2025 CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL REVIEW
BY JIM FEENEY
The 41 st Chicago Blues Festival was held June 5 th -8 th. As with
ant event of this magnitude its virtually impossible to see every
act. With that said, this review covers only the acts I saw.
Friday, June 6 th I started the day at The Rosa’s Lounge
Stage catching Blues rising star Ivan Singh and his excellent
band. The band opened with “Cissy Strut” before bringing Ivan
on stage. Ivan hit the stage playing a flying v guitar but soon
switched to his trademark 4 string cigar box guitar. Highlights of
Ivan’s blistering set were “Hoochie Coochie Latin Boy”, a slow
burn version of “That’s Alright”, “Never Make Your Move to
Soon” and his original song “Chicago”. Ivan, who came to
America just 4 years ago, is at age 26, already a real pro who
knows how to put on a show and please an audience.
Next up on The Rosa’s Stage was Jamiah “Dirty Deacon”
Rogers. Let’s put it this way, Jamiah was the best heavy metal
band at the Blues Fest. Way to loud, way to unfocused.
I headed over to the Mississippi Crossroads Stage to catch
an excellent set by Johnny Rawls. Mr. Smooth, this cat knows
how to put on a show and how to satisfy an audience. Rawls
opened with his anthem ‘Red Cadillac”. Johnny had the crowd
up and dancing to “Shake it” before bring up his daughter, the
lovely Destini Rawls to the stage. Destini treated the crowd to
“Chain of Fools”, ‘I’d Rather go Blind” before taking us home
with “I’ll Take You There”.
I headed back to The Rosa’s Stage for Sheryl Younblood.
Sheryl had a great band behind her that featured Giles Corey on
guitar and Dujuan Austin on drums.
Sheryl is a high energy performer and she had the
audience up and dancing and singing along. She opened with I
“Just Want to make Love To You” which she segued into “Love
& Happiness”. Other highlights were a cover os Jimmy
Johnson’s “Every Day of My Life” , “Red Hot Blues Women” and
“Don’t Put Your Hands on Me”, a powerful song about
domestic violence that featured a blistering solo by Giles Corey.
I caught a little bit of John Primer and Steve Bell. The B.B.
King Tribute was awesome. Fantastic band backing John Ellison,
D.K. Harrell and Kingfish.
Saturday, I started the day at The Mississippi Crossroads
Stage with an entertaining set by 2 Blues for You. Followed by
Jessie Robinson. I saw a couple of minutes of Micheal Damani
before heading over the main stage for The Denise LaSalle
Tribute.
What a fantastic show! The City of Chicago had a
proclamation making Saturday June 7 th Denise LaSalle Day in
Chicago.
Mzz. Reese’ was the first lovely lady on stage. She
performed “Keep It in The Bedroom”, “I’m an Older Woman”
and one of LaSalle’s biggest hits “Trapped by This Thing Called
Love”. Thornetta Davis took the stage next wearing a beautiful
sequeen pant suit, bejeweled in gold. Ms. Davis treated the
audience to “Treat Me Right” and “Down Home Blues”.
Nora Jean Wallace delivered the goods on “What a Fool I
Am”. The set ended with Nellie Tiger Travis who entertained us
with “Real sad Story” as well as a few more numbers. Great set.
I headed back to The Rosa’s stage for Joe Barr and Theo
Huff. Joe Barr was absolutely awesome, Wow is all I can say.
Stunning. Highlights were “Jealous Kind a Fella” as well as a
Bobby Blue Bland medley on which he sizzled on “I Wouldn’t
Treat A Dog the Way You Treated Me”.
Theo Huff tore the top of the tent off with a high energy,
gritty set of Windy City Soul that climaxed with him calling
female members of the audience up on stage to dance with
him.
I ended the day at the main stage where I caught Kingfish’s
blistering set. Great songs and lots of tasty guitar work.
Sunday, June 8 th I started the day at The Rosa’s stage for an
outstanding set by Young Rell, Harrell Davenport. Rell was
backed by an all-star band that featured Billy Flynn, E.G.
McDaniel, Kenny Smith and Johnny Iguana. Young Rell is
extremely talented. He is quickly mastering harmonica and
guitar. He writes good, solid songs and he sings with conviction
and confidence beyond his age. He is serious about the music
and it’s traditions. Rell treated us to some fantastic originals
such as “Bluesman in Your Town”, “Walk Before You Crawl” and
“Fatherless Child” as well as classic covers like Carey Bells “One
Day” and a killer take on “Somebody Loan Me a Dime”. I’ve
seen the future of the Blues and its burning bright in Young
Rell.
I saw a little bit of Nellie Tiger Travis who’s band featured
Carlos Showers. Nellie was dressed in a red mini hotpants outfit
with red jacket and boots. She opened with “Born in
Mississippi” before moving on to “Last $2 “, “Oil and Water”
and of course “Mr. Sexy Man”.
Back to Rosa’s for a very satisfying set by Jimmy Burns.
Jimmy’s band included E. G. McDaniel and guitarist Dave
Herraro. I particularly enjoyed “No Consideration”, “Stand by
Me”, “Leave Here Walking” and “Cold as Ice”.
I headed to The Harris Rooftop Theater and encountered
an very interesting and entertaining band called A Patch of
Blues. Four young, talented musicians with a lot of potential.
Vocals, guitar, bass and drums. They performed a few originals
as well as such classics as ”Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”.
At about 3:15 a very powerful storm blew through which
caused some acts to be cut short and others to be canceled.
After the rain I went to The Mississippi Stage to catch a short,
due to the rain, 20- minute set by Ms. Jody. Despite the odds
Ms. Jody delivered a great mini set featuring “Leave Me Alone”,
“Real Good Man”, “Ms. Jody’s Boogie Stomp” and “Cowboy” on
which set had the small but enthusiastic audience line dancing.
Back at Rosa’s Stage I saw a little bit of Sonia Astascio and
The 3x3 Blues Crew. I ened my Blues Fest experience for this
year by catching most of Mavis Staples set which was all about
Peace and Love and positive vibes. Can’t wait until next