The Ferndale Blues Festival is now the Ferndale Blues and Music Festival.
The difference? Let’s start with the Blue Collar Boys featuring Jennifer Westwood.
The Blue Collar Boys are a sort of Detroit super group of talent under the guise of a cover band. They’re also exactly what event organizers had in mind when they expanded this year’s festival to include acts outside of the blues genre. Hence, the Ferndale Blues and Music Festival (the Ferndale Blues and Other Types of Music Festival just didn’t have the same ring to it) was born.
Bassist Tony DeNardo (AKA Tonymuggs) says the band is a classic soul, classic rock, and blues hybrid.
Asked if the band will skew their set to be blues-centric for the festival, DeNardo responded, “Every one of our cover songs has a blues foundation to it so we are just gonna be the Blue Collar Boys featuring Jennifer Westwood and hopefully you’ll like what you hear.”
The band draws from a wide spectrum of covers, from blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf to current bluesy garage rock band-of-the-moment the Black Keys.
“We try to think outside the box when bringing songs to the band. One example is a funky soul song called Pounds Of Soul performed by Bettye Bibbs,” said DeNardo. “On the other side of the spectrum, we’ll do Long Tall Sally by Cactus. The arrangement is really heavy & riffy. Then we’ll do some country and perform Jolene by Dolly Parton. We’re trying to keep it interesting for us as well as our listeners.”
Each member of the band is quite busy outside of the Blue Collar Boys. Vocalist Jennifer Westwood is a solo artist who recently released a new EP. Drummer Matt Stahl plays with three other bands besides the Blue Collar Boys. Lead guitarist Dylan Dunbar recently formed a new “foothill stomping blues band” called the Rumpshakers. DeNardo, the bassist, is in the popular Detroit rock band the Muggs as well as a Ween cover band and a Peter Green Fleetwood Mac tribute band. DeNardo also accompanies famed Detroit poet ML Leibler.
See the Blue Collar Boys featuring Jennifer Westwood Saturday, January 28th, 10:45pm at the Loving Touch.
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