Mid-Winter Blues Fest 2024
Thursday @ THE EXCHANGE - Colin Linden
Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Producer, Sideman, Film/TV Music Supervisor and Score Composer!
Colin Linden’s tale is the stuff of legend, the kind told in the Coen brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou or Inside Llewyn Davis, both of which featured his guitar playing on the soundtracks. That film would begin with an 11-year-old meeting with his musical idol Howlin’ Wolf at a matinee show in Toronto.
Colin has been performing since he was 12 years old, leaving home as a teenager to travel the south at the invitation of Mississippi Sheiks delta blues guitarist Sam Chatmon which took him to Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, St.Louis, Memphis and Hollandale, Mississippi, meeting and visiting the sites of his heroes, visiting the landmarks and juke joints, many of which he’s played in during the course of a 45-year career producing and playing blues and roots music.
Canadian born Colin Linden has called Nashville home for 27 years. He was the main contributor to the music for the Nashville TV show and subsequent live tours. Along the way, Linden played on over 500 albums and produced 140, including his Grammy in 2020 for producing Keb Mo’s Oklahoma, winner for Best Americana Album. He has also nabbed a staggering 25 Juno Award nominations and nine wins.
Linden’s lastest solo album , bLOW is his 14th in 40 years but first electric blues release. bLow offers a blues travelogue much like the odyssey he took in his youth.
“Roots music and blues do speak to a lot of people right now,” acknowledges Linden. “Much of the healing and release you get from listening to this music, the power and form of expression, has shown itself to be so vital in these times. It feels timeless because it’s such raw nerve.”
Although following in the footsteps of his heroes was the beginning of Linden’s story, with bLOW he continues a journey that began even before he met Wolf. That magic moment and so many others continue to live on in the music.
Friday @ THE EXCHANGE - Nigel Mack with Special Guests
Chicago blues ‘triple threat’ (slide guitar, harmonica and vocals) Nigel Mack delivers a high-energy show that fuses classics with the punch of contemporary original blues. These are talents honed by years of relentless touring in support of his critically acclaimed recordings. Nigel’s brand-new album, Back In Style is receiving glowing reviews and attained #1 on the RMR Contemporary Blues Charts! His previous release, Devil’s Secrets, reached #1 on the Canadian blues charts and won ‘Best Self-Produced CD’ from the Windy City Blues Society, in Chicago.
Nigel’s list of achievements includes: #1 RMR Contemporary Blues Charts, ‘Back in Style’; Semi-Finalist – 2021 International Songwriting Contest; Little Walter Foundation – 2018 Honouree; #1 Canadian Blues CD-Galaxy Satellite Radio ‘Devil’s Secrets’; Best Self-Produced CD – Windy City Blues Society, Chicago, ‘Devil’s Secrets’ and nominations for Best Guitarist – Maple Blues Awards and Best Blues/R&B Album – West Coast Music Awards.
Canadian born Nigel Mack has been performing in Chicago since 1992 and has called the 'Windy City' home since 2003. Nigel Mack & the Blues Attack perform regularly at such legendary clubs as ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends’ and 'House of Blues’, have appeared at the ‘Chicago Blues Festival’ numerous times and logged over a million miles of touring across North America and Europe. Mack’s original compositions have been featured on internationally syndicated television sound-tracks and his dynamic stage show is a favorite at clubs and festivals everywhere!
Saturday @ Casino Regina's Show Lounge - Mike Zito with Special Guests
Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today and rightfully so, but for him, the thing that counts the most is maintaining his honesty, authenticity and integrity. Those are the qualities that have steered Zito’s career since the beginning and continue to define every effort he’s offered since.
“it seems my honesty is what people relate to most,” he once told Vintage Guitar magazine. “I try not to write fluff; I try to make every word count.”
Patience and perseverance have been Zito’s stock and trade since the beginning. He began playing guitar at the age of five, and by the time he reached his late teens, he was already a fixture on the local St. Louis music scene.
Zito has won numerous Blues Music Awards including Song of the Year, Best Blues Rock Album, Best DVD, and Blues Rock Artist of the Year.
His album, Make Blues Not War, debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number one and garnered him recognition as the 2018 Rock Blues Artist of the Year.
Alternate Root magazine stated that from Zito’s album The First Class Life can be heard the sweet sound of Blue Soul rising like heat waves from his guitar and his vocal.
Rock ‘n Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number 1 and remained on the chart for several weeks. The album won the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock Album of the year and Mike also received the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock artist.
Quarantine Blues, was recorded during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and served as a healing love letter to Mike’s fans around the world that heralded better days ahead if we’d all just stick together.
“I have songs in me and musical ideas all the time,” states Zito about the album Resurrection. “I write what I can, when I can and try to save it all for posterity. Some of the songs are just songs and they don’t always have meaning for me, and some of them become very personal. For me to sing songs and feel them with real emotion, they need to be somewhat personal. Resurrection is an album of feelings, emotions, and is very personal. The album was a critic and fan favorite and won the Blues Music Award for the 2022 Blues Rock Album of the year.
Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Producer, Sideman, Film/TV Music Supervisor and Score Composer!
Colin Linden’s tale is the stuff of legend, the kind told in the Coen brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou or Inside Llewyn Davis, both of which featured his guitar playing on the soundtracks. That film would begin with an 11-year-old meeting with his musical idol Howlin’ Wolf at a matinee show in Toronto.
Colin has been performing since he was 12 years old, leaving home as a teenager to travel the south at the invitation of Mississippi Sheiks delta blues guitarist Sam Chatmon which took him to Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, St.Louis, Memphis and Hollandale, Mississippi, meeting and visiting the sites of his heroes, visiting the landmarks and juke joints, many of which he’s played in during the course of a 45-year career producing and playing blues and roots music.
Canadian born Colin Linden has called Nashville home for 27 years. He was the main contributor to the music for the Nashville TV show and subsequent live tours. Along the way, Linden played on over 500 albums and produced 140, including his Grammy in 2020 for producing Keb Mo’s Oklahoma, winner for Best Americana Album. He has also nabbed a staggering 25 Juno Award nominations and nine wins.
Linden’s lastest solo album , bLOW is his 14th in 40 years but first electric blues release. bLow offers a blues travelogue much like the odyssey he took in his youth.
“Roots music and blues do speak to a lot of people right now,” acknowledges Linden. “Much of the healing and release you get from listening to this music, the power and form of expression, has shown itself to be so vital in these times. It feels timeless because it’s such raw nerve.”
Although following in the footsteps of his heroes was the beginning of Linden’s story, with bLOW he continues a journey that began even before he met Wolf. That magic moment and so many others continue to live on in the music.
Friday @ THE EXCHANGE - Nigel Mack with Special Guests
Chicago blues ‘triple threat’ (slide guitar, harmonica and vocals) Nigel Mack delivers a high-energy show that fuses classics with the punch of contemporary original blues. These are talents honed by years of relentless touring in support of his critically acclaimed recordings. Nigel’s brand-new album, Back In Style is receiving glowing reviews and attained #1 on the RMR Contemporary Blues Charts! His previous release, Devil’s Secrets, reached #1 on the Canadian blues charts and won ‘Best Self-Produced CD’ from the Windy City Blues Society, in Chicago.
Nigel’s list of achievements includes: #1 RMR Contemporary Blues Charts, ‘Back in Style’; Semi-Finalist – 2021 International Songwriting Contest; Little Walter Foundation – 2018 Honouree; #1 Canadian Blues CD-Galaxy Satellite Radio ‘Devil’s Secrets’; Best Self-Produced CD – Windy City Blues Society, Chicago, ‘Devil’s Secrets’ and nominations for Best Guitarist – Maple Blues Awards and Best Blues/R&B Album – West Coast Music Awards.
Canadian born Nigel Mack has been performing in Chicago since 1992 and has called the 'Windy City' home since 2003. Nigel Mack & the Blues Attack perform regularly at such legendary clubs as ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends’ and 'House of Blues’, have appeared at the ‘Chicago Blues Festival’ numerous times and logged over a million miles of touring across North America and Europe. Mack’s original compositions have been featured on internationally syndicated television sound-tracks and his dynamic stage show is a favorite at clubs and festivals everywhere!
Saturday @ Casino Regina's Show Lounge - Mike Zito with Special Guests
Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today and rightfully so, but for him, the thing that counts the most is maintaining his honesty, authenticity and integrity. Those are the qualities that have steered Zito’s career since the beginning and continue to define every effort he’s offered since.
“it seems my honesty is what people relate to most,” he once told Vintage Guitar magazine. “I try not to write fluff; I try to make every word count.”
Patience and perseverance have been Zito’s stock and trade since the beginning. He began playing guitar at the age of five, and by the time he reached his late teens, he was already a fixture on the local St. Louis music scene.
Zito has won numerous Blues Music Awards including Song of the Year, Best Blues Rock Album, Best DVD, and Blues Rock Artist of the Year.
His album, Make Blues Not War, debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number one and garnered him recognition as the 2018 Rock Blues Artist of the Year.
Alternate Root magazine stated that from Zito’s album The First Class Life can be heard the sweet sound of Blue Soul rising like heat waves from his guitar and his vocal.
Rock ‘n Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number 1 and remained on the chart for several weeks. The album won the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock Album of the year and Mike also received the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock artist.
Quarantine Blues, was recorded during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and served as a healing love letter to Mike’s fans around the world that heralded better days ahead if we’d all just stick together.
“I have songs in me and musical ideas all the time,” states Zito about the album Resurrection. “I write what I can, when I can and try to save it all for posterity. Some of the songs are just songs and they don’t always have meaning for me, and some of them become very personal. For me to sing songs and feel them with real emotion, they need to be somewhat personal. Resurrection is an album of feelings, emotions, and is very personal. The album was a critic and fan favorite and won the Blues Music Award for the 2022 Blues Rock Album of the year.
