Eureka Springs Blues Weekend

05/17/2020

Someone evidently used our event's name without our authorization or consent, and announced 2020 dates. We did NOT announce 2020 dates, as we had no sponsors on board prior to the COVID crisis. Our event is cancelled until further notice.

05/15/2020

Cancelled until further notice...

06/17/2018

Coco Montoya headlining Blues Weekend at The Auditorium!

06/17/2018

Carolyn Wonderland on lap steel at The Auditorium in historic Eureka Springs, opening for fellow “BluesBreaker” Coco Montoya!

06/16/2018

More great music today with Brick Fields in Basin Spring Park, and tonight with Coco Montoya and Carolyn Wonderland At The Auditorium and at our partner venues around Eureka Springs. We end the weekend with at Father's Day Sunday Blues Picnic at Turpentine Creek! Bring your coolers and have a great day with Blues Cats raising funds for Big Cats... Schedule and info at EurekaSpringsBlues.com!

06/16/2018

Selwyn Birchwood tearing it up in Basin Spring Park!

06/15/2018

ESBW made the Top Ten for the Weekend!!!

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/jun/14/the-weekend-ten-20180614/

1 CRAFT

06/12/2018

FYI... Coolers WILL be allowed at TCWR for the Father's Day Sunday Blues Picnic!!!

TCWR will be selling sodas and water, and Victor will have his awesome food truck on hand, but they will NOT be selling any adult beverages this year, so please plan accordingly.

FYI... our long-time sponsor Alpine Liquor, located near 62 & 23, will open on 10 AM on Sunday...

06/09/2018

Join us for the 2018 Eureka Springs Blues Weekend! For more info, visit EurekaSpringsBlues.com!

05/26/2018

John Mayall is recovering from a bout of pneumonia, and will not be able to perform as scheduled during the Eureka Springs Blues Weekend. John’s former BluesBreaker mate and guitarist Coco Montoya, now a blues star in his own right, has graciously agreed to perform in John’s absence. Carolyn Wonderland, who has been touring with Mayall told us that John’s prognosis is good, and she looks forward to returning to Eureka Springs to open for Montoya. Please send all thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery John’s way!

While we truly hate that John’s illness has forced this change, Montoya’s 2011 performance during Blues Weekend was truly one of the highlights of our 11 years of producing the event. Coco was joined by Earl Cate of The Cate Brothers for an “encore” that lasted almost as long as the originally scheduled performance! Their jam was described as “Magic” by fan after fan…

Eureka Springs Blues Weekend is a fundraiser for Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. They give lifetime refuge to lions, tigers, bears and other exotic wildlife that have been abandoned, neglected or abused. For more info, please visit TurpentineCreek.org. For tickets and schedules, please visit EurekaSpringsBlues.com.

05/20/2018

Still some great tickets available to ESBW 2018, including our last two VIP packages! Get yours today at EurekaSpringsBlues.com!

04/15/2018

VIP Weekend Passes are now on sale at EurekaSpringsBlues.com! Great music all around Eureka Sprinfgs, including John Mayall, Carolyn Wonderland, Selwyn Birchwood, John Nemeth, Fast Johnny Ricker, Tony Redman, Tom Baker's Harmonica Workshop, Brick Fields, Blew Reed & The Flatheads, Scott Garner & The Speedshift Band, The Cate Brothers, Coyote Claw, Los Roscoes, Mark Shields & Good Company, with more to be announced later this week! Save the dates- June 14-17!

04/10/2018

ESBW 2018 VIP and Weekend passes go on sale April 15 at 1 PM Central Time! We are working on getting the lineups from the venues and will be posting them at EurekaSpringsBlues.com as we can! Save the dates- June 14, 15, 16 & 17!

08/25/2017

Someone just tried to change the FB link to our web site to the Ottawa Blues Fest's web site. Seriously.

06/20/2017

Thanks to all the fans, bands, volunteers, venues and sponsors for making Blues Weekend possible! We're already working on ESBW 2018, so stay tuned for details...

06/18/2017

Brick Fields is doing their Gospel Brunch at Turpentine Creek's Fathers Day Blues Picnic!

06/18/2017

The rain has cleared, and we're busy getting ready for our Father's Day Blues Picnic at TCWR! TCWR members get in for free, and even get a free meal from Catered Creations. For non-members it is only $15 for a day full of great blues from Brick Fields, Sister Lucille, EG Kight and our All-Star Jam, plus arts and crafts vendors, face painting for kids of all ages, cold beverages and awesome hot food! Any there is plenty of FREE parking...

06/18/2017

The rain appears to be clearing shortly, and we will be getting ready to start the music as soon as it stops... Get ready for Brick Fields, Sister Lucille, EG Kight and our All Star Jam at Turpentine Creek!

06/17/2017

Ready for some great Blues, beverages, BBQ, arts and crafts vendors and YOU at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge for Blues Weekend! Tickets are available at the gate and there is plenty of FREE parking! Visit EurekaSpringsBlues.com for the complete schedule for our headliner shows at TCWR and the great bands at our partner venues in Eureka Springs!

06/15/2017

06/14/2017

06/14/2017

Hope you can join us for a weekend of great Blues all around historic Eureka Springs and Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge just south of town! Come see some Blues Cats and help the Big Cats of Turpentine Creek!

The Who’s Who of Blues will be playing in Eureka Springs June 15-18 for the annual Blues Weekend. Headliner shows are on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and early evenings at the main festival stage located at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. Refuge blues will include: Tom Baker’s Blues Harmonica fo...

06/14/2017

We've added another Big Top tent to provide even more shaded seating this year, plus will have a misting tent to help you cool off while listening to hot blues! Plus we'll have plenty of cold beverages and hot food, and all profits go to a great cause, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge! www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com.

06/08/2017

Get your Blues on in June at The Basin Park Hotel! Eureka Springs Blues Weekend

06/08/2017

More bands posted to the schedule at EurekaSpringsBlues.com! Get your weekend passes while you can , and save some bucks! Visit www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com for more info...

Our lineups have been described by Blues Festival Guide as "The Who's Who of the Blues...". We have featured local, regional, national and Grammy®-award-winning Blues acts from all over America and around the world! We have featured Blues Music Award winners and nominees, and several Blues Hall of F...

04/15/2017

Weekend passes and tickets are available online at EurekaSpringsBlues.com! We're still adding to the lineup and schedule as we get info from the venues in town, and will be posting more info here between now and Blues Weekend! For more info, visit www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com!

Our lineups have been described by Blues Festival Guide as "The Who's Who of the Blues...". We have featured local, regional, national and Grammy®-award-winning Blues acts from all over America and around the world! We have featured Blues Music Award winners and nominees, and several Blues Hall of F...

06/28/2016

Warning... extremely long rant ahead...

I usually have a pretty thick skin and try to accept critricism, especially positive criticism, with an open mind and sincere thanks for ideas that help us improve our event.

But I'm pretty defensive when critics that haven't even attended our shows start insulting the fans or the bands.

I just read a comment from the local peanut gallery (a friend calls it the largest open-air asylum in the world...) that said our lineup read like they came from someone's garage.

The critic hadn't even attended our shows and had no clue how much incredible talent they had missed.

All I can say, we have a heck of a nice garage at Eureka Springs Blues Weekend.

Speaking of garages... the biggest complaint nine years in a row for Blues Weekend was lack of parking. Not the bands, not the production, not the venues. The lack of parking. Eureka Springs just didn't have enough parking for all the fans and bands and volunteers, and then refused to run the trolley late-night for us like they did for the city-run festival for years. And then they doubled our cost to rent a parking space...

This year we had Grammy Award winners, Blues Music Award winners and nominees, Albert King Award winners, the International Blues Challenge winner, and and winners of the Ozarks Blues Challenge, as well as local, regional and national touring acts that play one of the many hues of “the Blues”.

Granted, we don't have Eric Clapton or Buddy Guy on our lineups, and likely never will. We just don't have tons of taxpayer's money to blow like the Eureka Springs Blues Festival did, which was cancelled in 2007 after heavy losses.

Luckily, we learned from their mistakes, and instead of bringing back the same bands year after year, sometimes having the same guy play five times in one weekend, we mixed up the offering to showcase different "Blues of all Hues from the Who's Who of the Blues" every year.

All with no taxpayer support except to advertise the city-wide event, we turned their $40K -plus loss in 2007 into a fundraiser for a nationally recognized 501(c)3 wildlife refuge that gives lifetime homes to neglected, abused and abandoned exotic animals.

Over the past nine years, Blues Weekend has promoted 120 headliner and featured acts, plus another 204 acts who have performed at Basin Park and the many partner venues that join us in bringing thousands of visitors to Eureka Springs every year. Collectively, the bands have 510 Blues Music Award nominations and 144 Blues Music Award wins. Over a dozen Grammy nominations and 8 wins. Ten Blues Hall of Famers!

What a garage!

We also cut the prices drastically, from $190 for a "9 show pass" back in 2007 to this year's $80 Blues Weekend pass for 15 shows.

We turned a loss-leader into a fundraiser.

But most importantly, we have had countless magical moments, like when Earl Cate left a gig early in Fayetteville and drove as fast as he could to join Coco Montoya for a 60 minute encore!

Or when the "other" Koko, Koko Taylor started dancing backstage to Trampled Under Foot, asking to meet the "kids" after her set.

And don't forget rising star Marquise Knox joining Elvin Bishop for an impromptu jam after Elvin's "Singer/Songwriter" performance that allowed Elvin to tell his amazing stories of being the first Okie to be embraced by the south-side Chicago bluesmen to a live audience for the first time.

Or when Charlie Musselwhite arranged to have the TableRockers back his performance so they could all get together one last time before one of the Rockers passed on to join Luther's Jam in the Sky.

Sadly, another peanut gallery sniper criticized us for that one because we didn't have Charlie's band fly out with him instead of creating a magic moment the rest of the audience clearly "got" the reason behind it! Best friends for life getting together one last time... and the critic had not one clue what a magical moment he was witnessing!

The artists have entertained our audiences with Acoustic, African Drum, Cajun, Cigar Box, Chicago, Contemporary, Country, Delta, Detroit, Dirty, Diddly Bow, Electric, Gospel, Hill Country, Jump, Kansas City, Louisiana, Memphis, New Orleans, Ozark, Piano, Piedmont, R&B, Reggae, Soul, St. Louis, Swamp, Texas and Zydeco, all subsets of “The Blues”. We've had Blues Hall of Famers and Grammy Winners. We've had bands who have played their first major festival here, and then gone on to world tours. The full range from teenagers getting their first chance to true legends getting a chance to perform again.

Here are our "favorite garage bands" that have performed at Blues Weekend since 2008... Just like Blues Festival Guide wrote a few years back, our lineup reads like "The Who's Who of the Blues!"

But of course, our dear crtitic surely knows far more than the leading Blues Festival publication in the world... So, here are the garage bands who have played Blues Weekend over the years. If you don't recognize any of them, you need to get out of your hole, listen to Sirius Blues and attend some Blues clubs and festivals. The list is full of amazing acts...

Albert Castiglia
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Bel-Airs
Bob Margolin
Brandon Santini
Brick Fields
Buddy Shute
Candye Kane
Carolyn Wonderland
Cate Brothers
CeDell Davis & Brethern
Cedric Burnside Project
Charlie Musselwhite
Chicago Blues R***e featuring John Primer, Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith, Barrelhouse Chuck, Bob Stoeger and Billy Flynn
Chris Duarte
Chris Thomas King
Chubby Carrier
Coco Montoya
Damon Fowler
Danny Cox
David "Honeyboy" Edwards
Deanna Bogart
Deborah Coleman
Delgado Brothers
Divas On Fire
Doghouse Daddies
Drumming with Angelo Yao
EG Kight
Elvin Bishop
Ethan K***z
Fast Johnny Ricker
George Hunt
Ghost Town Blues Band
Grady Champion
Guitar Shorty
Hadden Sayers
Haldor Bragason and David “Thor” Johansson
Hubert Sumlin & the Buddy Flett Band
Indigenous
Isayah’s All Stars
Jimmy D. Lane
Jimmy Wayne Garrett
Joe Louis Walker
John Calvin Brewer Band
John Hammond
John Nemeth
Jonn Del Toro Richardson
JP Soars & The Red Hots
Kelley Hunt
Kenny Neal
King Clarentz
Koko Taylor
Kory Montgomery & Isayah Warford
Larry Garner
Lazy Lester
Leah and the Mojo Doctors
Lee McBee & The Confessors
Lionel Young Band
Little Joe McLerran
Lucious Spiller
LZ Love
Magic Slim & The Teardrops
Marquise Knox
Mary Flower
Michael “Hawkeye” Herman
Michael Burks
Moreland & Arbuckle
Nace Brothers
Nathan A
Nick Schnebelen
Nighthawks
Noah Wotherspoon
Oreo Blue
Otis Taylor
Phil Berkowitz
RJ Mischo & His Red Hot Band
Rory Block
Rosie Ledet
Ruthie Foster Band
Sean Carney Band
Selwyn Birchwood Band
Shaun Murphy
Shawn "Lil' Slim" Holt
Stacy Mitchhart
Steve Jones
Super Chikan & The Fighting C***s
The Ariels
Tinsley Ellis
Tommy Castro Band
Trampled Under Foot
Trey Johnson & Jason Willmon
Victor Wainwright
Walter Wolfman Washington

And that doesn't count the acts at our partner venues all around Eureka Springs...

Ready for another long list?

Adam Posnak
Adventure Land Blues Band
Amanda Rey & West Street Blues
Anna Horton
Baby Jason & The Tramps
Barbwire
Bel-Airs
Blew Reed & The Flatheads
Blue Krewe
Bob Alder
Bourbon Highway
Bramhall Brothers
Brandon Santini
Brian Martin
Brick Fields Band
Brody Buster
Brother Bagman
Buddy Shute
Chad Emmert Band
Chris Lager Band
Cross Eyed Cat
Cutty Rye
Dasani
Dave Watson
David Castro Band
David Wiser
Dayton Waters
Delta Highway
Doghouse Daddies
Don’t Stop Please
Dorrian Cross
Earl & Them
Eddie's Blues Train
Eef & The Groovy Blues Express
Fat Elvis
Fatz 59
Full House
Full Moon Band
Furious George
G-Funk
Gary Hutchinson Duo
George Hunt
Geri 'Black and Blues’
Gone Was Here
Harry O
Hazard Pay
Honeyshine
Hosty Duo
Isayah's AllStars
Jason Freeman
Jason Ricci
JD & The MudHounds
Jeff Lee
Jessee Dean
Joe Giles and The Homewreckers
Joe Pitts Band
Jones Brothers
Jones Van Jones
Jonn Del Toro Richardson
Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal
JP Soars & The Red Hots
Jug Band
Justin Cauble
Karina
Katy Guillen & The Girls
King Clarentz
Kirk Brown
Klear Ambition
Knock Kneed Sally
Korey Mattox
Kosmik Debris
Kris Lager Band
Laurie Morvan
Levee Town
Lightning Red
Lil' Dave Thompson
Lilʼ Slim & The Tablerockers
LZ Love
Mark Albertson
Mark Montgomery
Mary Bridget Davies Group
Nathan A
No Name Blues Band
Norman Jackson Band
Ocie Fisher
Opal Agafia & The Sweet Nothings
Opal Fly
Oreo Blue
Oysters Rockefeller
Patrick Sweany Band
Penelope & The Unusual Suspects
Pope County Bootleggers
Randy Beach
Red Ambition
Rich Berry
RJ Mischo
Rockin’ Jake
Rowdy Beaver Band
Sad Daddy
Scott Holt
Seth Freeman
Shawn “Lil’ Slim” Holt
Short Checkers
Smokin’ Joliet Dave and the Mighty Mudhounds
Smooth Down Under
Spent
Stella Blue & Maddox
Steve Jones
Sweet Stevie
Table Rockers with special guest Lil' Slim
Taken With Darrel Brooks
Tas Cru
Terry Evans
Terry Quiett Band
The Americans
The Ariels
The Eureka Street Buskers
The Jug Band
The Super Reverbs
The Tablerockers
Tom “Trashmouth” Baker & Friends
Tony Trahan
Trash Angels
Underground Blues Division
Underground Mafia
Vance Orange Project
Wattsit2ya
Whiskey Mendez
WSNB
Zack Bramhall

OK. I'm much better now.

I got a lot of smiles reading the list, as well as lots of tears for those who have left us to join Luther's Jam.... lots of good friends and Blues Family there!

To our attendees, post any constructive ideas for improvement. We do our best to improve the event every year.

OK... rant over.

Thanks to all the awesome bands for working their way out of the "garage" and to our little fundraiser, voted one of the Top 10 Most Beautiful Blues Festivals in the World!

www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com

Our lineups have been described by Blues Festival Guide as "The Who's Who of the Blues...". We have featured local, regional, national and Grammy®-award-winning Blues acts from all over America and around the world! We have featured Blues Music Award winners and nominees, and several Blues Hall of F...

06/23/2016

We gave Matt Isbell of the Ghost Town Blues Band a Happy Bluesday Diddly-Bow at the Eureka Springs Blues Weekend to help guide him in making easy to build diddly-bows for his upcoming workshops. Here is a video of him making one of his own!

06/23/2016

What an amazing Blues Weekend! We not only had four days of great music all around Eureka Springs, we were able to raise much needed funds for and awareness of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge at our new festival grounds there!

The musicians were amazing and they and the volunteers worked hard through the heat to make sure everyone had the best time possible. The Saturday crowd was far larger than we've had in The Auditorium in recent years since we were able to offer ample free parking to everyone, including right next to the entrance parking for every one of our handicapped patrons! Compare that to a handful of handicapped parking places available in the entire downtown...

So, we have made it permanent... ALL future Eureka Springs Blues Weekend headliner and featured artist shows will be at Turpentine Creek. We are already making plans for more shade sails, tents and hopefully even more shade trees before next year. We will also have snow cones and ice cream for sale in addition to more food and drink options. And all the crafts vendors indicated they will be back, plus we'll solicit even more of them to share their art!

Why are we on Father's Day Weekend? We've been asked to move the festival to a different time of the year due to the unseasonably hot weather we had last weekend. In fact, one local who to our knowledge has never attended even one of our shows questioned our mental capacity for daring to mount a festival in Arkansas in the middle of June. I guess she forgot that the Riverfront Blues Festival in Fort Smith is next week, and even hotter will be the Peacemaker Festival there at the end of July.

While we admit we must be a little nuts for doing this year after year, there are myriad reason why we moved to Father's Day Weekend, including having another nearby festival move to our dates several years in a row. Another major one was the cancellation of the Father's Day Weekend Powwow we hosted at the refuge for years. We needed an event to replace the lost revenue...

Also, we help as volunteers to produce the Gladstone SummerTime BluesFest the first weekend of June every year, so we can't move to that weekend. Any earlier is in the school year, plus in the spring we would be subject to rain outs all too often. Chicago is the next weekend, and out of respect we try not to run on the same weekend as any established Midwest blues festival. So, this is the earliest in the year we can do our festival. Any later, and it gets hotter until Labor Day, when we volunteer to help produce the Hot Springs Blues Festival. The next week is Greater Ozarks Blues Festival... So, as you can see, we have tried to balance the days and the weather as best we can.

We'll announce our lineups on December 31, and VIP and Weekend Passes will go on sale January 1 as always! If you haven't already, please send an email to info at eurekaspringsblues.com to get on our mailing list!

Thanks once again to the bands, sponsors, volunteers and all the folks and Big Cats at Turpentine Creek who made Blues Weekend such a success!

06/19/2016

Bring your Dad to Turpentine Creek for our Father's Day Blues Picnic! Brick Fields, Ethan K***z and The Delgado Brothers at TCWR, and more great blues in our partner venues! Schedule is online at EurekaSpringsBlues.com!

06/16/2016

Blues Weekend starts at 7 PM tonight at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge! Tickets are available at the gate, and there's plenty of free parking! More info at eurekaspringsblues.com!

06/15/2016

Last chance to get VIP Weekend Passes... only a couple of them left! www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com

06/14/2016

Thanks to Kelly and the crew at 40/29 for featuring Eureka Springs Blues Weekend! They will broadcast live from Blues Weekend on Friday at 5 PM. If you can't be here in person, at least you can check out Ghost Town Blues Band as they start their set at Turpentine Creek live on 40/29! www.4029tv.com

06/14/2016

What a forecast for Blues Weekend- Thursday- Partly Cloudy. Friday- Mostly Sunny. Saturday- Mostly Sunny. Sunday- Sunny! We have plenty of cold beverages, hot and cold food and even hotter Blues music all weekend at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, plus great music all night long at our partner venues all around Eureka Springs. Come to Eureka Springs, one of the Top 10 Coolest Towns in America! Save a bunch and get a Weekend Pass in advance at EurekaSpringsBlues.com! But don't worry if you wait too long... we'll have plenty of daily tickets available for sale at the gate.

Blues Weekend is a fundraiser for Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, America's premiere Big Cat refuge. In 2015 Blues Weekend was named one of the top ten most beautiful Blues Festivals by American Blues Scene magazine!

06/14/2016

Great Blues all around Eureka Springs, AR!