Blues Artists to Entertain the May Fair

By Brianna Boyd
Special to Dixon Patch

Blues will fill the night air around the Dixon May Fair next month when the 136th annual fair kicks off its concert series.

Grammy award winning artist Jonny Lang and guest Robben Ford will entertain thousands on May 4, the opening day of the five-day fair.

Tickets are on sale at both the box office and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are $35 and $25 and general admission is $19. All prices include all-day admission to the May Fair.

“It’s going to be a great night of blues,” said Jack Murphy, the CEO of the Dixon May Fair. “Lang travels all over the world. In the blues world, he is one of the best.”

Jonny Lang started playing the guitar when he was 12 years old, after his father took him to see the Bad Medicine Blues Band, one of the few blues bands in Fargo, North Dakota. The young musician soon began taking lessons from Ted Larsen, the Bad Medicine Blues Band’s guitar player. Several months later, at 13 years old, Lang joined the band and it was renamed Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang.

The band released the album “Smokin’” a year later. He was signed to A&M Records in 1996 and released the critically acclaimed, multi-platinum “Lie to Me” in January of 1997. The next album, “Wander This World” was released in October of 1998, and earned him a Grammy nomination. This was followed by the more soulful “Long Time Coming” on October 14, 2003. Lang’s newest album, the gospel-influenced “Turn Around”, was released in 2006 and recently won him his first Grammy award.              

His musical hits include “Lie to Me”, “Hit the Ground Running”, “Still Rainin’” and “Wonder This World”.

In over a decade on the road, Lang, now 30, has toured with the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck, and Sting.

Robben Ford is one of the premier electric guitarists today. He is known for his blues playing as well as his ability to be comfortable in a variety of musical contexts. A five-time Grammy nominee, he has played with artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Witherspoon, Miles Davis, George Harrison, Phil Lesh, Bonnie Raitt, Claus Ogerman, Michael McDonald, Bob Dylan, John Mayall, Greg Allman and others.

Ford, the third of four sons in a musical family, was born in Woodlake, California in 1951 and raised in Ukiah. At 10 years old, he started to play his first instrument, the saxophone.  He began to teach himself to play the guitar at age 13, after hearing two guitarists from The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.

He received his first Grammy nomination, for best contemporary blues recording, with the 1988 Warner Brothers release, “Talk to Your Daughter”.

Ford later signed with Stretch/GRP records, where he found a home for his creativity. He recorded three CDs for them with his band, “The Blue Line”. Ford disbanded the group after a successful eight years and recorded two more CDs for the label which had then become Stretch/Blue Thumb: "Tiger Walk" and "Supernatural," his most accomplished work up to that point as a songwriter.           

When his contract expired at Stretch/Blue Thumb, Ford signed with Concord Records. In 2002, he released "Blue Moon" and in 2003 "Keep on Runnin”. He followed those with the releases of “Truth” and “Soul on Ten”, a live recording from San Francisco. Last year, he released "Renegade Creation," with a group of musical friends who have played in different combinations and contexts over the years. The other members are guitarist Mike Landau, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Gary Novak.

The May 4 concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the fair’s arena.

For more information on the 136th annual Dixon May Fair, please visit www.dixonmayfair.com