solo career, but the band continues to impress audiences at home and abroad over 200 times per year. Duarte also tours with a band named Bluestone in Japan. He says the Chris Duarte Group is an improvisation Blues-rock band. With that amount of talent and experience on stage, you’ll be in for a great show.

PAUL METSA & SONNY EARL
Sunday, August 15th
6:45pm  - 7:30pm
Acoustic Tent Stage
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When Metsa and Earl team up onstage, they get into some kind of groove that seems like they were born to play together. But it didn’t start out all that hot. Word is that in 1997 Earl showed up at Metsa’s not only with his harps but a guitar, and when he played a few riffs Metsa stated, “We won’t be needin’ that.”  Luckily, when Earl got out his harmonica things started looking up. The two have been a frequent team since then, recording “White Boys Lost in the Blues” in 2007 while the EP “No Money Down” was released in 2009. Paul Metsa is a legendary Minneapolis musician. Born and raised in northern Minnesota, his rough-and-ready, freestyle guitar picking and tiger growl vocals fit his powerful songs about ordinary people.  Metsa, who has won eight MN Music Awards, has performed at Farm Aid and the Tribute to Woody Guthrie at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sonny Earl got hooked on the harmonica as a kid and was influenced by his uncle Den, a working musician in Chicago. Den also lectured him on the dangers of becoming a musician – low pay, hard times, and shady characters. Now Earl was really hooked. Earl’s bittersweet vocals and precise, powerful mouth harp mesh well with Metsa’s guitar work and songwriting. One of Minnesota’s favorite music duos, we are proud to welcome Paul Metsa and Sonny Earl back to Bayfront .

JJ GREY & MOFRO
Sunday, August 15th
7:35pm - 9:05pm
Leinenkugel's Stage
Visit her web site - Click Here

JJ Grey & Mofro will wrap up the 2010 Bayfront Blues Festival, and what a way to go out! The band’s music, according to founder and front man JJ Grey, “…lands somewhere between Stevie Wonder and Sly and the Family Stone and Jerry Reed. Somewhere between country, funk, and soul.” Some people have called it “swamp,” a reference to a musical genre that started in Southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas. It combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and a variety of other Louisiana musical influences. While the style is relatively obscure, it is extremely popular in certain parts of the Southern U.S. and overseas. JJ Grey & Mofro are bringing it to the masses, and it’s catching on quickly. Grey grew up near Jacksonville, Florida. He’s been a working musician for 12 years, working his way up from tiny Florida clubs (“You start with 20 people, then you go to 25, then 50, and hopefully it grows,” he says), to now touring nationally. The New York Times recently said that the band’s music is, “a loose derivation of Southern swamp rock, with undercurrents of Memphis soul.” No one seems to be able to pin down exactly what the band’s music should be called, but everyone likes what they hear. The band’s big break happened in 2001 when National Public Radio was doing a story on emerging Southern musicians. They interviewed Grey and recorded the band performing in San Francisco. The next week their debut album, “Blackwater” went from sales of about 45,000 to number two on Amazon’s list, just behind the runaway soundtrack from “O, Brother, Where Art Thou?” “I had no idea what National Public Radio was,” Grey says. More recordings followed – “Lochloosa” in 2004, “Country Ghetto” in 2007 and “Orange Blossoms” in 2008. This soul/funk/R&B/blues/southern rock group proved they were not just a one-and-done band. They’re retained their southern culture roots, but have also expanded their fan base across the country. They may have emerged onto the national stage in a flash, but long-time fans know the band has paid its dues. Grey has basically lived on the road his entire professional career, and the band’s heavy tour schedule has tested even the most dedicated musicians. Plenty of talented musicians have hit the stage with JJ Grey and Mofro, making their music more diverse and pushing the group forward. The band plans to ease up just a bit on the touring schedule, so it’s a treat to have them in Duluth. Don’t miss the band that everyone will be talking about on Sunday night.