Where to hear live blues and bluegrass this weekend

Live music aficionados have two bluesy festivals to enjoy this weekend.

In Camden, the Carolina Downhome Blues Festival encompasses a variety of blues genres – including blues rock, acoustic blues, Southern blues, piano blues and swampy blues with harmonicas.

In Cayce, musicians will perform bluegrass – with influences from Appalachian music and the blues – and gospel at the Congaree Bluegrass Festival at the Historic Columbia Speedway.

Carolina Downhome Blues Festival

In years past, the Camden event has attracted close to 1,000 people over its three days.

“There has always been a love of music here,” said Jane Peterson, director of marketing at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw Country. “We’ve always involved the restaurants downtown in the mix, as well as clubs that may be around and of course, the Fine Arts Center. It’s more of a blues music crawl than a festival. … It’s all blues the way blues was meant to be heard: in an intimate setting.”

Recognized for featuring blues artists from around the globe, the event will take place at 14 different venues around town, featuring artists like Vanessa Collier of Pennsylvania, David Russell & the Port City Blues of Chicago, and local legend Drink Small.

“We’re very, very excited to have such a great turnout of artists,” Peterson said. “The great thing about this blues event is that it’s all relaxed, indoors, casual and truly family-friendly.”

If you can only make it to a handful of shows, Peterson offers these recommendations:

9 p.m.-midnight Thursday, Oct. 5: Vanessa Collier at The Venue on Broad, 1020 Broad St. “She’s terrific. She played last year to rave reviews. We were lucky to get her back for one night only.”

Noon-2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6: Robert Lighthouse at Frenchy’s Authentic Cajun Cuisine, 951 Broad St. “He’s from Sweden and really great.”

9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, to 1 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7: John Primer & the Real Deal Blues Band at The Venue on Broad. “He used to perform with Muddy Waters. He’s hard to beat.”

7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7: Paul DesLauriers Band at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County, 810 Lyttleton St. “They’re out of Canada. This is their first time playing in South Carolina, and they’ve got a really big following.”

9 p.m.-midnight Saturday, Oct. 7: Geoff Achison & the Soul Diggers at The Venue on Broad. “He’s from Australia. He’s unbelievable and has played here before.”

See a complete schedule at http://fineartscenter.org.

Congaree Bluegrass Festival

The 10th annual Congaree Bluegrass Festival will feature performances from bluegrass bands that ushered in the festival a decade ago.

Headliners are the Crowe Brothers, whose musical career has spanned 40 years. With a dozen albums under their bluegrass belt, they’re known for such hits like “Cindy Mae” (2009) and “He Could Pick the Hound” (2011), both of which reached No. 1 on the bluegrass charts.

Other acts scheduled to perform on Saturday include Deeper Shades of Blue, the Sugarloaf Mountain Boys, Tom Coolidge and the Leftovers and the Capital City Cloggers.

On Sunday, see the King James Boys, Tugalo Holler and Golden Valley Crusaders, all performing traditional gospel.

In addition to performances, activities include a car cruise-in, food, free bouncy houses and hay rides, as well as exhibitors and local craftsmen.

This story was originally published October 3, 2017 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Where to hear live blues and bluegrass this weekend."