Memphis Gold Sings "Catfish Creeper" at Silver Spring Blues Festival!

The Memphis Gold Band is Chet Chandler, Guitar/Vocals; Clarence “Bluesman” Turner, Bass; Charlie Sayles, Harmonica; Joe Poppen, Guitar; Black Betty, Vocals; Glenn Douglas, Keyboards; and Morris Cobb, Drums.

More Memphis Gold at http://www.memphisgoldprod.net/

Memphis Golds Lights Up Silver Spring Blues Festival

The featured attraction of the first Annual Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring was Memphis Gold and his band. Chet Chandler aka "Memphis Gold" is an internationally acclaimed bluesman, wildly popular in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. Chandler has long time ties to the Silver Spring area, where he raised his family and lived for nearly 40 years. He's a legend in Silver Spring history as one of the heroic rescuers of survivors of a CSX train crash in 1996.

The Memphis Gold Band is Chet Chandler, Guitar & Vocals; Clarence “Bluesman” Turner, Bass; Charlie Sayles, Harmonica; Joe Poppen, Guitar; Black Betty, Vocals; Glenn Douglas, Keyboards; and Morris Cobb, Drums.

The DC Blues Society Band Plays the Silver Spring Blues Festival

The DC Blues Society was one of the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc.'s principal partners in the first Annual Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring. And their band the DC Blues Society Band was a big hit at the sun-drenched festival.




The DC Blues Society Band is Vocals and Guitar – Ivan “Illinois Slim” Jackson; Harmonica – Anthony “Swamp Dog” Clark; Drums – Sam “Nucleus” Turner; Bass – David Jackson; and Rhythm Guitar – Sam’I Nuriddin.

At the Silver Spring Blues Festival

Capital Blues Ensemble

The Capital Blues Ensemble, winners of the DC Blues Society 2009 Festival Audition, performed at the first Annual Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring.

The Capital Blues Ensemble is John Vengrouskie - guitar, Art McKinney - drums, Bill Carey - bass, Anthony “Swamp Dog” Clark - harp, Brian Falkowski - sax, Gary Hendrickson - trumpet and Ian Walters - keys

Silver Spring's Jonny Grave at the Silver Spring Blues Festival

Silver Spring resident and acoustic blues guitarist Jonny Grave was a favorite performer at this year's Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring. The local blues star drew cheers and applause from hundreds of spectators at the first blues festival to be held in Silver Spring. Joined by harmonica player Chris Nammour, Jonny Grave sang a great set of traditional blues tunes.

"Three Chords and The Truth" Inspires at Silver Spring Blues Festival

The 2009 Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring was kicked off by the dynamic youth band “Three Chords and The Truth.” Three Chords & The Truth is a blues inspired student led band now entering its third year of existence. The band exists as a tribute to the birth of America's Music in the Delta Region and as a symbol for the power and passion of the garage band. Not only that, the students take you on a musical & historical journey through America's music.



Three Chords and the Truth is Paige DeSouza and Josh Johnson, Drums; Crystal Fasanya, Guitar; Anjel Morris and Josh Johnson, Keyboard; Loughton Sargeant, Steven Johnson Jr., and Dominique Lockett, Bass; Saudat Almaroof, Hand Percussion; Bria Barber, Ebonique Brown, Casi Mewborn, and MiKayla Coleman, Supporting Vocals; and Josh Johnson, Crystal Fasanya, Loughton Sargeant, and Anjel Morris, Lead Vocals.

Three Chords & The Truth was formed by the Colours Arts in Education Program as an answer to Hurricane Katrina. Colours is always involved in assisting various causes and efforts. However, Katrina and the remarkable human spirit and will to overcome that following inspired the students in Colours to pick up instruments for the first time, and in the grand American tradition of garage bands everywhere, make a difference by bringing the music of the Blues Line and beyond to life.

The band was originally named SPLATT! and now is Three Chords in the Truth. The band is available to perform anywhere and everywhere..a lot of the time for honorariums or for free.


The band is meant to inspire those young and old to get into music and assist with the rebirth of New Orleans and Mississippi. For two years, the band has raised funds for five student based cultural and arts programs in New Orleans and Mississippi, as well as for Breast Cancer Research, and various scholarship funds.




For more information, visit http://www.colours.org/new_page_4.htm

Thanks to Jason Cook and Three Chords and the Truth--the first band of the first Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring.

Silver Spring Blues Festival - A Huge Success!

The first Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring was a huge success. Held on Saturday, May 9th on Ellsworth Drive, the festival attracted hundreds of blues fans and casual spectators under sunny skies.

The festival featured international bluesman "Memphis Gold" and his band which included legendary harmonica player Charlie Sayles and popular vocalist Black Betty. Other featured acts were Three Chords and the Truth, Silver Spring guitarist Jonny Grave, the DC Blues Society Band and the Capital Blues Ensemble. WPFW radio personality Ida Campbell was the festival emcee.


Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett attended the Silver Spring Blues Festival as did Montgomery County Councilmembers Valerie Ervin, Marc Elrich, George Leventhal, and Maryland State Delegate Tom Hucker.




In addition to Stokey the Clown, facepainting, and crafts activities led by Pyramid Atlantic, the musical petting zoos organized by the DC Blues Society and Dale Music were extremely popular.



The Silver Spring Blues Festival was produced by the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc., in partnership with the DC Blues Society, Montgomery College, PFA Silver Spring LLC, Three Keys Music, the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, the Silver Spring Penguin and the Silver Spring Voice.

The festival was videotaped by Montgomery Community Television for broadcast later this year.

Charlie Sayles and Black Betty to Join Memphis Gold at Silver Spring Blues Festival

Blues harmonica master Charlie Sayles and exciting blues vocalist Black Betty will join Memphis Gold and his band at the Silver Spring Blues Festival in Downtown Silver Spring. The festival will be held from 2 pm to 6 pm on Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring. See Memphis Gold and Charlie Sayles in Guantanamo Bay on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eqaoqH3e1w

Charlie Sayles is a great harp player. Check out this story from his website. “Although life hasn't been easy for Sayles, he seems to have come through the traumas okay. They started in his childhood, when he was shifted from his broken home to a long procession of foster homes. He ended up joining the Army in the late 1960s and was promptly shipped to South Vietnam. His tour of duty ended in 1971, and he came back to Massachusetts for a time. Sayles picked up the blues harp while he was in Vietnam and made a slow adjustment back to civilized society upon his return from three years in the infantry. He discovered the music of Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) after he returned home and learned all he could from those recordings. Sayles began to make trips to New York City, Atlanta, St. Louis and other cities, playing on the streets for tips from passersby in 1974 and for several years thereafter. He worked when he needed money as a day laborer. He hasn't had a real day job since then, patiently plying his craft in clubs, on street corners and more recently, at blues festivals. Sayles' first record, Raw Harmonica Blues, was issued in 1976, long before blues became fashionable, on the Dusty Road label. Sayles didn't record again for 15 years, when he got picked up by JSP Records. Check out the Charlie Sayles website at http://www.charliesayles.com/home.cfm.


Black Betty is best known for her vocals with blues acts such as WC Handy Award Nominee Charlie Sayles, The Joe Poppen Band (JPB), and Memphis Gold. In 2008, she began performing with Memphis Gold, who has since graced the covers of Living Blues Magazine, Rhythm & Roots, and is officially endorsed by Gibson Guitars. Charlie Sayles took her under his wing as his harmonica protege immediately following her relocation from the rock scene in Boston to the authentic blues scene in Washington, DC, and they're currently working on a new album to be released in 2009. She works frequently as a session vocalist in Boston, NYC, DC, and San Francisco for blues, rock, and jazz acts and commercial work.

In 2002, Black Betty received an Outstanding Musicianship Award and a World Tour Scholarship for her jazz vocals from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. At Berklee, she formed Black Betty and The Bad Habits and the band took the city by storm. Featured on the cover of the Boston Herald, The Boston Globe, and being endorsed by several local clothing companies, the band released their debut album in 2006. They toured the US East Coast, and were featured on several major, college, internet and XM stations. In 2007, they performed at the Exotic Erotic Ball at the Cow Palace arena in San Francisco, opening for Peaches and Snoop Dog. Check out her website at http://www.blackbettyrocks.com/home.cfm

Headlining the Silver Spring Blues Festival event will be internationally acclaimed bluesman "Memphis Gold." Also performing live on the stage on Ellsworth Drive will be Silver Spring's own Jonny Grave, the youth blues band Three Chords and the Truth, the DC Blues Band, and the Capital Blues Ensemble, recent winners of the DC Blues Society's 2009 Festival Audition Competition held at the Surf Club in Hyattsville.

The Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring is sponsored by the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc., in partnership with the DC Blues Society, Montgomery College, Three Keys Music, PFA Silver Spring LLC, the Silver Spring Voice, and the Silver Spring Penguin.

The Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. is a Silver Spring 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which was established to provide arts, entertainment and humanities programming for the Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza to be completed in 2010.

for more information and directions, visit the festival websites at www.silverspringblues.com and http://www.silverspringdowntown.com/event/silver-spring-blues-festival.

Hometown guitar slinger to play at Silver Spring Blues Festival - Gazette

by Jason Tomassini | Staff Writer |Wednesday, May 6, 2009

On the surface, Jon Musgrave was never supposed to be a blues musician.

Despite the ever-present cowboy hat, guitar strapped to his back and his stage name "Jonny Grave," the 21-year-old lifelong Silver Spring resident's day job as a guitar repairman at Dale Music store on Georgia Avenue and anthropology studies at Montgomery College don't exactly conjure up images of legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Neither does fighting for the attention of beer-drinkers and diners during his regular sets at Quarry House Tavern and McGinty's Pub in downtown Silver Spring.


Photo by Naomi Brookner/The Gazette
Blues musician and lifelong Silver Spring resident Jon Musgrave, 21, who works at Dale Music in Silver Spring, will perform Saturday in the first Silver Spring Blues Festival under the name Jonny Grave.

But Musgrave, a slender guy with a neat beard, says a deeper look will prove he has every right to play music steeped in African-American tradition that originated hundreds of miles away from Silver Spring.

"There's a lot folks that will say, ‘Wow, you're good … for a white kid from the suburbs,'" Musgrave said Thursday night at the Quarry House, where two nights later he would play a set for his 21st birthday.

"… It's kind of awkward being white and from the suburbs, it's just weird, but I think if people give me a chance and let me play and let the music speak for itself, it doesn't matter."

That music will be on display 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the first Silver Spring Blues Festival on Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring. Musgrave will take the stage at 2:25 p.m. and play a set of acoustic blues for his hometown audience.

Most of the songs Musgrave performs are covers of traditional blues songs. Even at age 21, Musgrave is an encyclopedia of blues history, rattling off classic songs and anecdotes about his idols such as R.L. Burnside, Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf.

He had a childhood spent mostly in the company of musicians and artists: His mother, Julie, is a painter and photographer and his father, Reuben, is a longtime folk musician. Both would hold parties with their artist friends. With his father's extensive record collection, a wealth of global music knowledge was available at Grave's Silver Spring home.

"He was around a lot of adult friends of the family and a lot them were musicians," said Reuben Musgrave, who for years has performed with his son at the annual Washington Folk Festival to be held this year May 30 and 31 in Glen Echo. "A normal activity was to sit around and play music."

While Musgrave's childhood was full of musical enlightenment, an education, a supportive family and a budding music career, he described himself as a "bad kid" who was affected by various school changes and alcohol abuse within his family.

Much of Musgrave's love for blues comes from relating to the musicians from the traditional blues era, not because of the severe racism or poverty they went through, but simply because they used blues as he does: as a diversion.

"Music was a lifesaver, it was an escape, a drug, a hallucinogen," Musgrave said. "You become a rock star for a half hour or more and you go back to normal life."

It was music and a Gateway to College program at Montgomery College that "saved his life" from poor grades and problems he would only describe as "not drugs or anything." He eventually enrolled at the University of Maryland for a year but struggled before returning to Montgomery College.

Now earning money as a musician – he only plays on the weekends so gigs won't interfere with his job or studies – Musgrave has found a way to support himself and stay grounded. He hopes to re-enroll at the University of Maryland and become a teacher.

He stays practical but dedicated to his passion, aided by the acceptance he received at recent gigs in Alabama, which he said helped break down the perceived outsider status. He opened for and played with Kenny Brown, a longtime blues musician who played with R.L. Burnside, one of Musgrave's idols.

"That was the real thing," he said, noting that being flown to Alabama by the concert promoter added to the trip's authenticity.

The headliner of the Silver Spring Blues Festival, Tennessee-born Chester Chandler, aka Memphis Gold, even touted Musgrave as a throwback to past eras.

"[Musgrave] does a lot of old traditional stuff. … He is keeping some of the old blues alive," said Chandler, 54, who lived in Silver Spring from 1995 to 2000 and is known for saving a group of kids in a train derailment off Lyttonsville Road in 1996.

But some aren't ready to hand over traditional blues music to a new wave of performers.

"Everybody wants to be B.B. King and Buddy Guy, real blues artists, the originators," said Barbara Chandler, Memphis Gold's wife and a longtime blues and soul music industry veteran raised in Silver Spring. "There will never be any more of them."

Regardless of how he's viewed by those within blues, Musgrave expects Saturday's festival to be another high. After all, he'll be on stage again in Silver Spring, the place that unexpectedly inspired an unlikely blues talent.

"Look around, isn't this a great atmosphere for writing a song?" said Musgrave, referring to the diversity of Silver Spring and the many quirks of Bonifant Street and Fenton Village. "This place shaped a lot of how I grew up."

http://gazette.net/stories/05062009/silvnew184048_32525.shtml