Lakota John Locklear
July 11 is the first of four Fridays of free, live blues at the Pavilion in Durham Central Park. Warehouse Blues 2014 features a slide guitar theme. In addition to music performances, the series includes a variety of mini lectures, a “Wide Open Community Blues Jam” and a slide guitar workshop. Local beer and food trucks will be on site each evening. Call (919) 794-8194 for more info.
This year’s lineup:
Friday, July 11, 6-8pm
Jon Shain, Melissa Swingle & The River Otters concert and Community Blues Jam
Jon Shain, Melissa Swingle and The River Otters (Robinson Earle and David Barrett) all call the Triangle home, but approach slide guitar playing and songwriting in different ways. Tonight they share the stage and pass the mic to you, as they lead a wide open Community Blues Jam.
Friday, July 18, 6-8pm
Selwyn Birchwood Band and pre-performance lecture “North Carolina’s Impact on the Blues”
Slide guitarist and Alligator Records recording artist Selwyn Birchwood, from Tampa, FL, won 1st place at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis & also received the Albert King Award for Best Guitarist. He has supported Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, John Lee Hooker Jr., and Joe Louis Walker. Before the concert, Marc Lee, from the Hayti Heritage Center’s Bull Durham Blues Festival, will give a lecture on North Carolina’s and Durham’s impact on the Blues.
Friday, July 25, 6-8pm
Lakota John & Kin and “Music Maker Tintype Documentary Photography Process”
Lakota John Locklear, one of Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Next Generation Artists, was born in 1997 in Pembroke, NC. A member of the Lumbee tribe, Lakota John was 7 years old when he started playing harmonic and 9 when he picked up his first guitar. A year and a half later he bought a glass slide and has been playing slide guitar ever since. Before Lakota John’s concert, Tim Duffy and Aaron Greenhood from Hillsborough-based Music Maker Relief Foundation, will present a blues lecture and one-of-a-kind tintype photography exhibit. Duffy and Greenhood, who have been creating tintypes for several years, believe the difficult process achieves the sharpest detail ever produced in photography.
Friday, August 1, 6-8pm
Justin Johnson concert, pre-performance lecture & Slide Guitar Workshop with Traditional American Roots Instruments
Hailed by Guitar World as a must-see act and dubbed “The Wizard” for his mastery of stringed instruments, Justin Johnson, from the Piedmont, is one of the premier cigar box guitar performers playing today. Using a foot pedal, Justin builds and records layers of music during his live shows, creating a full band show as a soloist, incorporating up to a dozen stringed instruments, including one-string diddley bows, acoustic and electric 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar, cigar box guitars, resonators, mandolin and percussion. Before his concert, he’ll give a lecture on homemade blues instruments such as the diddley bow and bones. After the concert, he’ll teach an all-ages Bottleneck Slide Guitar Workshop with Traditional American Roots Instruments.