Blues Festival Attracts Thousands to Downtown San Angelo

Thousands upon thousands of San Angeloans descended upon Oakes St. Saturday for a full day of lives blues music, dancing, food and beer at the San Angelo Blues Society’s 6th Annual Simply Texas Blues Festival.

Fifteen well-known local and international bands, duos and soloists took the stage downtown before the masses, performing a funky mix of music for the crowds, that filtered in and out of the packed area all afternoon and evening.

“It’s pretty good,” said front of house sound engineer and owner of the audio and lighting company, Western Audio Works, Brooks Willig at the event Saturday evening.  “We’ve had a very good eclectic mix of bands. There’s some very good ones, some ok ones. I think [the crowd] has enjoyed it so far.”

Willig described the event as family-oriented, words that were reflected in a glance down the packed street, where lawn chairs by the thousands sat parked in small clusters of attendees of all ages.

The first band took the stage at just past noon on Saturday, and the music ran all the way up until midnight when the headliner completed his set, with only short breaks throughout the day for judges to announce the winners of the car and bike shows, and to pass judgment on this year’s prized pork rib cook-off contestants.

One Austin band, Jennifer B. and The Groove, took first place in the blues competition and will have the opportunity to represent the San Angelo Blues Society in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn.

“You’ve just got to come to something like this,” said Chris Cain, owner of Cain’s Cove on Lake Nasworthy. “I’m just a people fan. I like to come out and see the crowd and it’s a nice day.”

Like many of those present, Cain had come out to the festival in the afternoon, then took a break and returned for headliner Tommy Castro and the Painkillers and main support act Selwyn Birchwood.

“I think this really important because we need some cultural stuff like that people come out for,” Cain said. “I think we really need it, a lot, we need more of it.”

In the middle of the Blues Fest....Hot 360 degrees! #bluesfest #simplyTexas #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Cain said he particularly enjoys coming out to see the people, including those “that you’re going to see that you only see once a year. That’s what these events are all about—being able to relax and come out and do something different.”

With such high traffic in the downtown area and the addition of music, beer and sun, several officers were assigned to work crowd control at the festival, but report that not a single person was arrested at the event.

“This is a nice, family-oriented, fun event for everyone to enjoy the nice blues music,” Officer Tyrel Berrie said. “We’ve been here since 6:00—we’ve had police here since noon, and we have not had a single problem so far tonight.”

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The Simply Texas Blues Festival is held annually in San Angelo, put on by the local Blues Society and funded solely through sponsorships and donations. For more on the San Angelo Blues Society, visit their website.