by Linda Ray
The Southern Arizona Blues and Heritage Festival is sort of a Tucson Meet Yourself of the genre. The juke joints and players of the Mississipi Delta made it tangible, gave it a name, called it even when it wasn't due, as if to ward it off or as a check on high times. But the Tucson Blues Festival is built on the understanding that everyone, young and old, of every ethnicity, gets the blues. Perhaps that has been so since the beginning of time.
On Oct. 20, the fest brought us young folks' blues as interpreted by the Cholla High School Blues Band; Latino-flavored blues by Chicha Dust, mid-century electric blues from Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings, and much more in a day of diverse music within the genre.
Tucson Weekly's music photographer C. Elliott shares the view.