Rhythm and Blues

About 1,000 people felt the rhythm and blues Sunday at Maytag Bowl. The South Skunk Blues Society Bowlful of Blues, in its 24th year, had a large turnout with mostly perfect weather for its first Sunday festival date.

“This particular Bowlful of Blues was a bit of a gamble because we’ve never had it on a Sunday. We’ve had more people here at the beginning of the festival than we’ve ever had,” South Skunk President Elaine Mattingly said.

The festival lineup including Mother Ship Blues Band, starring lead singer Jeff Banks, formerly of Newton, and Bob Dorr and the Blue Band followed by three separate headlining acts, Marquise Knox Band, Joanna Connor Band and Nellie Tiger Travis Band.

Blues music is the base of the festival but several other genres can be heard such as rock and roll, soul, country, jazz, jam and funk.

“One of the things we really want to do is expose more and more people to not only this festival but to how dynamic the music itself is,” Mattingly said.

Headliner Knox attended the event from St. Louis, Mo. He is a young, matured blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. Being a blues musician is a family tradition and a key part of his heritage, Knox said. His grandmother, Lillie taught him to play guitar.

Revered by many in the industry as an up and coming electric great, Knox is reminiscent of many of his inspirations such as Muddy Waters, Johnny Lee Hooker and B.B. King.

“The festival has been good and I’ve enjoyed myself. This is my first time performing here in Iowa so it’s nice to come to an energetic crowd,” he said. “People seemed like they really enjoyed it, and a lot of people have come up and given me high praises, so that always makes you happy.”

The legendary Iowa group Bob Dorr and the Blue Band were back to the bowl for the event. It had been 12 years since they had made it to the festival, one Dorr said he is fond to play.

“I go back to the original guys who formed the South Skunk Blues Society, we were wild kids together,” he said. “The place itself is so iconic — the bowl — it sounds so good. It was fantastic.”

Dorr, celebrating 35 years with the Blue Band, is a retired University of Northern Iowa broadcasting services professor and current Iowa Public Radio host. As a blues junkie, he looked forward to the performances of the day.

“I think Joanna Connor is a really fine lead guitar player, but I believe she is one of the best rhythm guitar players on the planet, and the art of rhythm guitar has really fallen off the charts,” he said.

The South Skunk Blues Society is a Jasper County organization that has been around since 1992. A core of 12 to 15 volunteers make up the group who work all year long, including Mattingly, vice president Mike Retman, secretary Diana Swihart, treasurer Deana Williams and past president Craig Peterson, and many others locals who also donate their time to the festival.

“I thought it went wonderful. It was a great day,” Retman said. “It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had. I love the music.”

The Central Iowa Blues Society also helped volunteer.

“We’ve had dozens of volunteers working on this festival for a year. It takes a long time and a lot of work to pull off something like this because we are working with national and regional touring blues acts as well as Iowa based,” Mattingly said.

“It’s obvious that they put a lot and time and effort into it because it’s really turned out great,” Dorr said.

Contact Kate Malott at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or kmalott@newtondailynews.com