Michael Erlewine

Ann Arbor Folk and Blues Michael Erlewine

There is no doubt that the first North American all-out blues festival for modern, electric city blues (in fact all types of blues) was the Ann Arbor Blues Festival held in the fall of 1969. It featured artists like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, B. B. King, Otis Rush, J. B. Hutto and the Hawks, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Magic Sam, Freddy King, and dozens of modern-electric blues players as well as traditional blues artists like Son House, Lightnin' Hopkins, and those in between like Clifton Chenier, Roosevelt Sykes, and many others.