Written by Sara Kocher | 01 September 2011

the San Luis Obispo Blues Society will kick off the new season with headliner Ana Popovic on Saturday, September 24 at the SLO Vets Hall at 801 Grand Avenue. The Cadillac Angels will open the show at 8pm. Tickets are $17 for Blues Society members; $20 for the general public. All tickets are sold at the door; 21 and over, please. SLO Dance offers free dance lessons at 7:30pm.
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Ana Popovic is one of the most dynamic and innovative performers on the blues scene today. Her rise to fame accelerated after playing for the European tours of Bernard Allison, Solomon Burke and Walter Trout, followed up by her first US release, “Still Making History” (Electro Groove, 2007) which spent 19 weeks on the Billboard charts. Popovic has been compared to Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Sonny Landreth. However her passion for the blues combined with fluid and varied guitar playing, highly personal songwriting coupled with a feminine yet tough-edged voice and a dynamic stage presence is both distinctive and compelling.
Read more about the artist on line: wwwinformationpress.net
Born in 1976 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Popovic formed her first blues band “Hush” at age 19. By the late 1990s, she was studying jazz guitar in the Netherlands and playing at major blues festivals throughout Europe. American blues performers marveled at her guitar prowess, inviting her join them on tours in Europe, including the Jimi Hendrix Tribute Tour. She later recorded a Hendrix song on “Blue Haze”, the tribute album that evolved from these tours. She traveled to the United States in the early 2000s, becoming the first European to be nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist in 2003. She has also received numerous nominations and awards in Europe for her blues and jazz guitar playing and singing, along with rave reviews of her three recordings with Ruf Records. Her first U.S. album release, “Still Making History” (Electro Groove, 2007) spent 19 weeks on the Billboard charts. Her most recent release “Unconditional” (Electro Groove, 2011) was recorded in New Orleans and is a soulful approach to contemporary blues. In July 2011, Ana appeared as a special guest at all of BB King's shows in Germany.
Ana says of her performances, “What I feel on stage, that place is simply unconditional. It is magical. It’s just me and my guitar, notes, sounds and drum grooves. I let the band lift me up, and I feed off of their energy. I hate to think when playing. I only feel. Unconditional is how I stand towards my music - it’s mine, it’s sacred and it’s with no boundaries. Absolute, definite. I tend to put everything I have into it and don’t let anything or anyone get in between, except the people that truly inspire me."
The Santa Barbara-based Cadillac Angels combine rockabilly, surf and rock. Their latest album “Kicks Like a Mule” adds Chicago, West Coast, Texas and New Orleans blues to the mix. The band is composed of Tony Balbinot (vocals and guitar), Micky Rae (vocals, upright bass, and electric bass) and Lumper Lebowski (drums).
The San Luis Obispo Blues Society presents seven dance concerts a year. Upcoming concerts include Sista Monica on October 29 and Kim Wilson’s Blues All-Stars on December 3. For more information, call 805/541-7930 or visit the website: www.sloblues.org.
Blues Society events are run entirely by volunteers who set up, sell tickets and drinks or clean up after the show. Volunteers get free admission to the show and a drink ticket. If you are interested in working a shift at the show, call the voicemail number (805/541-7930) and we will contact you.

Written by Sandra Marshall | 29 August 2011

24 August 2011