Jethro Tull, John Legend, Gurrumul and ZZ Top Headline the 2nd Byron Bay Bluesfest 2011 Announcement

The second Bluesfest announcement for 2011 includes:

Jethro Tull, ZZ Top, John Legend, Gurrumul (Bluesfest exclusive), Toots & the Maytals, Pete Murray, Wolfmother, Funky Meters, Irma Thomas, Booker T, Los Lobos, Kasey Chambers, Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, Tim Robbins & the Rogues Gallery Band, The Dingoes, Diesel, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, B.B. & the Blues Shack, JoeLouis Walker, Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues, The Snowdroppers, Ray Beadle, Nat Col & the Kings, and Barrence Whitfield.

The new names join the artists first announced in November which included:

Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Rodrigo y Gabriela, The Cat Empire, Blind Boys of Alabama featuringAaron Neville, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Fistful of Mercy, Mavis Staples, Xavier Rudd, Trinity Roots, Kate Miller-Heidke, Washington, Little Bushman, Tony Joe White, Indigo Girls, Eric Bibb, Ash Grunwald, Ruthie Foster, C.W. Stoneking, Jeff Lang, Saltwater Band, and RocKwiz Live.

Add it up for plenty of infectious grooves and merry wonderment… but don’t delay astickets are selling faster than ever this year!

DIRECTOR’S COMMENT Festival director Peter Noble said, “The response to our first announcement has been astounding, in terms of faster than ever ticket sales and comments, indicating that we’ve reallycaptured the imagination of the Australian music lovers this year. But we’re most proud of the depth of the artist quality all the way through our first two announcements – which is why we often say our headliners might be the reason you buy a ticket to Bluesfest, but it’s everythingelse going down that makes you rave about it and keeps you coming back!

“Our second announcement really takes Bluesfest 2011 to another level: The beautiful tones of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu will truly light up the festival – and this is exclusive, you won’t see him perform anywhere else. We also have the reggae royalty of Toots & theMaytals, the absolute reigning soul queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas, the stunning soulvoice of John Legend who has just recorded a killer album with the Roots, the greatest soulHammond organ player ever in Booker T, and the preeminent Mexican-folk-meets-rock-and-roll band Los Lobos.

“Nowhere else in Australia will you find so many artists who are the best of the best. You’ll seethe band that practically invented funk music: the Funky Meters, a jaw-droppingly greatGerman band with the best blues guitar player in Europe – B.B. & the Blues Shack, Joe Louis Walker – one of the last of the great blues guitar heroes with fans including Mick Jagger, B.B. King, and Herbie Hancock, and the pumped up blues and soul of Barrence Whitfield who’s been described as Little Richard meets James Brown.

“And yes folks, there are still more great announcements to come!”

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.