Date(s) & Time(s): Saturday, February 21, 2026 | 8:00PM
Ticket Price(s): $29 ($4 per ticket fee included)
Venue: Madame Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis Theatre (EK Theatre)
Presented By: City of Tracy – Grand Theatre Center for the Arts
An electrifying 8-artist showcase featuring some of the biggest names in blues harmonica and guitar. This year’s lineup brings together legendary talents:
Magic Dick (J. Geils Band) – iconic harp player and rock ‘n’ roll powerhouse
Curtis Salgado – the inspiration behind the Blues Brothers
Anson Funderburgh – longtime leader of Anson & The Rockets
Steve Freund – guitarist with Boz Scaggs, James Cotton, Sunnyland Slim
RJ Mischo – internationally acclaimed blues harmonica master
Wes Starr – veteran drummer of countless blues all-stars
Rodrigo Mantovani – Blues Music Award-winning bassist
Mark Hummel – Grammy-nominated harp virtuoso and the force behind the Blues Harp Blowout
Together, these artists deliver a powerhouse night of soulful grooves, fiery harmonica duels, and deep blues tradition.
MARK HUMMEL -born on the East Coast but raised in Los Angeles. He took up an interest in blues harp & rock-blues
music in high school but soon discovered the originators – Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter, to name a few. Soon, Hummel was frequenting the legendary Ash Grove on Melrose Avenue in LA where he saw three blues legends he would later work with on a regular basis: Charlie Musselwhite, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and James Cotton. By 1985 Mark Hummel’s Blues Survivors hit the road full time and never looked back. Hummel has been featured on over thirty recordings since 1985, including his Grammy-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning 2014 Blind Pig Records release, Remembering Little Walter. Mark Hummel is a celebrated figure in the world of blues and has long been recognized for his exceptional talent and deep reverence for the blues tradition.
CURTIS SALGADO-Curtis was half of Robert Cray Band as a co-front man in the first five years of the band’s busy touring schedule starting in 1977. Salgado has since been one of the leading lights of the Northwest’s R&B world, racking up BMA awards every year for Soul Man of the Year in Memphis, Best CD, Song Of The Year and many other notables. Curtis new cd, Fine By Me on Little Village has stayed at the top of the charts most of 2024. Curtis is the Best blue eyed soul singer alive as well as a great harmonica man.
MAGIC DICK is the original harp man from the J. Geils Band, whose many hits flooded the airwaves during the 1970s and 1980s. Chart-toppers like “FreezeFrame”, “Centerfold”, “First I Look At The Purse”, “Must a Got Lost”, “Give It To Me” and Magic Dick’s own “Wammer Jammer” were in the Top Ten off and on for 20 years and made them one of the few top bands(other then WAR) that featured a harmonica prominently in the frontline. Dick went on to start “Bluestime” with J. Geils after the original band broke up, making two CDs for Rounder Records.
ANSON FUNDERBURGH Born and raised in Plano, Texas, Blues Music Award winner ANSON FUNDERBURGH’s musical journey began at an early
age. When he was eight or nine years old, Funderburgh received his first guitar. A box of 45s accompanied it – Jimmy
Reed, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Albert Collins, Freddie King and Ray Sharpe – singles that pointed him on his musical path. Funderburgh taught himself to play the guitar and went on to make a living doing what he loved with that set of strings. In 1978, he formed the iconic blues band Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets, who continue to define the sound of modern-day Texas blues. Throughout his career, Funderburgh has had the privilege of sharing the stage, and working and recording with many of the biggest names in blues, including Delbert McClinton and Jimmie Vaughan, along with countless others. His unmistakable style, tone and sensibility has made him one of contemporary blues music’s most important guitar players. Anson has developed into a legacy artist and his influence on innumerable guitarists is
immeasurable. With each performance, Funderburgh reaffirms his status as a true legend of the blues.
RJ MISCHO -Is from the Twin Cities in MN and has garnered a stellar reputation for his harmonica prowess worldwide, thanks for consistently great recordings and constant touring. RJ has been a Hohner Harmonica sponsee for twenty years! Mischo last played the Blowouts in 2018 w/John Primer & Billy Boy Arnold.
STEVE FREUND-hails from Brooklyn, NY but moved to the Windy City of Chicago in 1970 at the invitation of legendary blues pianist Sunnyland Slim, who Steve accompanied for twenty years. During this time Steve played with every noteworthy blues person in the city, including Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor( winning a Grammy on her live LP), James Cotton( 12 yrs), Lonnie Brooks, Hubert Sumlin, Big Walter Horton, Lee Jackson, Eddie Taylor, Snooky Pryor, Magic Slim, Henry Gray, Robert Jr Lockwood, Floyd Jones, BB Odom and more. Freund produced Pryor, Slim & Grey for Blind Pig Records. Steve played on Boz Scaggs’ Come On Home cd as well as toured it. He’s recorded three CDs on Delmark Records.
ROUNDING OUT THIS LINE UP IS WES STARR ON DRUMS( Asleep at the Wheel, Delbert McClinton, Marsha Ball, Omar and the Howlers, Anson & The Rockets, Willie Nelson) AND BMA WINNING BASSIST RODRIGO MANTOVANI( Nick Moss, Jontavious Willis)
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