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The voice of Fith Ward, Trudy Lynn, returns to Housotn Bluesfest for it’s downtown Housotn debut at POST.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Houston bluesfest<\/p>\n
Renowned blues guitarist Jonn Del Toro Richardson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Houston Bluesfest<\/p>\n
Trudy Lynn, known as “the voice of Fifth Ward,” has literally seen it all growing up in Houston. She can recall countless stories of seeing greats like Ray Charles or Louis Armstrong perform here, or watching James Brown box in Fifth Ward.<\/a> In fact, Lynn’s own career was launched when legendary Texas guitarist<\/a> Albert Williams invited her to sing at Walter’s Lounge on Lockwood, when she was still only a teenager.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0“Houston is a diverse city, you know. So blues has been here a long time,” Houston-born blues legend Trudy Lynn, who is headlining this year’s Houston Bluesfest, told Chron.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Houston Bluesfest is gearing up for its fourth year, and it’s being held downtown for the first time at POST Houston<\/a> on Oct. 4. The festival is bringing generations of blues artists together, from new talented musicians making a name for themselves to true blues legends, all set against the backdrop of the downtown skyline. The festival will feature an evening of live performances, food, cocktails, and artwork.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bluesfest celebrates Houston’s blues heritage, and you can’t do that without paying homage to the woman who represents its history.\u00a0 Lynn is one of the most celebrated voices in Houston’s music history. Her 2013 album Royal Oaks Blues Caf\u00e9 reached number one on the Billboard Blues charts, and she was inducted into the Houston Music Hall of Fame in 2105. Lynn’s massive impact on Houston music was captured in the 2024 music documentary When Houston Had The Blues<\/a>, which showcases Houston’s 1950s and 1960s Blues movement, highlighting the city as a foundational hub for blues music on par with Chicago and Memphis.<\/p>\n “I’m looking forward to a full house. You got a legend, now. It ain’t like I just stepped on the scene. I built the thing,” Lynn told Chron. “I’m truly enjoying being able to do this because I travel a lot, so to be able to do this at home is just an honor for me.”<\/p>\n Lynn is joined by Houston-born guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, Mathias Lattin, who won the Best Guitarist award at the International Blues Competition in 2023 at just 20 years old. Cris Crochemore Band, who just won the Houston competition to represent the city at the 2027 International Blues Challenge in Memphis; blues maestro Leonard “Lowdown” Brown, who blends deep grooves and easy fingerpicking; and Houston native and award-winning blues musician John Del Toro Richardson will also take the stage.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “I’m excited that we’re going to be at Post and think that’s pretty awesome,” Richardson told Chron. “I mean, that used to be the post office for Houston. It was the delivery system. So now we’re going to be delivering blues from the Post.”<\/p>\n Houston’s blues history runs deep<\/p>\n During Houston’s blues golden era in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, the city was a massive cultural hub where a distinct, impactful style of Texas blues emerged. Artists like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Albert King, Big Mama Thornton, and Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins\u00a0all made their mark on Houston and the blues world. Lightnin’ Hopkins pioneered the gritty acoustic guitar style Third Ward became known for, and it has continued to influence guitarists for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Lightnin’ Hopkins really influenced so many players after him. You can hear his playing in a lot of modern musicians that don’t even know that they got that from Lightnin’ Hopkins,” Richardson said. “They think they got it from Stevie Ray Vaughan, but it came from Lightnin’ Hopkins.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Venues like Third Ward’s Eldorado Ballroom<\/a> hosted local blues acts and national icons like B.B. King, Ray Charles, and James Brown, all of whom enlisted local players to play with them. In Fifth Ward, the “Houston sound” developed, distinct from the raw, acoustic styles of the Mississippi Delta and the Third Ward guitar movement, at venues like Bronze Peacock Dinner Club and pioneering record companies like Peacock Records.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston Bluesfest, which started in 2022, isn’t the first time the city has highlighted its role within the genre. The Juneteenth Blues Festival was established in the 1970s, featuring blues legend Muddy Waters as its first headliner. The yearly tradition was held at “Hippie Hill” at Hermann Park, bringing blues acts from around the country and the Houston area together as one of the biggest free blues festivals in the world. The festival ended its run in the early 2000s.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The Juneteenth festival used to happen every year, and that was huge,” Richardson said. “We all looked forward to going, getting to see everybody.”<\/p>\n Richardson, an award-winning guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, was born in Houston. Inspired by his mother, who played Mariachi, and neighbors playing the blues, he developed a distinct musical identity that could only have sprung from a place as diverse as Houston. Richardson thinks the Bluesfest is helping artists return to the city’s blues festival roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “When [the Juneteenth Blues Festival] stopped, it was just like a door was shut,” Lynn said. “I feel like this\u00a0is on the journey back to it. We gotta start somewhere.”<\/p>\n Houston Bluesfest is bringing that community back together as a living reminder of Houston’s influence in the blues world. It’s also a chance to share knowledge with young, extremely talented Houston musicians like Mathias Lattin, to push the genre forward and ensure those connections aren’t lost.<\/p>\n Smart, funny and sometimes unhinged look at the week that was.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n “All I’m trying to do is keep the history of the music of Houston alive,” Richardson said. “So it’s just allowing that music to continue to grow, and that’s the most important part of it. You have to have growth, or else it’s just going to die.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Houston Bluesfest producer Tracy DeJarnett said the event has continued to grow since its first run in 2022. The number of people from different states that traveled to Houston last year for the festival was unexpected but a sign the community is growing. With that growing community, young people are discovering the genre\u2014something that means a lot to longtime musician Lynn.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We got a new, younger generation coming in, and you got more younger people listening to the groove, and I love that,” Lynn said. “I love that because what they’re going through, I’ve already been through. I know what’s happening.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The voice of Fith Ward, Trudy Lynn, returns to Housotn Bluesfest for it’s downtown Housotn debut at POST.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2466,126231,1704,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-449313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chronculture","tag-chronoriginal","tag-chronstaff","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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