This year’s New York State Blues Festival will be headlined by Butch Trucks & Freight Train.
Trucks, known best as a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, will close out the free, two-night festival in Syracuse’s Clinton Square.
Also performing at the festival, to be held July 8 and 9, will be Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, blues guitarist Sonny Landreth, and a host of other national, regional and local bands.
In addition to performing Saturday, blues artist Tas Cru, of Chaumont, near Watertown, will also hold a musical workshop Saturday afternoon.
This year’s festival will again include the Signature Student Series. Signature Music is a nonprofit group that teaches music to teens in Central New York who can’t afford private lessons. Students from the program will perform in between main stage acts at NYS Blues Festival.
An estimated 15,000 people from throughout the U.S. and Canada attended last year’s festival, which included the Robert Randolph Band, the Devon Allman Band and a reunion of legendary Syracuse blues band, the Kingsnakes.
The New York State Blues Festival was founded in 1991, and since then it has grown into the largest free blues fests in the Northeast. Over the years, it has hosted huge names like Buddy Guy, Little Feat, Dickie Betts, Bo Diddley and more. The festival is community focused and seeks to promote and cultivate the great American art form of the blues.
The full 2016 New York State Blues Festival lineup:
Friday July 8
Main Stage
4pm – MIKE DELANEY & THE DELINQUENTS – main stage
4:45pm – JANE ZELL – side stage
5:10pm – FUNKY BLU ROOTS – main stage
5:55pm – JANE ZELL – side stage
6:20pm – THE WESTCOTT JUGSUCKERS – main stage
7:10pm – JEFF JONES – side stage
7:30pm – BRANDON SANTINI – main stage
8:40pm – JEFF JONES – side stage
9:10pm – SISTER SPARROW & THE DIRTY BIRDS – main stage
Saturday July 9
12pm – Workshop w/ TAS CRU – side stage
1pm – SKIP MURPHY & HIS MERRY PRANKSTERS – main stage
1:40pm – SIGNATURE STUDENT SERIES – side stage
2pm – TAS CRU – main stage
2:55pm – SIGNATURE STUDENT SERIES – side stage
3:15pm – MIDNIGHT MIKE PETROFF BLUES HARP BAND – main stage
4:10pm – TOM DWYER – side stage
4:30pm – TORONZO CANNON – main stage
5:40pm – TOM DWYER – side stage
6:00pm – SOUL OF SYRACUSE w/ THE FABULOUS RIPCORDS w/special guests PETE MCMAHON, MAUREEN HENESEY, MARK HOFFMAN – main stage
7:10pm – BIG D – side stage
7:30pm – SONNY LANDRETH – main stage
8:40pm – BIG D – side stage
9:10pm – BUTCH TRUCKS & THE FREIGHT TRAIN BAND – main stage


Slothrust finished up a month long tour at Baby’s that night and closed out the show. Their tour hopped all over the country, including five showcases at
They closed their set with
There was an anticipatory energy crackling through the Capitol as the New Deal started the evening smoothly. The unique blend of catchy and accessible electronic rock served as an excellent warm up as the crowd settled in; swelling to a size that would worry the fire marshal as the opening act concluded. Giving a salute to one of the many gods to grace the same stage, the Disco Biscuits kicked it off in style with Frank Zappa’s “Pygmy Twylyte.” Zappa can lubricate anyone’s mood, and the song clearly got it going perfectly as the crowd brimmed with positive energy. “Spraypaint” always being a pleaser, the set promised to be an uplifting one as bassist Marc Brownstein had everyone feeling mellow for the transition into “Rainbow Song”. Maintaining the upbeat theme immaculately, “Spectacle” was followed promptly by a thundering “Helicopters” introduction that had everyone singing along. The set concluded with keyboardist Aron Magner’s crushing organ outro for the set-closing end of “Spraypaint”.
The two-day weekend festival held in historic Washington Park is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 7 and 8.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was seen leaving a Nashville rehearsal studio with drummer Jon Fishman twice in the few days of down time the candidate had between his East Troy, WI rally and Brooklyn, NY rally.
Sanders, when reached for comment, would not comment on the album, but suggested his campaign would “Keep it rollin” all the way through to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.
