Candye Kane

B.B. King told the San Diego Reader, “Candye Kane has that big, brassy voice that has authority and sass—the kind of thing men like because it’s seductive and women like because it’s powerful.”

Nominated for three 2010 Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Best Blues Contemporary CD and Best Contemporary Blues Female (the highest honor for blues artists) and beating down pancreatic cancer in the last two years, Candye Kane is a survivor. Superhero is the name of Candye’s original song and the title of her latest CD for Delta Groove records. It is also an apt description of the jump blues singer and songwriter from East Los Angeles, who has earned this moniker the hard way. She has performed worldwide for presidents and movie stars, but her path to success was not always glamorous or easy.

Raised in a dysfunctional, blue-collar family, Candye became a teenage mother, a pinup cover girl and a punk rock, hillbilly and blues-belting anarchist by the time she was just 21 years old. Ten CDs, six record labels, millions of international road miles and countless awards later, Candye Kane has scrambled her way to the top of the roots music heap, creating a world- renowned reputation that has spanned two decades.

Shawn Pittman

Shawn Pittman is James Dean meets the Vaughans: Torn white T-shirt, slicked-back hair, and chiseled Dean features preside over intense Texas guitar. Pittman commands his guitar to speak the string-slingin' language of the Lone Star State. Sure there's Jimmie and Stevie, but the influences of Albert King, Buddy Guy, and young guns such as Smokin' Joe Kubek and Mike Morgan also are present in his playing..—Art Tipaldi, Blues Revue

Shawn Pittman was born in Oklahoma on October 13, 1974. The first music he remembers hearing was his grandmother playing boogie piano and his dad’s 8-track tapes of Buddy Holly. When he was a teenager he discovered Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. Then he listened to Anson Funderburgh and Mike Morgan, and he decided he had to go to Texas.

At 17, Shawn moved to Dallas. He learned from Hash Brown and watched guitarists like Tutu Jones and Jim Suhler. He played as a sideman with the Bramhall Brothers and Mike Morgan, and then he met up with drummer Jason Moeller (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Paul Size (The Red Devils), from whom he learned even more about the blues.

Albert Castiglia

The Miami New-Times notes that Castiglia is “ a standout showman and exceptional guitarist… His live performances are events in themselves, thanks to Castiglia's penchant for tossing off stirring solos while strolling off the stage and wandering out on the sidewalk.” Vintage Guitar magazine says, “Castiglia the songwriter shows a knowing grasp of the blues’ variations and nuances and instinctive feel for what works. This is no one-note man… His unabashed love and respect for the music is lit large. Albert Castiglia is acolyte, priest and proselytizer for America’s great native music.”

Castiglia (pronounced “ka-STEEL-ya”) performed at the 2009 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, where he was nominated for his “Bad Year Blues” as song of the year. That song won Blues Blast’s 2009 song of the year award, and Castiglia was also nominated for the Blues Blast Sean Costello Award for Rising Star of the Year.

The Holmes Brothers

Over the course of their 30-plus year career, The Holmes Brothers (bassist/vocalist Sherman Holmes, guitarist/pianist/vocalist Wendell Holmes, drummer/vocalist and brother-in-spirit Popsy Dixon) have been feeding the souls of their audiences with a joyous and moving blend of blues, gospel, soul, R&B, rock & roll and country. Their amazing three-part harmony singing, mixing Wendell’s gruff and gravelly vocals with Popsy’s soaring falsetto and Sherman’s rich baritone, brings the soul and spirit of gospel music into everything they perform. Equally gripping is the rhythmic foundation laid down by Sherman’s bass playing and Popsy’s drumming, perfectly complementing Wendell’s blues-soaked guitar solos and church-inspired piano playing. The band easily blends Saturday night’s roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of Sunday morning’s church service.

Here’s the Chicago Tribune’s assessment of the band: “The Holmes Brothers deliver magnificent old time, gospel-style R&B, and raw electric blues with unparalleled artistry and authenticity. Sherman’s bottomless baritone, Wendell’s classic soul singer’s wail and Popsy’s otherworldly falsetto do more than complement one another; on stage or in the recording studio, the three become like a mystical fourth entity, inexplicable yet sublime, a gift to the world of music.”