ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A soul blues singer who in recent years has won three Blues Music Awards and is nominated for another this year has been announced as the headliner for the 15th annual Blues, Brews & Barbecue Festival in downtown Allentown.
Sugaray Rayford, who in 2020 won the Blues Music Awards for B.B King Entertainer of the Year and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year, will perform at the festival, which will be held noon-10 p.m. June 24 along Hamilton Street from 5th Street to 9th Street, and on North and South 7th Street.
- Three-time Blues Music Awards winner Sugaray Rayford will headline this year's 15th annual Blues, Brews & Barbecue Festival in downtown Allentown
- The free event will be noon-10 p.m. June 24 along Hamilton Street from 5th Street to 9th Street and on North and South 7th Street
- Other performers will include Annika Chambers, who in 2019 won a Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year, and Canadian blues-rocker Paul DesLauriers, who has won Entertainer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year from the Canadian Maple Blues Awards
The free festival, held by the City of Allentown, the Downtown Allentown Business Alliance and Allentown Chamber of Commerce, also will offer food, including all styles of barbecue, crafters and non-food vendors.
Blues, Brews & Barbecue will also feature alcoholic drinks – domestic and craft brews (Allentown Brew Works, Bru Daddy’s), cocktails and wine.
Top blues acts — and more
Rayford’s latest album, “In Too Deep,” won Soul Blues Album of the Year at the 2023 Blues Music Awards.
The Texas-born Rayford began his musical career at the age of 7, singing & playing drums in church. He has released six albums and his 2019 album “Somebody Save Me” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
Other top acts at Blues, Brews & Barbecue will be Annika Chambers, who in 2019 won a Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year, and whose 2016 sophomore album, “Wild & Free,” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.
Chambers, a Texas native, released her most recent disc, “Kiss My Sass,” in 2019.
Also, Canadian blues-rocker Paul DesLauriers, who has won Entertainer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year from the Canadian Maple Blues Awards, will appear.
Additional performers on the festival lineup are:
- The Gabe Stillman Band from Williamsport, Lycoming County, who supported ZZ Top at the famed Key West Amphitheater and was a Blues Music Award nominee in the Best New Emerging Artist Album category.
- Festival favorites Clarence Spady Band
- The James Pace Band, The Blues Reincarnation Project, The Groove Merchants, Lehigh Valley favorites Tavern Tan, the Mississippi Pig Farmers, BC Blue, Bryant Brothers Band, Bluestime and Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentleman.
New in 2023 are two Blues Break acts – two sets offering a variety of music outside of the blues genre. They are Hector Rosado and His Latin Jazz Experience and Mystik Fool.
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