UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Blues music is traditionally a male domain, but some of the country’s premier female blues performers will be on display Labor Day Monday, Sept. 2, in the garden between the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake.
The “Queen of Boogie Woogie” Wendy DeWitt on piano will open the annual Blue Wing Labor Day Blues Extravaganza for the seven-piece band “Girls Got The Blues” headed by vocalist Lara Price.
“With the Lake County Fair over and guests gone home, a little quality music out in the garden is a great way to end the Labor Day weekend,” said Blue Wing owner Bernie Butcher.
The show starts in the cool of the evening at 5:45 p.m. and the price of admission ($50 plus tax) includes the two bands plus a gourmet barbecue dinner.
“Both Wendy DeWitt and Lara Price have wowed the crowd up here several times,” said Butcher. “I knew that, for special occasions, Lara assembles an all-star cast of women into the fabulous band called Girls Got the Blues. We’re in for a treat when they perform for us on Labor Day.”
Wendy DeWitt will warm up the crowd with her energetic and fast paced boogie woogie piano backed by Kirk Harwood on percussion. She has rightly earned the title of “Queen of Boogie” in the Bay Area and beyond.
Lara Price is a dynamic blues vocalist with a non-traditional background. She was born in Vietnam and was part of the 1975 Operation Baby Lift, bringing plane loads of orphans to the US. She was captivated by the blues at an early age and is now a fixture on the South Bay music scene.
All of the musicians that Lara has assembled into this band are stars in their own right. “I’ve not met GG Amos or Janice Maxie Reid,” said Butcher, “but I know for sure that Lara and Pam Hawkins on vocals and Nancy Wright on sax will knock your socks off.”
Pam Hawkins is called the “Hurricane of Soul” and Nancy Wright is the premier female jazz and blues sax player in the Bay Area. Janice Maxie Reid is a classically trained pianist and vocalist whose inspiration and fire come from gospel and jazz. GG Amos heads her own Bay Area Blues Band.
This group will be backed by Ariane Capp on bass and Robin Roth on drums.
Butcher was quick to thank Gregory Graham, Steele and Glamazon Wines as well as Allora DaCar Productions and KXBX 98.3 FM for helping make the Labor Day event possible.
Tickets for the Blue Wing Labor Day Blues Extravaganza may be purchased by calling the Tallman Hotel at 707-275-2244, Extension 0.