INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS DEFY GENRES AND STRIKE A CHORD FOR CHARITY WITH THE INAUGRAL CHICAGO BLUEGRASS & BLUES FESTIVAL
Chicago, IL – September 8, 2008. The Congress Theater, in conjunction with newly-formed KingTello 
Presents, is proud to announce the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (cbbfestival.com). While rooted in the foot-stomping influences of bluegrass and blues, the Festival will transport the concertgoer through the genre-defying evolution of music today. The one-day event, which will run from noon until midnight on November 22nd, will serve as a tribute to two schools of music that continue to shape and inspire contemporary rock, jamband, funk, folk, roots, Americana, and indie cultures.
Against the backdrop of an official Chicago landmark and one of the last of the classic “movie palaces,” fans will be treated to a party with a purpose, featuring 2 stages and 16 bands for less than the typical price of the headliners alone. “Newgrass” legend and longtime Jerry Garcia collaborator David Grisman and his David Grisman Quintet will be sharing the
headlining duties with surging festival sensations The Avett Brothers and their massive following of rowdy devotees. The Avett Brothers have recently teamed up with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and signed with American/Columbia Records, home of Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, and The Black Crowes.
Tickets for the festival go on sale on at an early-bird price of $31 this week through the event’s website (cbbfestival.com), ticketmaster.com, and frontgatetickets.com.
The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Fest will offer a musical reprieve from the merciless Chicago Winter by adapting elements of a summer music festival to the historic and intimate indoor setting. The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Fest stands alone as the only music festival experience offered during the otherwise depressing Chicago winter. In addition to 12 hours of 2 stages worth of nonstop music, the day’s activities will also include Chicago’s largest live-art exhibition and indoor gallery, charitable raffles, an improv comedy showcase, and one of the Midwest’s leading alternative DJs.
Garcia & Grisman: Grateful Dawg
The main stage will feature the co-headliners, as well as festival favorites Ha Ha Tonka, Chicago Blues giant Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Chicago alt-country mainstays Dollar Store and Majors Junction, and country’s Next Big Star Competition winner Billy Childers. The participation of artists from both Alligator Records and Bloodshot Records marks a rare collaboration between two independent Chicago labels universally considered leaders in their respective genres.
The opening spot on the main stage will feature the winner of “LAST BANJO STANDING,” an online contest that will scour Chicagoland to find the top bluegrass/blues artist.
The Pavilion Stage will feature some of the best musicians from the local Chicago music scene, as well as Nashville bluegrass veterans including Blue Mother Tupelo, Blackdog, How Far to Austin, Mike Mangione, Cobalt & the Hired Guns, Lindsey O’Brien & Friends, Jessica Lee, and Blue Room Hero
And while the festival will serve to break a band or two, festivalgoers will get to save a heart. A portion of each $31 ticket will be donated to the Saving tiny Hearts Society (www.savingtinyhearts.org), a non-profit organization that raises money for grossly under-funded, crucial, life-saving research of congenital heart defects (CHD), America’s #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 125 babies born in America each year is affected by a Congenital Heart Defect.
