by Mike Mering, mikemering@gmail.com, Senior cbbfestival.com correspondent

Starbucks. Burger King. (Insert large cell phone company of your choice): Need NOT apply.

You may have noticed this absence of large corporate involvement and major sponsorship at the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (www.cbbfestival.com)

Besides being the only winter music festival, Chicago Bluegrass & Blue is also the only independent music festival of this scale to hit Chicago in recent memory. The festival boasts major acts such as the Avett Brothers, David Grisman and Ha Ha Tonka alongside a roster of surging local and national talent.

“Major producers and major labels are not needed to throw a major event, just independently minded people looking to invest in a righteous cause” explains festival founder Mike Raspatello.

It’s this sort of resolve that has united festival artists and organizers for what is gearing up to be a groundbreaking event

In fact, nearly all of the artists and producers participating in the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues festival are independent entities.  While the Avett Brothers have recently joined forces with the renowned Rick Rubin and his American Recordings label, they have long been faithful to their Ramseur Records roots.

Check out the stats…

The Labels:
“There is an inherent spirit of independence that resonates with all parties involved in the event from sponsors to the artists and their record labels,” says Raspatello.

Alligator Records and Bloodshot Records, both Chicago-based labels, along with David Grisman’s Acoustic Disc Records, have been nurturing indie artists for decades and will spotlight artists of its own at the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues festival. Grisman’s Acoustic Disc Records is best known for its collaborations with Jerry Garcia who, in 1990, decided to record with Grisman’s independent label for his first acoustic-only disc.

The Venue:
Providing the platform for the festival is the legendary Congress Theater, a successfully run concert hall that operates free of overriding corporate ownership or partnership. This is a rarity today as most existing concert halls with large capacities and prime locales have succumb to the lure of corporate takeover.

Jam Production and Live Nation have a stranglehold on all large concert production, even with C3 Presents recently entering the market with Lollapalooza and a limited partnership with the Congress Theater.

Sponsors:
Take one look at the festival’s “Partners” page and you will see an assortment of independent-minded businesses (www.cbbfestival.com/partners)

Producers:
Just a couple of guys, such as independent producers Michael Raspatello, Lucas King, Max Wagner, Jeff Callahan, and Will Lambert, with great support from the Congress Theater

What does all this mean to the concertgoer?
Saturday November 22, you will be a part of history in the making. Creativity will be tapped in many forms. There will be no restraint from those corporations more concerned with squeezing money from your pockets than producing a quality, free-flowing, energized assembly of music and art.

by Mike Mering, cbbfestival.com Senior Correspondent, mikemering@gmail.com

It’s almost a given that the assortment of music at the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival

Biscuits & Gravy = Bloodshot & Alligator

will go together like biscuits and gravy this November 22nd.

“The variety of bluegrass, blues, roots rock, and indie acts we put together for the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Fest makes sense for me as a fan and a Chicagoan. I’ve met very few folks here that aren’t looking for some range when they go out to catch a show, ” says Mike Raspatello, the festival’s founder and organizer.

When you add two Chicago-based record industry powerhouses, pivotal in cooking up the very cultures that embody the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Fest, it seems like a classic recipe.

Blues label Alligator Records and roots-rock label Bloodshot Records are sharing a bill for the first time this fall at the Congress Theater, teaming up to bring some homegrown legitimacy to the young festival.

“Surprisingly,” admits Raspatello, “it’s rare to find a one-day festival with this much to offer by way of variety and Chicago flavor. Nevertheless, without the scene’s more influential Blues and Roots music labels on board it just wouldn’t have been kosher in my book.”

Bloodshot will be adding Lollapalooza standouts Ha Ha Tonka and Waco Brothers offshoot Dollar Store to a stacked bill co-headlined by The David Grisman Quintet and The Avett Brothers. Alligator will throw Lil’ Ed and his fez-covered head into the mix to make sure classic Chicago Blues are represented on festival’s main stage.

Heather West, co-owner of Bloodshot Records since its inception in 1994, admits that this truly independent festival immediately intrigued her.

“Chicago has the best indie music scene of any city in the world,” she says. “A festival like Chicago Bluegrass & Blues, and a label like Bloodshot, can thrive here.”

The seeds were sown for collaboration between the record labels when an executive from Bloodshot advised the festival producers to contact Tim Kolleth, her contemporary at Alligator. Since 1971, Alligator has released more than 250 blues and blues/rock albums.

“We suggested Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials to play the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival,” says Tim Kolleth, Director of Radio Promotion at Alligator. “In my opinion, they are one of the greatest live bands in the city.”

Aside from creating what Tim predicts to be, “a fun and unique live experience at a legendary venue,” both labels are in it for charity. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Saving Tiny Hearts Society.