Laura Blackley and the Wildflowers bring original and traditional blues to Brevard Blues & BBQ Festival.
On the heels of their just released album, Tell it to the Darkness, Laura Blackley and the Wildflowers play Brevard Blues ’N BBQ Festival on Saturday, June 3, at 3:45pm. An important anchor of Western North Carolina’s brimming Americana scene since the ’90s, Blackley wields a dynamically soulful voice that’s familiar on the national festival circuit and to WNCW radio listeners (she produced shows there for seven years). A seasoned storyteller, teacher, and veteran of the blues circuit, she led her current band to high honors last fall, when they took first place in the North Carolina Piedmont Blues Preservation Society’s 31st annual Blues Challenge Band Competition, putting them on the roster of artists invited to compete in the International Blues Challenge, held in Memphis in February. “We were really excited [about the win],” Blackley tells Bold Life. “It’s shaping up to be a busy spring and summer — the set at Brevard Blues Festival will be one part traditional blues and one part original songs from the new recording. We are excited to share the stage with so many great musicians.”
