Boston Blues Challenge - New England Music Scrapbook

2004 Boston Blues Challenge Update

Our Information About the Annual Boston Blues Challenge, formerly known as the Battle of the Blues Bands at Harpers Ferry, is incomplete. We consider this competition to be important, though; and we plan to post whatever details we can find. This page is likely to be under construction for quite some time. Meanwhile, please scroll down, have a look, and get in touch if you can help us fill in some holes or if you have an e-mail address or postal address for someone who could.

-- Alan Lewis, July 15, 2002

2003

Winner
Matthew Stubbs Band
Contestants
Timo Arthur Band, Chicken Slacks Soul Revue, Steve DiCecco Band, Ryan Fardy & Shades of Blue, Geezer, Lois Greco Band, Ryan Hart & The Blue Hearts, Rockin' George Leh, Donnie Noyes Project, Robin O'Herin, Jose Ramos & The No Way Jose! Band, Rhythm Method, JJ Sadler Blues Cure, Matthew Stubbs Band, Lloyd Thayer, Wildcats.

Steve DiCecco Band, Ryan Hartt and the Blue Hearts, Jose Ramos and the No Way Jose! Band, Matthew Stubbs Band, and Lloyd Thayer advanced to the finals.

The 2003 Battle of the Blues Bands at Harpers Ferry has been renamed the 2003 Boston Blues Challenge.

The Matthew Stubbs Band, a flamboyant, brass-fueled septet, easily won the Boston Blues Challenge Finals at Harpers Ferry in Allston on Thursday. Stubbs is a strong guitarist, but more essential were the jump-blues horn charts of saxman Scot Shetler, a part-time member, and the vibrant singing of Kit Holliday.

Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald, July 19, 2003

Boston Blues Challenge

2002

Winner
The Peter Parcek Band
Contestants
Cat Sass Blues Band, Jim Fitting's Coots, James Garner Band, Orville Giddings Band, Groove Authority, Erin Harpe, Sam Hooper, Liz Lannon Band, Rockin' George Leh, Lonely Gus and the One Night Stand, Alan Marcus Band, Mr. Nick's Blues Mafia, Peter Parcek Band, J. J. Sadler Blues Band, Still Breathin', Sweet Willie D and the Continental Walk.
Erin Harpe, Sam Hooper, Rockin' George Leh, the Peter Parcek Band, the J. J. Sadler Blues Band, and Sweet Willie D and the Continental Walk advanced to the finals.

THE WINNER FROM EACH of the 4 semi-final nights plus a tie for the high scoring wildcard position bring the battle finals up to 6 participants!
-- BOSTON BLUES SOCIETY
From "Boston Blues Enews! Battle Finals!", July 10, 2002

Monkeys in lyrics - always good. Slide-guitar instrumental "When the Saints Go Marching In" set to New Orleans parade beat. Bold melody, ripping tag. Originality in writing and soloing. Nice guitar mastery, tone and taste. Low-string bends cool. Closing medley of standards leaves room for creative improv.

Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix, July 25, 2002

2001

Winner
The Nicole Nelson Band

Contestants
A partial list of contestants includes Susan Angeletti Band, Coupe de Ville Band, Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers, John the Conquerer, Larry and the Bluescasters, Nicole Nelson Band, Nobby Reid Project,* Rumbletones, Shaky Deal, Hal St. Louis Blues Band, Swingin' '40s, T. C. and the Benders.

The Susan Angeletti Band, the Coupe de Ville Band, the Nicole Nelson Band, the Nobby Reed Project, and the Swingin' '40s advanced to the finals.

* We seem not to have a standardized spelling of the name, Nobby Reed Band; and we're not sure how the Swingin' Forties normally give the group's moniker.

A star may have been born Wednesday night at the Battle of the Blues Bands finale at Harpers Ferry. Nicole Nelson, 23, a Boston-based singer originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., "mesmerized the crowd and easily won the competition," said Holly Harris, the WBOS-FM blues DJ who hosted the battle for the 16th straight year. Performing Big Maybelle and Etta James songs, the Nicole Nelson Band "gave chills," wrote one of the contest's judges. "A ten doesn't do her justice."

Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald, July 20, 2001

2000

Winner
The Part Time Lovers

Finalists
Adam Ainsley Band, Jones Brothers, Part Time Lovers, Stumble, Lydia Warren Band.

The Part Time Lovers scored with cosmopolitan blues augmented by a turn-on-a-dime horn section. The group opened with B.B. King's "Every Day I Have the Blues" and pumped ahead with unwavering energy, swaying a panel of five media judges. . . .

Steve Morse, Boston Globe, July 15, 2000

1999

Winner
Mission of Blues

Finalists
British Yankees, Coots, Kan-Tu, Mission of Blues, New Blue Revue.

We were all floored that we won. We didn't even expect to win the first round.

-- Steve Todesco of Mission of Blues, Boston Herald, July 21, 1999

1998

Winner
Troy Gonyea Trio
Finalists
Fatwall Jack, Troy Gonyea Trio, Lonely Gus and the One Night Stand, Memphis Train, Porch Rockers.

1997

Winner
The Racky Thomas Band

Finalists
K.D. Bell, Julie and Absolute Blue, the Paramounts, Sax Attack,* the Racky Thomas Band.
* This name is sometimes given as a single word: Saxattack.

1996

Winner
The Megawatt Blues Crushers*
* Some sources give the winner's name as plural: the Megawatts Blues Crushers.

Finalists
The Bluehemians, the Good Times Blues Band, the Megawatt Blues Crushers, Peter Parcek Band, the Vykki Vox Band.

[Charlie] Abel ... is still compiling his Battle of the Blues Band schedule. But here's how it looks so far, with several bands still to be announced:

July 4: Bluehemians, Budriver, Jimmy & the Soul Cats. July 5: Black & White, Brother Soul, City Pete Poirier Band. July 6:Vykki Vox & the Searchers, Jeff Levin and Phantom Blues Band, Peter Parcek Trio. July 7: Mike DiBari Band, Blur Express, Big Bill's Band, Jim Kelly Band.

-- Steve Morse, Boston Globe, June 13, 1996

1995

Winner
The Blues Movers

Finalists
Blues Movers,* Memphis Train, Renee Randall Blues Band, Johnny Vibrato and the Razorbacks.
* On the Internet, I found this band's name given as the BluesMovers. It seemed most common just to call this group the Movers.

1994

Winner
The Susan Tedeschi Band

Finalists
Lowdown Towne and the Hipshakers, Steve Murphy Band, Art Steele Blues Band, Susan Tedeschi Band.*
* The Susan Tedeschi Band: Adrienne Hays, Jim Lamond, Little Annie Raines, Susan Tedeschi. Chuck Brown was a part-time member. Many visitors, I think, will be quite familiar with the blues harmonica playing of Annie Raines, both from her work as a soloist and sidewomen as well as from her great, long-running partnership with guitarist Paul Rishell.

1993

Winner
Evil Gal

Contestants
DD and the Road Kings, Driving Sideways, Easy Ray and the Daily Blues Band, Evil Gal, Peter Giftos and the Blues Party, Grand Larceny, the Hammerheads, Kat 'n' the Hat, Little Boy Blue, Loaded Dice, Part-Time Lovers, Nicki Skipper and Another Roadside Attraction, Swanky Moes, Two Bones and a Pick, Used Blues, Walk That Walk, Toni Lynn Washington Band.
Evil Gal, the Kat in the Hat Band, Two Bones and a Pick, and the Toni Lynn Washington Band advanced to the finals.

1992

Winner
Barbecue Bob

Contestants
A partial list of contestants includes Barbecue Bob and the Rhythm Aces, Blues Volcano, Mike Duke and the Soul Twisters, Easy Ray and the Blues Man, Gary and the Mood Swingers, Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, King Cod and the Blues Sharks, Chris McDermott and the Black River Snakes, Nasty J and the Nightcrawlers, Pacifiers, Rapt Rascals and the Sorority House Horns, Too Tall Terry, Used Blues, and Walk That Walk.
Barbecue Bob and the Rhythm Aces, Mike Duke and the Soul Twisters, Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, and Walk That Walk advanced to the finals.

1991

Winner
The Radio Kings

Contestants
A partial list of contestants includes Blues After Dark, Blues Party, Easy Ray and the Bluesmen, Lynne Harrison and the Hardliners, George Leh and Rockin' Shoes, Loose Rooster, Nine Below Zero, Radio Kings, Silas Jr. and the Hot Ribs, Some Blues by Butch, Stratocats, Dr. Reginald Taylor and Bluesology, Used Blues, West End Blues Band.
Lynne Harrison and the Hard-Liners, George Leh and Rockin' Shoes, the Radio Kings, and Some Blues by Butch advanced to the finals.

1990

Winner
Weepin' Willie and the All-Star Blues Band

Finalists
Madeline Hall and the Rhythm Hounds, the Rick Russell Band, Weepin' Willie* and the All-Star Blues Band, the Young Ones.
* We're waiting for a consensus to develop at to whether this fellow's name is Weepin' Willie Robertson or Weepin' Willie Robinson. Our sources are quite divided on this point, though my best guess is that Scott Alarik's use of Robertson is probably right.

1989

Winner
Shirley Lewis Experee-ance

Contestants
Barbeque Bob and the Rhythm Aces, Big Blue Meanies, Billy Blue Band, Blue Hornets, Blue in the Face, Flight 505, Garry and the Mood Swingers, Madeline Hall and the Rhythm Hounds, Ice Men, Joey V's Midnite Rendezvous, Shirley Lewis Experee-ance, Little Jimmy and the Home Wreckers, M.D. and the All-Night Vigil, Practical Cats, Professor Harp and the Showmen, West End Blues Band.
The Shirley Lewis Experee-ance, Barbeque Bob and the Rhythm Aces, Joey V and the Midnite Rendezvous, and the Practical Cats advanced to the finals.

1988

Winner
Boston Baked Blues

Contestants
Black River Snakes, Blues Bangers, Boston Baked Blues, C Jammers, Larry Carsman and Company, Easy Ray and the Blues Patrol, Graffiti, Mary Gray and Bluestreak, Peter Hostage Band, George Leh and Rocking Shoes, Mojo Filter, Old Dogs, Practical Cats, Professor Harp and the Showmen, Rhythm Aces, Some Blues by Butch.
Boston Baked Blues, George Leh and Rocking Shoes, the Old Dogs, and the Rhythm Aces advanced to the finals.

1987

Winner
The Screamin' Coyotes

Contestants
Blind Lemon Pledge, Blues Nutones, Bluesliners, Boston Baked Blues Band, Chili Brothers, Driving Sideways, Kingsnakes, Last Call for the Blues, Shirley Lewis and the Movers, Little Jimmy and the Homewreckers, Live Wires, Loaded Dice, Professor Harp and the Showmen, Screaming Coyotes, Silas Jr. and the Hot Ribs, West End Blues Band.

BATTlE _OF ^THE BlUeS BaNdS

Boston Phoenix, June 26, 1987

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