Blues News

On Sunday, November 6th, and again on Sunday, November 13th, there was an American music reunion of sorts held at the Viking Club in Moline, IL.  The November 6th performance of Adrianna Marie and her Groove Cutters was the first-ever joint music event sponsored by The Catfish Jazz Society and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society Read More

After decompressing a few weeks after the 2022 Blues Festival, the words of a long-time eastern Iowa musician and former Blues Festival performer still ring in my head: Best Fest Yet! Thank you, Ed English, of The Tanya English Band, Beaker Bros. Band, and an original member of the Blues Instigators-which launched the career of Read More

The Mississippi Valley Blues Society and Crawford Brew Works have partnered to raise money in providing Blues education outreach for area music educators and students. During March and April, Crawford Brew Works will host a Blues ‘n’ Brews Concert Series as part of the Mississippi Valley Blues Society’s (MVBS) fundraising efforts for its education outreach Read More

“Blues in the Schools” is an MVBS educational and community outreach program that brings an average of four prominent Blues artists to Quad-Cities area schools each year to teach Blues music and the culture that inspires it. Blues in the Schools reaches an average of 4,000 Quad Cities area students each year. This program was Read More

First of all – I need to thank MVBS’ past president Bob Clevenstine for his leadership, guiding MVBS through the pandemic, launching a new website, and steering us to a successful 2021 Festival. Secondly, none of these would have been possible without the time and effort from the Board of Directors and the Committee members. Read More

Billy Branch will be the resident artist for the first 2022 Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) Blues in the Schools program from February 7th – 10th. Since 1990, the Blues Society’s educational community outreach program has introduced the history and cultural significance of American Blues music to QC area K-12 students and has become an Read More

Dear MVBS Members, For the past two years, it’s been my honor and privilege to serve as the Society’s President. My MVBS officer and Board terms are coming to a close in January, so I will be continuing with committee work. It has been a real period of transition from 2019 when we lost two of Read More

It is a standard occurrence when a musician is done working, and the crowd has enjoyed a night of entertainment, they may receive some form of appreciation from attendees. A tip, applause, or if they are really good, they could get a standing ovation or be asked to do an encore. Some fans might holler Read More

The annual MVBS BluesSkool drew over 50 participants and audience members during the 2021 MVBS Blues Festival on September 18th. Since 1990, the MVBS has sponsored the interactive workshop so people of all ages can learn the history of Blues music, listen to the Blues, and learn to play the Blues. This year’s BluesSkool was Read More

Sometimes the stars do align right, and this definitely happened for the 2021 MVBS Blues Festival as 3500 eager and enthusiastic Blues and live music fans gathered at historic LeClaire Park in Davenport, IA September 17-18th with absolutely perfect weather. “With a goal of presenting new and emerging contemporary Blues artists, along with more established Read More

The 36th Annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival will kick off at 4 p.m. Friday until 11:30 p.m., September 17th, and continue through Saturday, September 18th until 11:30 pm at the LeClaire Park bandshell. And right next door, The QC River Bandits will be closing out their 2021 season over the weekend, Friday, September 17th through Read More

I had the opportunity to meet with Tab Benoit as he finished his last encore at the 2019 MVBS Blues Festival.  I know it’s a cliché, but Tab is about the most approachable, down-to-earth person you could meet.  He was still pretty pumped from his performance, so he shared some life experiences as one of Read More

The 2021 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival will be happening 9/17-18 in LeClaire Park Davenport, and it wasn’t easy. The U.S. had seen cyclical resurgences of Blues music popularity over the past 70 years, one of which happened in the mid 80’s when the Mississippi Valley Blues Society was formed in 1984, and the first Blues Read More