Of the many great concert experiences I've had in my life, the most unique one, which fortunately comes in the form of an annual festival, is Blues Masters at the Crossroads at Blue Heaven Studios in Salina. The two factors that make Blues Masters so unique are the blend of musicians featured each year and the incredible intimacy between audiences and performers.
Blues Masters is one of many incredible brainchildren of Chad Kassem, the founder of Acoustic Sounds, which supplies high quality equipment and recordings to the audiophiles of the world from the simultaneously central and out of the way location of Salina, Kansas. Kassem is originally from the Lafayette, Louisiana area, which explains the prevalence of Louisiana musicians at Blue Masters, the frequent inclusion of zydeco in the lineup, and the delicious Cajun food that is rumored to be served to the musicians and staff at the festival. Chad Kassem's story is one of amazing business success, starting off with selling records by mail from his apartment, and ending up with a company that employs over fifty people and ships all over the world. New subsidiaries have been added, including Blue Heaven Studios, where little known blues musicians are given the chance to record, APO Records, which releases the resulting music, and Quality Record Pressings, which produces high-quality vinyl for APO as well as major reissue labels from around the world.
Kassem began Blues Masters at the Crossroads in 1998 as a way to celebrate blues greats who were past their prime and no longer getting the recognition they deserved, as well as to record their music while it was still possible. Over the years, concerts have featured a mix of old greats, forgotten masters, popular acts, and up-and-coming new musicians. The concerts take place over two nights in Blue Heaven Studios, the nave of a converted church near downtown Salina. Each musician plays a set of forty minutes to an hour, and musicians often play together as well. Between sets, audience members have the opportunity to go down to the basement and talk with the artists and pick up CDs and autographs. Afterwards, there is a jam session at a local hotel that often extends until four in the morning.
Blues Masters has gone from being a local event to being a global phenonmenon that draws diehard supporters from accross the country and even around the world to Salina. Regular attendees are drawn back because the concerts frequently introduce them to unfamiliar but talented musicians, and the intimacy of the concert experience promotes a feeling of community among concert attendees.
This year's festival as usual featured an entertaining mix of performers. Well-known musicians such as Guitar Shorty and Chris Thomas King followed little known but entertaining acts like Hosea Hargrove and Birdlegg, as well as perennial favorite Lazy Lester, one of Kassem's Louisiana friends. Birdlegg was particularly entertaining because at over sixty years old he was still able to jump spryly about the stage while singing and playing his harmonica, and he pumped a great deal of energy into the late night jam sessions. The emcee for the event was one of the performers, acoustic guitarist Doug MacLeod, who entertained the audience with off-color stories of his blues acquaintances during the breaks between sets. As usual, a wide range of styles was present, and both nights were quite entertaining. Some of the most interesting moments of Blues Masters come when the weekend's festivities blur the lines between performers and audiences, or even when the festival extends beyond those who were actively involved. For example, on Friday night between the end of the concert and the beginning of the jam session, Chris Cain slipped into the bar at the motel and joined the karaoke night, wowing patrons with a version of "Georgia on My Mind" delivered in his rich baritone. What draws fans back to Blues Masters is not a flashy list of big-name headliners, but rather moments like these, experiences they know they are unlikely to find anywhere else, in which talented but underrecognized performers get a chance to be themselves and audiences come as close to the music as possible.
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