ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Blues Foundation Inc. is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the area’s signature waterfront blues festival. The Tampa Bay Blues Festival will welcome a stellar roster of performers, running Friday through Sunday, April 10-12, at Vinoy Waterfront Park, 701 Bayshore Drive NE, St. Petersburg.

Single-day general admission costs $81.25. Three-day general admission costs $192.60. VIP tickets also are available. For tickets and information, visit www.tampabaybluesfest.com.

This year’s headliners include Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band, and Tab Benoit. In addition to the smokin’ hot blues, the festival is known for attracting a variety of food vendors, along with full liquor bars, craft beers and wines. Winner of the International Blues Foundation’s Keeping The Blues Alive award as the nation’s top blues festival, the Tampa Bay Blues Festival has appealed to blues enthusiasts from all over the world for decades.

Taking advantage of Florida’s pleasant spring weather, the Tampa Bay Blues Festival — which debuted in 1995 — has become established as one of the world’s top blues gatherings. The festival has featured some of the biggest names in blues music, bringing them to the outdoor stage at scenic Vinoy Waterfront Park. Among the artists that have taken the stage at this annual event are legends such as Buddy Guy, George Thorogood, Robert Cray, Delbert McClinton, Little Feat, Jonny Lang, Jerry Lee Lewis, Koko Taylor, Irma Thomas and Susan Tedeschi.

This year’s talented lineup continues the tradition. Following is a look at the festival schedule:

Friday, April 10

Yates McKendree: 12:30-2 p.m.

Jackie Venson: 2:30-4 p.m.

Tommy Castro: 4:30-6 p.m.

Los Lobos: 6:30-8 p.m.

Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band: 8:30-10 p.m.

Saturday, April 11

Jontavious Willis Band: 12:30-2 p.m.

Nikki Hill: 2:30-4 p.m.

Charlie Musselwhite & GA-20: 4:30-6 p.m.

Jimmie Vaughan: 6:30-8 p.m.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: 8:30-10 p.m.

Sunday, April 12

Darrel Nulisch: 1-2 p.m.

Vanessa Collier: 2:30-4 p.m.

Toronzo Cannon: 4:30-6 p.m.

Samantha Fish: 6:30-8 p.m.

Tab Benoit: 8:30-10 p.m.

A trio of headliners

Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band take the stage on Friday, April 10, at 8:30 p.m.

Composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Taj Mahal is considered one of the most prominent and influential figures in late 20th century blues and roots music. Though his career began more than five decades ago with American blues, he has broadened his artistic scope over the years to include music representing virtually every corner of the world — west Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Hawaiian Islands and so much more. What ties it all together is his insatiable interest in musical discovery. Over the years, his passion and curiosity have led him around the world, and the resulting global perspective is reflected in his music today.

This diversity of musical experience served as the bedrock for Taj’s first three recordings: “Taj Mahal” (1967), “The Natch’l Blues” (1968) and “Giant Step” (1969). Drawing on all the sounds and styles he’d absorbed as a child and a young adult, these early albums showed signs of the musical exploration that would be Taj’s hallmark over the years to come.

In the 1970s, Taj carved out a unique musical niche with a string of adventurous recordings including “Happy to Be Just Like I Am” (1971), “Recycling the Blues and Other Related Stuff” (1972), the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to the movie “Sounder” (1973), “Mo’ Roots” (1974), “Music Fuh Ya” (“Music Para Tu”) (1977) and “Evolution” (1978).

In 2014, Taj was honored with the Lifetime Achievement for Performance Award at the 13th annual Americana Honors and Awards. In 2016, he was the recipient of the B.B. King Award. Last year, he received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his album “TajMo.”

Kenny Wayne Shepherd headlines the second day of the festival, playing on April 11 at 8:30 p.m.

Now more than two decades into a recording career that began when he was just 16, Kenny Wayne Shepherd has sold millions of albums worldwide. In addition to his five Grammy nominations, he has won two Billboard Music Awards, a pair of Orville H. Gibson awards, the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive award and two Blues Music awards. He’s had nine No. 1 blues albums and a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles.

“Trouble Is…” by the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band was released in 1997. It followed on the heels of his successful debut album, the platinum-selling “Ledbetter Heights.”

“No one was expecting me to match the success of ‘Ledbetter Heights,’ but when we got into the studio and the album started coming together, we knew we had something really special,” Shepherd said.

Radio stations across the United States added song after song from “Trouble Is…” to their playlists in heavy rotation. “Trouble Is…” went on to sell over a million copies in the U.S. and was certified platinum by the RIAA. It featured four Top 10 rock hits, including “Slow Ride,” “Somehow, Somewhere, Someway,” “Everything Is Broken,” and the No. 1 Mainstream Rock hit “Blue on Black.” That song spent 104 weeks on the Billboard Charts.

Tab Benoit takes the stage on Sunday, April 12, as the headline act on the final day of the festival.

Benoit has built a remarkable 30-plus-year career on the foundation of his gritty and soulful Delta swamp blues, acquiring a devoted legion of fans along the way, as well as five Blues Music Awards, including BB King Entertainer of the Year — twice — and an induction into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Benoit has recorded and/or performed with Junior Wells, George Porter Jr, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Billy Joe Shaver, Maria Muldaur, James Cotton, Cyril Neville, Kenny Aronoff, Allen Toussaint, Kim Wilson, Jimmy Thackery, Charlie Musslewhite, Kenny Neal, Chris Layton, Ivan Neville, Jimmy Hall, Jim Lauderdale, Anders Osborne, and Alvin Youngblood Hart to name a few. His accomplishments as a musician are matched only by his devotion to the environmental health of his native Louisiana wetlands. Benoit is the founder and driving force behind Voice of the Wetlands, an organization working to preserve the coastal waters of his home state.

More blues for the bay

The opening day of the festival will include sets by legends such as Tommy Castro & The Painkillers and Los Lobos.

With Tommy Castro’s latest Alligator Records album, 2025’s “Closer To The Bone,” Castro — the four-time Blues Music Award-winner for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year — delivers what he calls, “a record I’ve always wanted to make.” The new album is the most unvarnished, straight-ahead blues release of Castro’s career, one that bristles with every ounce of his dynamic energy and raw emotion. Castro, along with his band The Painkillers — bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Dave Fleschner and drummer Bowen Brown — are currently nominated for three 2026 Blues Music Awards: Album Of The Year for “Closer To The Bone,” Song Of The Year for “Can’t Catch a Break,” and Blues Rock Artist.

Grammy Award winners Los Lobos also will perform April 10.

Los Lobos are David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez Jr., Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin. The band has recorded 17 studio albums, seven live LPs, three compilations, two EPs, two DVDs, and contributed more than 40 guest appearances on their friends’ recordings — all garnering four Grammy Awards, an Austin City Limits Hall of Fame induction, the ALMA Ritchie Valens Pioneer Award, NEA and Hispanic Heritage Foundation Honors, Congressional recognitions, plus countless “keys to the city” and “Los Lobos Day” celebrations.

Nikki Hill joins the lineup on Saturday, April 11.

Hailing from Durham, North Carolina, Hill enjoyed R&B, soul, pop and hip hop at home. She sang gospel in the church choir from childhood through her early teenage years. Gradually, she developed her ears for garage rock, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and roots, while also picking up influence from living along the legendary Mississippi River — in St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; and currently Memphis, Tennessee. In Hill’s mind, a fertile mix of all the different types of music she had heard arose, and gradually these merged into something quite special, as she found her own voice, which the world was gradually introduced to on her many constant tours, where she took more and more audiences by storm with her distinctive vocals and energetic stage performance. Hill has released two albums, including “Here’s Nikki Hill” and “Heavy Hearts, Hard Fists.” Her touring has taken her across the United States and around the world, and she has performed at more than 30 festivals, including Montreux Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Byron Bay Blues Festival.

With his richly detailed, truth-telling original songs, blistering, inventive guitar work and impassioned vocals, Toronzo Cannon is on the cutting edge of today’s contemporary blues scene and is known as one of the genre’s most creative artists. His sound is inspired by his heroes, including Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Albert King, Son Seals and Jimi Hendrix. On Cannon’s 2024 Alligator Records album, “Shut Up & Play!”, he blazes his own path with 11 emotionally charged originals. Cannon takes the stage on Sunday, April 12.

Following Cannon on the final day of the festival is Samantha Fish.

Known for her unique blend of rock and soul, expressive guitar playing and anthemic live performances, Fish’s career hit warp speed with the release of her last album, 2023’s Death Wish Blues, which hit #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, earned her a Grammy nomination, and saw her share stages with The Rolling Stones, Jon Spencer, and more.