History
Calendar of Events
 Maps & Accommodations
Store
Musicians
Sponsors
Links
Contact Us


2006 W.C. Handy Festival Musicians
The page listed here contains musicians who have performed or will be performing at the W.C. Handy Music Festival. It is not a complete list, and being listed here does not imply that we recommend or endorse a musician. The Music Preservation Society, Inc. will not be held liable for any damages experienced as a result of linked websites or the content contained therein.

2006 Headliner Concert Musician Biographies by Terry Pace

Henry Butler - 2006 Handy Headliner

Henry Butler may not be a household name, but the multi-talented blues and jazz musician has spent more than a decade establishing himself as one of the premier piano-playing singers in the musical heart of New Orleans, Louisiana. Music critics agree that it's only a matter of time - and plenty of enthusiastic word-of-mouth - before the rest of the world discovers this extraordinary performer's unique and eclectic talents. "

Truly a musicians' musician, Henry Butler blends old and new," reviewer Raoul Hernandez declared after a Butler performance in Austin, Texas, "and preserves New Orleans' reputation as the birthplace of musical masters." Blinded by glaucoma since birth, the 56-year-old Butler combines the classical and jazz music he absorbed at the Louisiana School for the Blind and Southern University with the gospel, blues and rhythm-and-blues music he listened to during his youth in New Orleans. His concert sets are living lessons in variety and spontaneity. "I do whatever I feel like doing," the six-time W.C. Handy Awards nominee maintains. "That's pretty much the way I approach most performances."

Butler's vast and versatile concert and club repertoire ranges from Handy's signature tune, "St. Louis Blues," and Scott Joplin's equally essential ragtime anthem, "The Entertainer," to Allen Toussaint's pop/R&B standard, "Working in a Coal Mine," and Professor Longhair's bouncy jazz favorite, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand." "Seamlessly mixing funk and filigree, Butler is a master at making it up as he goes along," Pioneer Press music critic Dan Emerson wrote after one of Butler's jazz-club gigs in St. Paul, Minnesota. "If he ever plays a piece the same way twice, those occasions must be few and far between. … He totes a seemingly bottomless bag of devices, mixing and matching rhythms and melodies with abandon."

Butler's latest studio album, "Homeland," was released on the Basin Street Records label in 2004. The project marks a musical departure from Butler's previous recording ventures. "The album is a real turning point," Butler insists. "It was the first time that I've brought a blues and R&B band into the studio with me. On this record, I'm feeling closer to my roots."

Since losing his New Orleans home to the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, Butler has temporarily moved to Boulder, Colorado. The hurricane destroyed not only his home, but also his 1925 Mason & Hamlin piano, his computer, his recording equipment and stereo and his extensive collection of albums and CDs. "I intended to ride it out," Butler told a Florida music journalist late last year, "but some people showed up at my doorstep saying they weren't leaving New Orleans without me. And frankly, I'm glad they did, because there's no way I could have survived that one." Blues pianist and singer Henry Butler will perform the opening headliner concert of the 25th annual W.C. Handy Music Festival beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 29, at Norton Auditorium in Florence. The performer had hoped to be able to record a new album sometime this year, but post-Katrina issues have kept his time and energies focused on more immediate concerns. "I have some ideas," Butler says, "but right now, man, I'm sort of in survival mode."

Bonnie Bramlett and the Capricorn Rhythm Section - 2006 Handy Headliners

Keith Richards once paid Bonnie Bramlett the ultimate compliment. "If I wasn't already married," the Rolling Stones guitarist raved after listening to one of her most recent recordings, "I would marry your voice. … It is just beautiful."

Blending simmering rhythm-and-blues with smoldering rock 'n' roll, Bramlett's rich, rootsy, heart-stirring vocals helped establish the Southern-soul meccas of Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Macon in the 1960s and '70s. Along the way, the former St. Louis jazz singer and early acolyte of blues legends Albert King and Little Milton also added plenty of grit, funk and emotional fire to the music scenes in Los Angeles and Nashville. "I've witnessed a lot of history in the making, and I've worked with a lot of my heroes," the singer says today. "I just feel so blessed to be a part of it."

A native of Illinois, Bonnie O'Farrell grew up in East St. Louis and began singing in jazz clubs at the age of 14. Easing into rhythm-and-blues, she migrated to Memphis and eventually became the first white singer in Ike and Tina Turner's famed female backup group, the Ikettes. Moving to Los Angeles, Bonnie married fellow singer/songwriter Delaney Bramlett in 1967. The couple formed Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, touring and releasing five influential albums as well as the hit singles Never Ending Song of Love and Only You Know and I Know. Before their breakup in 1972, Delaney and Bonnie's superstar "Friends" included John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, George Harrison, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge and Gram Parsons.

In 1973, Bonnie joined forces with the Average White Band to launch her solo career with the album Sweet Bonnie Bramlett. She then signed with Phil Walden's Macon-based Southern-rock label, Capricorn Records, and cut three more solo projects between 1975 and 1978. Bonnie later toured with Stephen Stills and the Allman Brothers. She also sang backup on recordings by Joe Cocker, Gregg Allman, Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat, Jimmy Hall, Dwight Yoakam and Delbert McClinton (including his smash Muscle Shoals single, Givin' It Up for Your Love). Bonnie's songwriting credits include two classic collaborations with Leon Russell, the Grammy-nominated Super Star and the anti-war anthem Give Peace a Chance.

As an actress (under the name Bonnie Sheridan), she guest-starred on the TV series Fame and played the recurring role of waitress Bonnie Watkins on the hit sitcom Rosanne. She has also been featured in the films The Doors and the upcoming The Guardian, co-starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. Bonnie returned to the recording studio in 2002, releasing the critically acclaimed I'm Still the Same. Legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler called Bonnie's vocals "stunning in every respect … burning with the feeling that we have come to recognize as deep soul." Bonnie's latest album, Roots, Blues & Jazz, was released in March by Zoho Records.

She will perform the final headliner concert for the 25th annual W.C. Handy Music Festival at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 29, at Norton Auditorium in Florence. The "Queen of Hazel-Eyed Soul" will be backed by the Capricorn Records Rhythm Section, an all-star band that features Muscle Shoals' own Scott Boyer, Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart, Paul Hornsby and Johnny Sandlin. "I'm blessed - I can still sing my head off," Bonnie says today. "Through the years, people didn't know where to put me. I sound very black. … I can sing rock, Southern rock, blues, gospel. That seemed to be a problem - until now."

Terry Pace is a local author, educator and Muscle Shoals music historian.

Press Releases
Events Archives

2006 - Click to view 2006 events...
2005 - Click to view 2005 musicians...
2004 - Click to view 2004 events...
2003 - Click to view photos of the 2003 event...


Click here to download the W.C. Handy Music Festival Performer Roster (covers years 1970 through 2005)
Click here to download the W.C. Handy Music Festival Headliners Roster (covers years 1982 through 2005)