Blues fest back in Bull City

Over the years, the blues have gained a misleading reputation. In an environment where pop and rock dominate iPods and airwaves, many people have come to associate the blues with the woeful rants and raves of embittered old coots.

V. Dianne Pledger, producer of the upcoming 22nd annual Bull Durham Blues Festival, knows that the stereotype is dead wrong.

“People tend to think blues is sad, old music, nothing up to date,” she said. “But the blues talks about life. It talks about what goes on every day.”

The Bull Durham Blues festival, which runs Friday and Saturday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, boasts an impressive lineup and an equally remarkable history. Since 1988, the festival has brought legendary blues musicians to the city, where the style has been a major part of the music scene since the 1920s.

Since then the event has grown from about 2,500 people in its early years to an estimated 10 to 15 thousand attendees this weekend. Such increases have allowed the festival to expand.

“The music has grown, the artists have grown, and we’ve been able to bring in aspiring blues groups with established artists,” Pledger said. Past performers at have included such legends as Buddy Guy, Ruth Brown and, this year, Elvin Bishop.

But the lineup is not the only draw of the event. Tom Gray of Atlanta-based band Delta Moon, slated to play the festival for the first time, says blues festivals provide a sense of community.

“You meet a lot of other musicians,” he said. “We get to see a lot of other shows and talk with the other musicians. It’s a good chance to compare notes and see what’s going on.”

The atmosphere of the festival, situated in the heart of Durham’s historic tobacco district, also brings in the crowds.

“We get visitors from all 100 counties in North Carolina, and we have people from 10 countries who set their vacation to attend,” Pledger said.

And as the festival draws near, the city will once again be out to disprove the old-fashioned notion that the blues’ main ingredient is depression.

“Folks who aren’t hip to it all hear the blues and they think, ‘sad,’” said Nancy Lewis-Pegel, manager of Delta Moon. “But that’s just the opposite of what you find, because if you go out to a good blues festival, you see dancing.”

And to her, concerns about the popularity of the blues are equally insignificant.

“I was a lot less optimistic 10 years ago, but I really think people are kind of hungry for something a little more organic, and they’re looking back to the roots and people who can reinvent the roots.”


Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.