On Episode 13 of Chasing the Blues Podcast Season 2, Tom The Suit Forst goes deep into the history of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which became one of the most historically significant festivals when it began in 1969. The historic festival, the first of its kind, put artists like BB King, Howlin' Wolf, Earl hooker, Albert King, Benny King, Son House and other legendary, original African-American blues artists on a major stage performing for a predominantly white, middle class audience exposed to such music for the first time. This festival not only set the stage for many blues festivals that followed throughout the country, and the world, but had a direct influence on notable attendees who would later become musical superstars in their own right - such as Bonnie Raitt, and producer Don Was, who was at the time a student at the University of Michigan.

On the podcast, Tom. speaks with James Partridge, who revived the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 2017. James shares not only the spectacular history and cultural significance of the festival, but also shares interesting insights into the challenges of running such a large scale music festival. He and Tom also discuss how Covid-19 impacted their plans to run the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 2020, and they look ahead to how the virus may affect music festivals in the future.

http://www.ChasingtheBluesPodcast.com
http://www.tomthesuitforst.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Arbor_Blues_and_Jazz_Festival