Planning is well underway for the 2019 Dereham Blues Festival and it will be bigger and better than ever this year.
The major change for 2019 is an extra day being added to the festival, which will now span five days from Wednesday 10th July through to Sunday 14th July.
The opening concert will headline a true up and coming star of Texas blues Hamilton Loomis from the USA. It is testament to how far the Dereham Blues festival has come in six years, that it can attract such a new high impact star all the way from across the Atlantic.
Born and raised in Galveston, Texas, Loomis is the son of musician parents who listened to blues, rock and soul. Music ran in his veins and, with instruments readily available around the house, he picked up drums, piano, guitar and harmonica, honing his multi-instrumental talent in addition to performing regularly as part of his family’s doo-wop group.
The fabulous local bluesman Ron Sayer Jr. is providing support for this concert backed by local favourites The Shunters band.
The festival opening concert organised by the Friends of The Dereham Memorial Hall, will be held at the Dereham Memorial Hall on Wednesday 10th July.
Then there will follow another four days of hot blues music filling the pubs, bars, restaurants and other Dereham town centre venues with more bands playing with more chances for blues lovers to hear top blues bands and artists drawn from the region and across the UK. The Dereham Blues Festival website is being re-vamped and modernised to meet the demands for this new expanded festival next year. All festival information on the venues, the bands and the program will be posted on the website
There are more chances for blues bands and acts to play at this year’s festival. So if you “wanna play”, get your interest in early to the organisers via the festival’s website at http://www.derehambluesfestival.org.uk/wanna-play-2019.html . So, get your applications in straight away, don’t wait as they close next month. The Dereham Blues Festival continues to grow and as ever is a whole lot more than “12 bars o’ blues”
Published on 21 January 2019 by Ben Robinson
