Ben Harper & Relentless7

His distinctive slide guitar playing on vintage Weissenborn guitars helped launch his career and he’s gained new legions of fans every year. With groove-laden funky soul this multitalented singer/songwriter gracefully crosses genres and spices his blues-based music with dashes of reggae, soul, gospel, folk, jazz and R&B.

Ben Harper’s latest Texas-based band, Relentless7, channels the blistering, fiery roots that fueled the likes of Led Zeppelin. His shows are barnburners, though not without moments of acoustic grace and tender ballads, all punctuated by his fiery slide guitar.

Harper and Relentless7 span the generations and are an important bridge that leads to the future of the blues. The Santa Cruz Blues Festival is proud to welcome him to his first appearance here.

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Taj Mahal
Grammy winner Taj Mahal plays blues with one foot in America and the other drawing inspiration from around the world. His upbeat, Caribbean and African stylings give his blues a worldly feel and taught audiences how to turn a permanent frown into “a cakewalk into town.” He has a rich history that includes concerts with some of the finest musicians in the world. He also gave Ben Harper his start in music, taking the young slide guitar player on Harper’s first national tour. Taj’s own career has been influential in stretching the borders of the blues.

In the early years, he played with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and Lightnin’ Hopkins. With Ry Cooder, he formed a heralded band called the Rising Sons, and played in the legendary Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. His unique voice, which critics say ranges from “gruff and gritty to smooth and sultry,” became an inspiration for followers like Keb’ Mo’ and Alvin Youngblood Hart.

Taj, who is as exotic as the palace he named himself for after seeing it in a dream, has spent four decades seeking out new music and joining it with American blues. In the past decade, he’s recorded with musicians from Hawaii, the Caribbean, Africa and Zanzibar. Seeing him live is like taking a trip around the world, minus the airport hassles.

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Joseph Arthur
Singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur is as comfortable playing with a band or a guitar with a looping station. Either way he gets an effect that is one of the most surrealistic takes on the blues you will ever hear. He’s part of a new generation of soulful singers that includes John Mayer and Joe Henry and has roots back to the late Jeff Buckley, and his father, Tim.

The Akron, OH native was discovered by Peter Gabriel and was one of the few Western artists signed to his Real World label (Charlie Musselwhite was another). He began a career that has been eclectic, opening for Ben Harper, Tracy Chapman and the jam band, Gomez, and his albums have scored great critical acclaim.

A true maverick, he started his own record label, Lonely Astronaut and produced a mostly instrumental album to accompany a published collection of his artwork, called We Almost Made It.

Joseph Arthur will show just how well he’s already made it in his first Santa Cruz Blues Festival appearance.

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Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
Powered by two driving bass guitars, Dumpstaphunk is like a new generation’s Neville Brothers. Their howling beats and incendiary guitar work led the New York Times to call them “the best funk band from New Orleans right now.”

The band was founded in 2003 by cousins Ivan and Ian Neville, (who are sons of Aaron and Art Neville, respectively), proving that funk runs thicker than water. Ivan, who besides playing with the Neville Brothers as a teen, has also played with Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, the Spin Doctors and Bonnie Raitt. Ian is emerging as a “next generation” guitar wizard and has played with the Funky Meters and the Neville Brothers.

Add drummer Raymond Weber, who was featured in the movie “Ray” and throw in two basses--Tony Hall, from Dave Matthews & Friends and Nick Daniels from the Nevilles and Boz Scaggs—and you have a sound like nothing you’ve heard before.

Bonnie Raitt put it this way: “Ivan Neville is the funkiest collector of human gumbo ever assembled on the planet.” This is one gumbo that will stick to your ribs for a long time.

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Eric Lindell
Eric Lindell’s unstoppable grooves and excellent musicianship never fail to fill the dance floor. Like last year’s opener, Trombone Shorty, Lindell knows how to get the party started with infectious New Orleans’ soul.

Born in San Mateo, Lindell headed to New York and then New Orleans, studying the music of Junior Wells, Jimmy Reed and Albert King before drifting toward the R&B sounds of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway—all of which influenced his own prolific songwriting.

Eric began sharing stages with some of the Big Easy’s finest musicians including Galactic’s Stanton Moore, Ivan Neville, Harold Brown and Johnny VIdacovich. “It’s a great feeling to be recognized for your music in New Orleans,” he says.

Gaining new fans at every stop, Eric has developed a big club following, and drawn lots of praise for his latest disc, “Between Motion and Rest” and his last one, “Low on Cash, Rich in Love.” Like Shorty before him, you can expect Lindell’s fan base to keep growing as more and more people see he’s also rich in talent.

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