John Maxwell will play in Coyle.

John Maxwell will play in Coyle.

Blues guitar music has spotlight in Coyle on Saturday

COYLE — Concerts in the Woods will present “A Night of Blues Guitar with John Long and John ‘Greyhound’ Maxwell” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The concert will be at the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center, 923 Hazel Point Road, at the end of the Toandos Peninsula. Admission will be by donation.

Complimentary cookies and coffee will be served at intermission.

“We are privileged to have two experienced blues guitar players here in Coyle at the same time — John Maxwell who lives locally and John Long who is visiting from Chicago,” said series organizer Norm Johnson.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“There is something ethereal about their smooth precision on bluesy slide guitar. It makes magic in the air and the intimate listening space at our Community Center is the perfect place to hear it.”

Maxwell was born and raised in Chicago. He followed in the footsteps of earlier blues performers like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, mastering acoustic fingerstyle, bottleneck slide guitar and singing. He recently relocated to Port Townsend from San Rafael, Calif.

His debut solo CD, “Blues For Evangeline” placed in the Final 5 in the Best Self Produced CD category at the 2016 Memphis International Blues Challenge.

Maxwell has opened for such notables as Susan Tedeschi, Roy Rogers, Maria Muldaur, Ruthie Foster, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Jon Cleary, and David Lindley.

He teaches slide guitar at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival.

Long was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1950 and by the end of the decade, he was absorbing the sounds of Jimmy Reed, Buster Brown, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Junior Parker and all the rest of the R&B and jump blues of the day and working on recreating those sounds with his own guitar.

On “Lost & Found,” his debut album on Delta Groove Records (an earlier demo-styled cassette, “Long on Blues,” was released independently in 1999), Long re-created the sound of a pre-war country blues player.

“What sets Long aside from simply creating an elaborate facsimile of the style, however, is that the songs he does are not ancient Delta pieces, but originals written by himself and his brother Claude Long, each one done in the template of an old blues 78 from the 1920s or 1930s,” according to his biography.

For more about Maxwell, see www.slowlyiturnmusic.com. For more about Long, see www.johnlongblues.com.

For more about the Concert in the Woods series, see www.coyleconcerts.com.

More in Entertainment

Music, stage performances set for this weekend

Music and stage performances plus a seed exchange highlight this weekend’s scheduled… Continue reading

Jodi Ericksen is the core teaching artist for Aging Creatively, Northwind Art’s program for people with memory loss, along with their caregivers. Ericksen is pictured at Northwind’s Jeanette Best Gallery in Port Townsend. (Diane Urbani/Northwind Art)
Aging Creatively program is for people with memory loss

Aging Creatively, a new free art program especially for… Continue reading

Rachel Lee Priday will be the guest soloist for the Port Angeles Symphony’s first concert of spring on Saturday. (Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)
Soloist to play with symphony Saturday

UW music professor to join Port Angeles group

Luke Bulla will perform at the Palindrome on Sunday.
Bulla to perform at Palindrome on Sunday

Rainshadow Concerts will present Luke Bulla in concert at… Continue reading

Cast members, top row from left, Rick Mischke, Rebecca Gilbert, Mary Kaye O’Brien and, in front, from left, Rich Hendricksen, Susan Bjork and Steve Henrickson, at a rehearsal for “The Man in the Green Truck.”
Port Angeles Community Players to stage production this weekend

The Port Angeles Community Players will stage a production… Continue reading

Garden show tops list of weekend Peninsula events

A garden show, performances on stage and music concerts highlight this weekend’s… Continue reading

Colin Urwin will present “Irish Concert: Irish Stories and Songs” at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse on Wednesday.
Irish stories, songs to be presented

Colin Urwin will present “Irish Concert: Irish Stories and… Continue reading

Sachinmayi Menon plays Sandra in Allycea Weil’s Caged at 3 p.m. on Sunday. (Port Townsend Film Festival)
Garden show set this weekend at Boys & Girls Club

Soroptimist International of Sequim will host its 26th Gala Garden… Continue reading

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center seeking submissions

The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center is seeking artwork… Continue reading

The Hot Club to perform at Concerts in the Woods

The Hot Club of Port Townsend will perform at Concerts… Continue reading

Guest performer set to play at Monday Musicale

Monday Musicale will meet at noon Monday at Joshua’s… Continue reading