![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-Trudy-Lynn-at-Bluesfest-2025-Credit-Andrew-Glasscock-e1789327230429-1004x1024.jpg\")
Trudy Lynn onstage at the 2025 Houston Bluesfest Credit: Andrew Glassock<\/p>\nAs local blues fans are quick to tell anyone who\u2019ll listen (hopefully in a darkened bar with a neon sign and behind a shot of whiskey), Houston has a rich and deep history in the genre. Lightnin\u2019 Hopkins. Clarence \u201cGatemouth\u201d Brown. Albert Collins. Bobby \u201cBlue\u201d Bland. Johnny Copeland. Texas Johnny Brown. Duke-Peacock Records. The Eldorado Ballroom.<\/p>\n
Trudy Lynn onstage at the 2025 Houston Bluesfest Credit: Andrew Glassock<\/p>\n
But like its sister genre, jazz, blues is often in danger of being amber encased in the past. Something to be studied for its historical significance rather than viewing the players and music who came before as inspiration and a bridge to today.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what Tracy DeJarnett wants to do with Bluesfest, the annual showcase that she founded and directs. Now in its fourth year, the 2026 edition will take place on October 4 on the rooftop of Post HTX.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to identify, support, and promote local talent. Houston is such a great creator town. And there is a rich history in the Third Ward and Fifth Ward of Houston. People were in my ear that if I started something, they\u2019d get behind me,\u201d DeJarnett says of the festival\u2019s inception via Zoom. \u201cI felt compelled to create it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For this year\u2019s lineup, DeJarnett really wanted to bring in cross-generational talent. Thus, the bill features longtime local legends Trudy Lynn and Leonard \u201cLowdown\u201d Brown, scene veterans Jonn Del Toro Richardson and the Cris Crochemore Band, and a young gun who\u2019s getting a lot of attention, Mathias Lattin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got generations supporting one another and sharing the history and the future of the blues,\u201d DeJarnett adds.<\/p>\n
Only in his mid-20s, Lattin won the Band and Best Guitarist categories at the 2023 International Blues Challenge. He was also just signed to Red Zone Records, the label headed by another blues wunderkind, Christone \u201cKingfish\u201d Ingram. Lattin is a graduate of the Kinder High School of the Performing and Visual Arts and began playing onstage at the tender age of 12 when Richardson invited him to a weekly blues jam he hosted at the Big Easy club.<\/p>\n
Richardson\u2014also on the Zoom call\u2014notes that as a performer there\u2019s not much difference between playing for a large festival crowd versus a smaller club gig, save one thing that comes to mind. \u201cThere is a little more energy at a festival show. Like having a house party, then taking it to a very nice dinner,\u201d he says. \u201cEverybody feels like they\u2019re part of it. And the music can grow and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Tracy-DeJarnett-bio-pic.jpeg\")
Houston Bluesfest founder Tracy DeJarnett Credit: John Conroy<\/p>\n
During last year\u2019s Bluesfest, DeJarnett says she was \u201cpleasantly surprised\u201d that a considerable number of attendees had come in from out of state. \u201cI think we\u2019re just growing. And the community that\u2019s building around this is exciting. It\u2019s not just a one-off event,\u201d she offers. \u201cEverything we touch, I want to leave room for magic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why Houston is such a fertile ground for blues, Richardson says it starts with the people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just the location. We\u2019re a shipping city and a railroad city and this is where guys come to work and when they get off, want to play and listen to music. So, it lends itself to that,\u201d he notes. \u201cDown the highway, Louisiana guys would come over. You have different cultures that met here and that transfers into the music. B.B. King and Ray Charles would always come to Houston and get their players to take on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of that is covered in the 2023 documentary When Houston Had the Blues from director Alan Swyer. And DeJarnett calls Houston a \u201ccreator town\u201d buoyed by its cultural diversity that feeds into the music and its creation.<\/p>\n
Blues songs can also take on contemporary topics and history. Look no further than \u201cHurricane Harvey,\u201d a tune that Richardson wrote and recorded with Clint Morgan.<\/p>\n
Opening with the sound of pelting water, \u201cWell it\u2019s rainin\u2019 down in Texas\/Wind about to blow me away\/People runnin\u2019 and cryin\u2019\/\u2019Cuz Hurricane Harvey come to Houston today\u201d Morgan sings in his deep voice. The narrator can only watch helplessly as his possessions\u2014including his favorite chair\u2014float away. He then reaches for his shotgun to eliminate cottonmouth snakes swimming in the streets, while mothers lament children they cannot find.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s part of reality. I was staying at my mom\u2019s house in Baytown, and her house actually flooded. So, I\u2019m standing there watching this, and the reel runs in your head, so you sit down and write,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pulled back into my mom\u2019s neighborhood later and there were signs that said, \u2018You loot, we\u2019ll shoot.\u2019 Then I remember watching a clip on the news where a mom lost her child in the car when the water took her baby away, so that\u2019s part of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, DeJarnett is excited to have Bluesfest at the Post HTX. The building for the mixed used retail\/entertainment venue has a history of its own as the former longtime location of the Barbara Jordan Post Office. And she\u2019s promising some \u201csurprise guests\u201d for the grand finale of the music.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love seeing the mix of people who come to the show\u201d DeJarnett sums up, noting that since the stages will be covered the event will happen \u201crain or shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if it\u2019s the former, would Richardson be inspired to write, oh, another Houston weather-related tune?<\/p>\n
\u201cSure!\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019ll call it \u2018Mailbox Blues!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n