September 11th marks the 2021 edition of the San Diego Blues Festival. After a hiatus last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic….It’s BAAAAACK!  Not only is there another great line-up put together by long time festival producer Michael Kinsman, but attendees get to do something else, which is help your fellow man.

The Cause

Once again, the benefactors to this wonderful event are the good folks at the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank. The Food Bank distributed more than 22 million pounds of food through 346 community organizations (social service agencies, churches, senior centers, military agencies) in 2020. About one-third of that was fresh produce.

Each month, the Food Bank provides service to 370,000 food-insecure people in San Diego County.  That includes 1,600 low-income kids at elementary schools who get a backpack of food each weekend.

It also includes a box of food to 8,400 low-income seniors each month. The San Diego Food Bank also serves 28,000 military and military dependents each year.

It has been an honor and a privilege for BLUES JUNCTION Productions to be associated with this annual event.

The Line-Up

If that weren’t incentive enough to attend this festival, the line-up is always a first-rate extravaganza of top flight talent. This year is no exception.

A festival highlight comes from the band whom I consider one of the best blues bands on the circuit today, Rick Estrin and the Nightcats. Their combination of absolutely stunning musicianship with just the right amount of showmanship is unmatched in today’s blues universe. They perform mostly Rick Estrin originals which have become some of the most instantly recognizable songs in the genre. I won’t spend a lot of time here on this band, as there is an epic two-part interview with Rick Estrin in this edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

You can also read about Nikki Hill who is back by popular demand for her third appearance since the festival commenced in 2011. She is a real dynamo. Read my thoughts on one of her recent live performances here in the August, 2021, edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Additionally, a first time San Diego Blues Festival performer will be Tia Carroll. This Oakland native is a favorite around here and in fact back in 2014 won a BLUES JUNCTION Award for Best Soul/Blues Album of the Year. Her brand-new release You Gotta Have It is on the Little Village Foundation label. It is one of ten albums that is discussed in this month’s Recommended Listening feature.

Other festival acts include: Larkin Poe, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Aki Kumar’s Bollywood Blues, The Backtrack Blues Band, The Fremonts & Tracy Lee Nelson

The Venue

The entire event is held at the Embarcadero Marina Park North on the downtown waterfront. It is a delightful park nestled between a small yacht harbor and the San Diego Bay. It is also adjacent to the Shoreline Village shopping and dining area as well as several first-rate hotels. With the bay, the downtown skyline and the Coronado Bridge as a backdrop, a more scenic venue is hard to imagine. This combined with San Diego’s perpetually agreeable climate makes for a wonderful festival experience.

I look forward to reuniting with my San Diego Blues family at the 2021 edition of this Festival. Here is a link for detailed information and tickets.

- David Mac