INCREDIBLE PHOTOS click on link History of the fest 22 pp
REMEMBER!
this Festival brought you WATERMELON SLIM years ago, Jimmie D Lane in ’94, Rosie Ledet and Kelly Joe Phelps in ’95, Deborah Coleman in ‘96, Indigenous and BlindDog Smokin’ in ‘97 and Michael Burks in ‘98(!!!) …Way before anybody else even knew who they were. . . ALSO
Little Johnny Taylor, Preston Shannon, Sonny Rhodes, Tutu Jones, Johnny Rawls
Don Shipps, Shawn Pittman, Roger Hurricane Wilson, Jenn B and the Groove Kings, Karen Vance, Little Miss Peggy, Will Williams, Buz and the Soul Senders, Rickey Preston, Harry and Debbie Blackwell, Smilin’ Bob Lewis, Polly Ess, Joanna Connor, Rosie Ledet, Blues Boy Willie, Glen D. Lane, Guitar GG Amos, Larry Johnson, Johnny Adams, Hubert Sumlin, Big Bad Smitty, Harley ‘Cowboy’ Hamm, Andrew Jr. Boy JOnes with Kerrie Lepai, Clarence ‘Fillmore Slim’ Simms, Little Joe McLearan,
Magic Slim, James Peterson, Kenny Neal, Micheal Burks, Nappy Brown
Miss Blues, Drink Small, Eddie C Campbell, Deborah Coleman, Flash Terry
Leon Blue, Miss. Amy, Linda Shell, D.C.Bellamy, Lighting Lee McWaters
Lem Sheppard, Smokey Wilson, Little Eddie Taylor, AC Reed, Johnny Johnson, DC Bellamy,
Eddie Kirkland, Tutu Jones, TS Henry Webb (of the Flock),
Wanda Watson, Three Wheel Drive, Bar-B-Q Bob, Cary Bell, Lurie Bell, Rudy Love
Chris Cameron, Blues Express, Berry Harris, James Walker, Buzzards
Blackhawk, Jimmy D. Lane, Lurrie Bell, Pinkie & Snakeshakers
Indigenous, James Peterson, Lucky Peterson, Blackhawk Blues Band,
Jimmy D Lane, Claude Williams, Joanna Connor, Barbara Dane, Jesse Cahn
Kelly Joe Phelps, Smokn’Joe Kubek, B’nois King, Ted Cash, Lady B., Jerry Cryout, Joe Louis Walker, Vernon Garrett, Randy McAllister, The Detonators, Zac Harmon, Guitar Shorty, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker, Tee Dee Young, Little Ed and the Blues Imperials, …..and many more – so check out this year’s lineup which will be posted in MAY. thanks
!
Oklahoma Today wrote: Red Dirt Blues – Many establishments are dedicated to the legacy of the blues, but none displays the spirit of the genre in Oklahoma like the former bootleg juke joint that is the Down Home Blues Club in Rentiesville. At the Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival , Oklahoma acts and nationals like Johnny Rawls will play all weekend to celebrate 25 years of festivals and the late blues Legend D.C. Minner. facebook Selby Minner or DC Minner Rentiesville Museum / For Blues Inc
2015 LINEUP for the RENTIESVILLE BLUES FESTIVAL 2015
FRIDAY, September 4th 2015
Rentiesville Blues Festival at D.C. Minner’s
MAIN STAGE Fri Sept 4
4:00pm Gates open; Happy Hour
between sets: Harold Aldridge, OBHOF – Taft and Tahlequah OK
6:00 Selby Minner, OBHOF and Dan Oklahoma Slim Blues on the Move
7:15 Jus Sayin – Tulsa
8:30 Oklahoma Ollie in from LA CA
9:45 Johnny Rawls – Blues Foundation Soul Blues Artist of the Year Miss
11 Layce Baker Jr. And Black Diamond – California, Oklahoma, OBHOF
BACK PORCH STAGE Fri Sept 4
6:00 Mike LaFever – Tulsa
7:15 The ROXY Spotlighters Muskogee – Spotlight on Young Talent Group
8:30 Roger Hurricane Wilson
9:45 Spa City Blues Society, Blues in the Schools group
11
BLUES CLUB STAGE indoors Fri Sept 4
6 PM Pat Moss Juke Joint Preacher
7:15 Harry and Debbie Blackwell both OBHOF – Dunsmuir CA
8:30 Bat-Or Kalo – Israel
9:45 INDOOR JAM with Debbie Blackwell, Oklahoma Ollie, more
12 – 5 am Selby and Band,
followed by Johnny Rawls and Layce Baker Jr. and Black Diamond
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5th 2015 Rentiesville Blues Festival at D.C. Minner’s
MAIN STAGE Sat Sept 5th
4:00pm Gates open; Happy Hour
between sets: Eric Walker OKC with Bonnie McCoy
6:00 Checotah H School Rt 66 Big Band with Roger Hurricane Wilson and Jim Davis OBHOF
7:15 Selby Minner band w Okla Slim, Cecil Gray OBHOF also Little Miss Peggy OBHOF
8:30 Miss Blues OBHOF Texas and OKC
9:45 Lil Jimmy Reed coming in from Alabama
10:30 Johnny Rawls – Blues Foundation Soul Blues Artist of the Year from Mississippi
11:45 Direct Connect OKC
BACK PORCH STAGE Sat September 5th
6:00 Dylan Whitney Band
7:15 Oklahoma Ollie
8:30 Mama Cookie, Ray Drew, OKC
9:45 Bonnie McCoy – great neice of Memphis Minnie here from Kansas City
11 Big MaClyde Sheeley Wichita KS
12 Cowboy, Bronko, – Checotah and Big Dave Carr Jr (sax) – Dallas
BLUES CLUB STAGE indoors Sat Sept 5th
5:00 Dues Paid – Bartlesville with Wolf Man Black OBHOF
7:15 Sunsetter – OKC
8:30 Cecil Gray and Band
9:45 INDOOR JAM with Debbie Blackwell with Mama Cookie, Sunsetter, Little Miss Peggy
12 – 5 am Selby and Band,
followed by Lil Jimmy Reed and Johnny Rawls and Miss Blues maybe Layce Baker Jr.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6th 2015 Rentiesville Blues Festival at D.C. Minner’s
MAIN STAGE Sun Sept 6th
4:00pm Gates open; Happy Hour
between sets: Roger Hurricane Wilson OBHOF, GA and w Bonnie McCoy sometimes
6:00 GOSPEL including Rev. Harper of Eufaula and Rev Tony Wise’s VOPBC Men’s Chorus
7:15 Wanda Watson – Tulsa, OBHOF
8:30 Selby Minner Dan Oklahoma Slim and Steve Shrum
9:45 Larry Garner Baton Rouge Louisianna
11 Johnny Rawls – Blues Foundation Soul Blues Artist of the Year from Mississippi
BACK PORCH STAGE Sun Sept 6th
7:15 Last Call
8:30 Dirty Red and the Soul Shakers
9:45 Baby Ray Mucker OBHOF – Pittsburg CA, McAlester
11 Magic Mike Updegrove
12 Dangerous GentlemsnZ
BLUES CLUB STAGE indoors Sun Sept 6th
6:00 Brothers Dupree with Sista Sarah Wade – Lawton OK
7:15 Berry Harris – OBHOF – Stringtown OK and Wichita KS
8:30 Jimmy Preacher Ellis – OBHOF – Seattle, Tulsa, now Dallas
9:45 INDOOR JAM with Debbie Blackwell and Jimmy Ellis, Berry Harris more
12 – 5 am Selby and Band, Bonnie McCoy
followed by Larry Garner Band and Johnny Rawls with Harry Blackwell and more!
BACKGROUND: Blues on the Move
D. C. Minner worked out of Oklahoma City all thru the late 50’s and the 60’s as the bassist and bandleader with Larry Johnson and the NEW BREED. This group was the top OKC blues/R&B band and they were a ‘pick-up’ band who traveled with and backed many national acts on parts of their tours. They did this with Freddie King for two years, moved to Memphis and did this for O. V. Wright. Also out of OKC for Eddie Floyd (Knock on Wood), Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and many others.
D. C. moved to Witchita KS in different formations of this group, Denver, and later to Los Angeles. There he had a band with Tony Mathews, someone he grew up with as Tony was from Checotah. In the 70’s he moved north to Berkeley and the Redwoods (Whale Gulch, Whitethorn), and switched from bass to guitar. After this he grouped with Selby who had moved to Berkeley after finishing art school in Providence RI at RISD. She had traveled and performed her way west with Jim Donovan (guitar, vocals), as Home Cookin’. D. C. found himself using the ODYSSEY bar on San Pablo Ave. as a lab for his new songs and new instrument. Selby was holding down some Saturday night spots there, and with the encouragement of friends they formed BLUES ON THE MOVE in 1976.
HISTORY OF THE FESTIVAL
Twelve years on the road performing, and D. C. and Selby Minner were ready to move back to Oklahoma – DC’s birthplace – in RENTIESVILLE and re-open his grandmother Lura’s Cozy Corner as the Down Home Blues Club. That was in 1988.
The Festival grew out of the all-night club. DC enlarged the place, and the first Festival filled the enlarged club up two weeks after it was finished.Seven bands with Little Johnny Taylor as the headliner. They were hoping for 350 people, and when 700 came thru the door that Sunday afternoon they figured they were onto something good.
The next year Big Ray came down with his bulldozer for two weeks, they put up a fence and built the outdoor stage and went to two days. Two nights, really as the nights are cool in rural Rentiesville, even if it is hot in the daytime.
The couple had met so many friends scattered across the country from the 12 years of touring, that they figured if they had one weekend a year with a great reason to get here (try 30 bands!!) the friends might get to meet each other. Also they knew lots of great musicians who weren’t playing festivals and who were sure qualified.
The Rentiesville Fest has turned into a reunion of sorts, both for musicians and fans. A showcase for great regional blues bands – headed up by 5 international stars – many on the move up through the ranks, and proud to be included in the Rentiesville tradition – and a focus for the music loving community across the state and beyond.
As the Festival has grown many people have come on board to help make it happen; it’s far too much for one or two people to do. So we are grateful to these wonderful people who help make this three night event happen. Eddie Bagwell from the Blues Soc of Tulsa wrote:
“If you want to discover what the blues is really all about, you’ll make plans for this one next year. ….It was so beautiful and pure, I wish you were all there”
Background:
When D.C. and Selby Minner started the Blues Festival in 1991, someone who lived there said “no one can find Rentiesville – not even Little Johnny Taylor” wrong! 700 people came in that Sunday afternoon. Little Johnny Taylor and 6 other bands put on an awesome show.
A couple of festivals later Selby was talking to the Blues Foundation in Memphis. They said “Blues Festival? –we didn’t know there was any Blues in Oklahoma.” (!!) But when they sent their writer, he wrote in their newsletter “Suffice it to say ‘all night party’ is a pretty apt description, – this Festival is a must-see to say you are in touch with the Blues scene in this country today!” Rentiesville rocks!
One year it rained on us and fans were calling it the Blues Woodstock.
You keep music alive by enjoying it… and Blues is some of the best party music ever created. “Hey Everybody, Let”s Have Some Fun!” “Gonna Rock this place tonite … all nite long…we ain’t never going home!”
Minner on the Festival:
“Well, if you do something long enough, eventually you hope you get good at it, and I am really proud of this year’s lineup! This is a community of music lovers. It has been a hard year for people…so much rain, and lots of stress…just watch the news… people need to come together and share the love. Nothing brings people together like music, particularly Blues, and the Festival draws a wide variety of people from near and far… everybody is here…and we hope you will mark your calendars and be here too!”
