Blues on the Fox celebrates 15th anniversary

Robert Cray and Buddy Guy will head the musical lineup when Blues on the Fox celebrates its 15th anniversary this summer in downtown Aurora.

Part of the Downtown Alive! Festival Series, Blues on the Fox will take center stage June 17 and 18 at North River Street Park along the Fox River, just west of the Hollywood Casino.

Tickets for the festival, presented by the Paramount Theatre, are $5 a day and cover the cost of admission and a wristband for the consumption of alcohol.

The fest moves into full swing at 6:30 p.m. June 17 with a performance by Eric Lindell. His combination of blue-eyed soul with foot-stomping R&B, swamp pop, funk and blues have won him critical and popular acclaim across the country.

Cray, a return performer, will take to the stage at 8:30 p.m. Cray's soulful and creative guitar work has been a dominant force in blues.

At 2 p.m. June 18, The Hix Brothers Junior All-Stars, featuring area students of the blues, will kick off the festival's second day, followed at 3 p.m. by Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues, based in Chicago.

Kenny Neal, known as a modern swamp blues master and multi-instrumentalist who draws musically from the sounds of his native Louisiana, will play at 4:45 p.m. Charlie Musselwhite, known for his vocals and harmonica playing, will perform at 6:30 p.m.

Guy, a Grammy winner and member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, will close the fest with a performance at 8:30 p.m.

Performances end at 10 p.m. both evenings.

Organizers say Blues on the Fox celebrates the rich music history of the RCA Bluebird recordings that were made in the 1930s at the Leland Hotel (now Fox Island Place) in downtown Aurora.

In the famous Sky Club, literally hundreds of songs were recorded by John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, Big Joe Williams, Roosevelt Sykes, Yank Rachell and others. The recordings were ground-breaking and set the tone for the early urban blues that later became popular and formed the backbone for modern day rock 'n' roll.

The 2011 Blues on the Fox Festival is presented by the Paramount Theatre and sponsored, in part, by the city of Aurora and the Hollywood Casino. For details, directions and artists' biographies, along with details on the complete Downtown Alive! Festival Series, visit bluesonthefox.com or call (630) 896-6666.