Annika Chambers

MARIETTA — The 28th annual River City Blues Festival will return for another year in March with a throwback to its earliest years on March 15-16.

Instead of a separate competition in February, the annual River City Blues Competition has returned as a part of the March event with several acts competing on the Saturday of the festival.

Sponsored by The BJFM (Blues, Jazz, and Folk Music) Society of Marietta, the festival will be March 15-16 at the Lafayette Hotel Ballroom, 101 Front St., Marietta.

For reservations and information, call Helen Holt at 304-615-7997 or Peggy Bolen at 740-376-0222. The costs are $30 for Friday night, $30 for Saturday afternoon, $40 for Saturday night and $85 for a weekend pass.

This year’s acts include the Annika Chambers Band, The Delgado Brothers, Selwyn Birchwood Band and Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues.

Curley Taylor

The first performance of the event will be High Schools That rock at 5 p.m. Friday, which will be free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the festival officially kicks off at 8 p.m. with Annika Chambers followed by Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble at 9:45 p.m.

After serving in the military where she became part of a touring band making the rounds through Kosovo and Iraq, Chambers returned to Houston in 2011 and started Annika Chambers and The House Rules Band. Audiences loved their combination of blues and soul and started paying attention to that powerhouse voice behind the microphone.

By the end of 2014, Chambers’ debut album, “Making My Mark”, was climbing blues charts across the U.S. and Europe. Her success and rising attention brought Chambers a nomination for 2015 BMA (Blues Music Award) “Best New Artist 2015.

Louisiana native Curley Taylor has been around music all of his life. After years of performing with others, he launched his own band, Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, in 2003. His debut CD “Country Boy” was released to rave reviews. He has been playing, touring and recording ever since and has released six more CDs of original music. His latest project “Rise Up” was released in 2018.

On Saturday, doors open at 11:30 a.m. with the blues competition running from 12:30-3:30 p.m. The competition will feature six acts — including groups and solo/duo performers — from a 250-mile radius from Marietta competing for sponsorship to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2020. The River City Ohio Blues Competition is the oldest and largest blues talent competition in Ohio.

The Delgado Brothers

The International Blues Challenge represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its affiliated organizations for the blues band and blues solo/duo most deserving of taking their act to the international stage. Competing artists can gain valuable exposure to record label representatives and blues industry professionals and festival promoters capable of real career advancement for a serious blues musician, organizers said.

Following the competition, The Delgado Brothers will perform at 4 p.m.

The Delgado Brothers were the winners of the 2016 International Blues Competition. Hailing from East Los Angeles and influenced by blues, roots rock, and a culture of social awareness, the Delgado Brothers Band is ever evolving, always reflecting the human condition.

For the Saturday night show, doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $40. The performers are Selwyn Birchwood at 8 p.m. and Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues at 9:45 p.m.

The Selwyn Birchwood Band has been touring non-stop, performing at festivals including The Chicago Blues Festival, The Waterfront Blues Festival, The Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, The Tampa Bay Blues Festival, The North Atlantic Blues Festival, The King Biscuit Blues Festival as well as on The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise and Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive Cruise.

Internationally, they have performed at The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival, Jazz a Vienne in France, the Rawa Blues Festival in Poland, the Moulin Blues Festival in The Netherlands, the Ottawa Blues Festival in Canada, as well as performing in Spain, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Mexico.

Billy Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee and a retired two-term Grammy governor. He was discovered by Willie Dixon, the “father of modern Chicago Blues,” while still in college. Since those early days, he has played on over 150 different recordings, including 12 under his own name.

He has won multiple W.C. Handy Awards from the Blues Foundation, an Emmy Award, an Addy Award, two Chicago Music Awards, and numerous humanitarian achievement awards. Branch is a blues education pioneer. In addition to his recording and performing, he’s taught literally thousands of children around the world. His internationally recognized “Blues in Schools Program,” is committed to teaching both young and old about the blues as the roots of America’s music.