WHAT: A concert by Peggy Ratusz and Aaron Price supporting The Blues Foundation
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Isis Restaurant and Music Hall’s upstairs lounge
HOW MUCH: $10 per ticket
More information from the artists’ team
Those who are instrumental in helping keep my Blues music dreams alive, my family of fans and friends, know that I am passionate about the legacy of early Jazz and Blues queens. I’ve been comforted, flattered and forever grateful for the numbers of folks who show up for my more “vintage” themed shows and collaborations. It delights me to see, hear and perform with other women and men who also delight in learning, performing music from the past.
Aaron Price is a piano player extraordinaire and like many musicians, engages in a variety of music styles. He’s taken time and energy to partner with me to form a duo we call Bygone Blues. We hatched this project from a shared passion for Vintage Blues and Women in Blues History. Back in October 2015, we entered a Blues Challenge (contest) sponsored by The Charlotte Blues Society. We competed with 8 other solo or duo acts that Sunday evening and winning affords us the opportunity to compete in The Blues Foundation sponsored 32nd annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis at the end of January (27th-30th).
A reviewer once noted “Peggy Ratusz is a willing servant to the Blues.” I am thankfully not alone in this conviction. I believe that if there is a large enough audience to support its niche, then it’s enough to keep it alive. There is no other organization that proves the future of the Blues is in good hands, than The Blues Foundation.
Their website explains their reason for being (since 1980), and all the great work they do as quoted here:
More so than any other form of music, Blues relies heavily on a grass roots network of urban or regional blues societies for support. Across the USA and around the world, our Affiliates help keep the Blues thriving by producing festivals, booking club gigs, organizing weekly jams, producing a newsletter, website and event calendar, sponsoring blues education or just by coming out, paying a cover charge, and making noise. These nonprofit, all-volunteer organizations provide an important backbone to the Blues, and occupy a vitally important spot in the pantheon of Blues music. In locations from Maine to California, from Minnesota to Mississippi, and from Australia to Sweden, Blues fans who band together for the support of the music they love play an irreplaceable role in the international Blues scene.The Blues Foundation recognizes the importance of our Affiliates and, we constantly seek new ways to provide support to these groups. The Foundation itself operates as an umbrella organization for these Affiliates and, over 200 such groups in more than a twenty countries.
The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based, but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, The Blues Foundation has approximately 4,000 individual members and 200 affiliated local blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events–the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards–make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance. Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues scholarships expose new generations to blues music.
The International Blues Challenge is a five-day event that includes both band and solo/duo blues music competition, youth and international showcases and seminars. Typically, over 250 (band, solo/duo and youth) acts from 40 states and two dozen countries participate in the four rounds in Memphis. Significantly, the acts are sponsored by one of our 200 affiliated organizations that are so critical to nurturing Blues culture in their own region. These events and awards are a culmination of activities undertaken by our affiliates and serve our mission by providing a vehicle through which they can promote, preserve and ensure the future of Blues music in their region via their own competitions to determine which up-and-coming act they will send to Memphis for a once-in-a-lifetime artistic and educational opportunity. The top acts receive cash prizes, professional services and career-changing gigs, and each year, competitors other than those judged as “winners” are “discovered” and as a result, doors open for their future musical endeavors.
So you see, winning is a very big deal. Our efforts to and our intention during this 4-day competition, is to step back in time honoring the women who blazed the trail for us more than 95 years ago, that all Blues artists since then, have walked down. We’ll cover a few of the prominent and countless Black Pearls and Blues Queens from the 1st 4 decades of the 1900’s with inspired originals from this bygone era.
Aaron and I will be hosting a “Memphis Bound” fundraising concert at Isis Restaurant and Music Hall on Thursday, January 14th in the intimate upstairs lounge at 6pm. Tickets/Cover charge is $10. We hope you’ll join us for this very special evening with our friend, one man Blues Band, Ed Kostansek, opening. If you cannot make it to the concert, please email me for more information on where and how to donate money to help offset our expenses. I assure you that I’m always looking for ways to play it forward, in honor of keeping the Blues alive.
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