Bluebonnet Blues & Fine Arts Festival

For three days at the end of March, Marble Falls will be jumping with a variety of blues artists you’re unlikely to find at most — if any — other blues festivals.

The third annual event will feature music at six venues over a three-day span, from headliners such as W.C. Clark, Anson Funderburgh, Whitey Johnson, Ruben Ramos and Zac Harmon on the festival’s main stage to Joe Ely and Joel Guzman in the more intimate setting of a 250-seat nightclub. Throughout the weekend, there will be blues being played up and down a two-block stretch of historic downtown Marble Falls.

The lineup includes traditional Texas and Mississippi blues, Tejano blues and Cajun blues. A Pianorama featuring four master keyboardists will light up the beautifully restored Uptown Marble Theater Friday night. On Saturday, the theater will host a continuous all-day showing of a 30-minute cut of the film, “Antone’s: Home of the Blues” that tells the story in words and music of the legendary Austin blues club and its late founder and patron of the blues, Clifford Antone.

In fact, Antone was part of the first Bluebonnet Blues & Fine Arts Festival, helping Hugh “Blowgum” Vaughn, his wife Cindy, and Russell Buster, book acts and even give a talk on the History of the Blues. As part of the Friday night event in the Uptown Marble Theater, folklorist Dr. Barry Lee Pearson will host a Musicians Workshop on the History of the Blues. “He’ll be up there with a bunch of blues musicians, and what they’ll do is have a conversation in words and music,” said Vaughn. Pearson is the author of Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers.

“This is different than most festivals,” said Vaughn. “I can’t think of any that has the variety that we offer.” And the number of venues on stages and in small clubs is reminiscent of SXSW, albeit on a much more intimate scale. “I’m drawing together the variety of blues from every walk of life,” he said. “There are different nationalities and different types of music, but there is blues in every kind of life.”

Marble Falls is located in the heart of the Highland Lakes area about 45 miles northwest of Austin and 85 north of San Antonio. The Marble Falls Historic Main Street Association sponsors the Bluebonnet Blues & Fine Arts Festival and a portion of the proceeds go to the Highland Lakes Service League, which supports local non-profits, charities and social services. In addition to the three days of music, the festival hosts a “Paint the Town” event, which invites juried artists to a plein air painting contest. There will be activities for children and plenty of food choices, including crawfish, fajitas, red beans, and more.

Tickets for the festival, and a complete music lineup, are available online at http://www.bluebonnetblues.com. For more information call 800-864-5175.