This weekend I went on a date to the 20th Anniversary Portsmouth Blues Festival at the Red Hook Brewery. The show featured a great cross-section of blues talent:
|  |
The festival was organized by the Blues Bank Collective, which is one of the oldest Blues education organizations in the world. T.J. Wheeler, the Executive Director, performed with a group of his young proteges, The Funky River Band. The kids were good musicians on their respective instruments (hand drums, guitar, and flute) but I didn't think much of their harmonies. Bala Tounkara, who played a really cool string instrument from his native Mali, boosted the groups performance. Wheeler held the whole group together with his masterful guitar playing.
![[image: T.J. Wheeler and the Funky River Band]](http://www.execnet.net/users/alan/blogs/archives/alanskew/tj_wheeler_funky_river.jpg)
I'm not much of a flamenco fan, but have to say that I was blown away by the James Cohen Caravan. I enjoyed Nate Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas too, but have to admit that after the second song if it weren't for the between-song chatter by the singer, I wouldn't have been able to tell when one ended and the next started.
