10th Annual New England Winter Blues Festival at Blue Ocean Music Hall

10th Annual New England Winter Blues Festival

Saturday, February 9 | 8PM
Featuring Sugar Ray & The Bluetones 
w/ Little Charlie Baty,
Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, 
Rick Estrin, Sonya Rae Taylor & Jason Ricci

Doors Open at 6:30PM

Reserved Seating + General Admission: $35
+ $3 Additional Day of Show

10th Annual New England
Winter Blues Fest Artists

Sugar Ray & the Bluetones

Sugar Ray & the Bluetones have been playing their unique style of blues the world over for almost forty years.  Not limited to one style, but able to play Chicago Blues in the style of Muddy Waters. Little Walter and Billy Boy Arnold; Kansas City Swing in the style of "Big" Joe Turner; Texas Blues like "T" Bone Walker and Freddie King; and the swampy Louisiana sounds of "Lazy" Lester-all played with the distinctive originality of band leader Sugar Ray Norcia, vocals and harmonica, guitarist Little Charlie Baty, Anthony Geraci at the piano and Hammond Organ, Michael "Mudcat" Ward playing acoustic and electric bass, and drummer Neil Gouvin.

All of the members of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones have been featured on other Artists recordings which include Hubert Sumlin, John Hammond, Johnny Winter, Otis Grand, Pinetop Perkins, The Mannish Boys, Sugaray Rayford, Debbie Davies, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl and many more.


Rick Estrin

With his wily and unforgettable original songs and his hipster, street-smart vocals, no one on the blues scene writes or sings like Rick Estrin. No one looks like him either, as Estrin is always dressed to the nines, sporting his trademark pencil-line mustache and pompadour haircut. DownBeat says, “Rick Estrin sings and writes songs like the brightest wiseguy in all of bluesland and blows harmonica as if he learned at the knee of Little Walter.”  Live, the band is simply unbeatable. They deliver a high-energy show capable of bringing any audience to its feet.  According to Living Blues magazine, they play “captivating, powerful blues and roots rock with a wickedly cool and otherworldly twist on tradition...intelligently conceived and executed...hugely entertaining.” 


Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson

Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson is one of the premier blues artists to emerge from Chicago’s music scene.  Hailing from Itta Bena, Mississippi, Johnson arrived in Chicago in the mid-fifties a young man.  At around the same time, the West Side guitar style, a way of playing alternating stinging single-note leads with powerful distorted chords, was being created mostly by Magic Sam and Otis Rush.  Originally developed because their small bands could not afford both lead and rhythm guitar players, this style grew into an important contribution to modern blues and rock, influencing such notables as Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler.  Johnson served a long sideman apprenticeship with both Magic Sam and Muddy Waters, while developing into a strong performer in his own right.  Today, Luther is widely considered the foremost proponent of the West Side guitar style and the heir apparent to the late Magic Sam’s West Side throne.


Sonya Rae Taylor

Sonya is part of the new breed of blues and soul musicians, always searching for new ways to revitalize the form.  A triple threat, Sonya is a fiery guitar slinger, soulful blues belter and a songwriter of depth and craft beyond her years. She is joined by her husband Ryan Taylor (Gtr) to form a powerful guitar duo.  The couple has logged many miles in their young careers, from Boston to Austin then Nashville, where Sonya was signed by BMG Chrysalis.  The two have worked with or shared stage with artists ranging from Austin queen of soul, Tameca Jones, Gary Clark Jr, John Popper of Blues Traveler, John Medeski and Derrico Watson of the Victor Wooten Band and have made TV appearances on shows such as the the ABC series “Nashville”.  They are two of the finest young guitar players in the scene today and continue to provide audiences with high energy and soulful performances up and down the east coast and beyond.

Jason Ricci