Wayne Towner
Staff Reporter
wtowner@newsandsentinel.com
MARIETTA — The Red, White and Blues Fest will be Friday in the Lafayette Hotel parking lot at 101 Front St. in downtown Marietta.
The concert is presented by the Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society. Admission $5 at the gate. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the Lafayette Hotel will have food for sale.
The first performance will be 7 p.m. featuring Roadhouse Redeemed. The band specializes in playing blues standards, contemporary blues, originals and blues/rock. Roadhouse Redeemed was the top band in the 2016 River City Blues Competition earning them a spot at the 2017 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
The second performance at 8:45 p.m. will be Miss Freddye. As Pittsburgh’s Lady of the Blues, Miss Freddye keeps the blues alive in her hometown. She started singing in church at a young age. The influence of church and her mother’s love of the blues gave Miss Freddye the beginning to venture in the world of blues music in 1996.
She joined BMW (Blues Music Works) under the direction of Big Al Leavitt. Her influences include Koko Taylor, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Big Mama Thornton, Big Al Leavitt and Bessie Smith. Awards include 2016 Pittsburgh Music Awards best blues band. She was nominated for 2018 Blues Foundation for Best Emerging artist album and the Koko Taylor award (traditional blues female).
Proceeds from this event benefit the society, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization formed in 1987 that presents live music not usually found in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Proceeds will help to fund the group’s Blues Music Education in the Schools, the River City Blues Festival and Cobbler’s Coffee Houses.