Blues in Abingdon June 27

As sure as a hound dog’s howl, blues lives where people live.
So the 2nd Annual Abingdon Blues Festival makes sense.
Scheduled for June 27 at Latture Field behind the Abingdon Police Department, the festival features headliner Scott Ainslie, The King Bees, Lightnin’ Charlie, Blue Mother Tupelo and Cornbred Revival.
“We want to entertain people with different kinds of music,” said Myra D. Cook, executive director of tourism for Abingdon Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Meaning, there’s more to this region than country and bluegrass, each of which, by the way, include heavy doses of blues.
“Blues is fun,” Cook said.
Right on, said Robert “Hound Dog” Baskerville of The King Bees. When he embarked on a journey beyond merely listening to scratchy records in 1987, there followed an odyssey that materialized into The King Bees.
“Our idea was to travel throughout the South to meet the guys who played on the records that we loved,” Baskerville said by phone from Todd, N.C. “It was like, how can you understand a thing without being a part of it? It’s more than just learning guitar licks off the records. We were fortunate enough to be taken under their wing.”
Meaning, such bluesmen as Nappy Brown from Charlotte, N.C., taught them the nuts and bolts of blues. Baskerville got to dig in, get the blues grease under his nails and let it seep into his soul.
Delta blues, Chicago blues, Memphis, Piedmont, country – whatever the blues, it’s all good in the buzzing beehive of The King Bees.
“Blues is an elastic form,” Baskerville said. “Like when Muddy Waters went from Delta to Chicago to playing with English rockers the Rolling Stones.”
Good luck on finding a community in America that would not go for that. And as proven during last year’s inaugural Abingdon Blues Festival – in addition to the generations of blues-inflected country and bluegrass – blues works mighty fine right here.
“They go for it,” Cook said. “Even with the afternoon rain we had [last year], it was very successful.”
No wonder.
Blues is to music what salt is to food. Both add flavor, and both can be found in darn near any style of music and prepared food, respectively.
Just listen to The King Bees. Even though they are a trio, they tear it up like the little band that could.
“When you’re that stripped down, you’ve got to give it everything you have,” Baskerville said. “You’ve got to really work when you’re a trio.”
Work has proven plentiful for The King Bees. Two decades on the road has taken them to Europe 12 times and the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York City. They’ve backed Bo Diddley and toured as B.B. King’s opening act.
“Mind-blowing. To be on B.B.’s tour was one of the milestones of our career,” Baskerville said. “Hanging with the king of the blues was like a dream come true.”
Audiences had something to say about all that. Had they not bought tickets to the shows, screamed and squalled during and after each song, then maybe none of The King Bees’ dream ride into the roots of American blues would have happened.
So come to the festival with a holler in the throat, clap in the hands and stomp in the feet. Go ahead and whoop and wail, for as Baskerville can testify, you will be among like company.
“The festival we’re doing in Abingdon is not a museum piece; it’s a party,” Baskerville said. “We will play our very best and the audience gets to be a part of it.”

IF YOU GO
What: 2nd Annual Abingdon Blues Festival
Who: Scott Ainslie, The King Bees, Lightnin’ Charlie, Blue Mother Tupelo and Cornbred Revival
When: June 27, 4-11 p.m.
Where: Latture Field, Abingdon, Va.
Admission: $5 for adults, kids under age 12 admitted free
Info: (276) 676-2282
Web: www.kingbees.home.mindspring.com
King Bees audio and video: www.myspace.com/thekingbeesblues
Also: www.abingdon.com

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at features@bristolnews.com.