It almost sounds like a song once all the pieces are put together.
At least that’s how co-founder Bruce Wheeler feels while placing every performer in their perfect time slot for the annual Wheeling Heritage Music BluesFest that consumes Heritage Port for three days each August.
This year’s concert is scheduled for Aug. 12-14, and recording artists like Ruthie Foster, Mike Zito, and Victor Wainright all are scheduled for main-stage performances.
“When it’s time to do our lineup, the first thing I do is look at what we had the previous year and what I feel worked that year. I ask myself, ‘How can I change it up enough but also keep some of that familiarity so the fans get to hear their favorites again,” Wheeler explained. “It just evolves. That’s the best way I can describe it. That question is sort of like asking how a songwriter comes up with a song. In most cases, it just happens.
“I program the artists I like and who sound interesting to me, and it just so happens it’s what other people like, too,” he said. “Booking the big names is easy, but it’s finding the up-and-comers that I really enjoy,” he said. “My wife and I made the trip to Memphis this year for that exact reason, and it’s great every time we go there.”
This year’s three-day event will feature 18 total acts on the main stage, five bands on the second stage, and an after-jam show each evening at the McLure House Bar & Grill.
“I’m excited because of the new performers on the schedule, plus I included some of my old favorites, too,” Wheeler said. “And, based on the lineups for each day, we’ll have some great jams that take place because of the people who will be on stage and the relationships that they have.
“As far as coming up with the lineup, other than the first year, I believe I’ve gone about it the same way,” he said. “That first year I had help with the headliners, but the rest of it was up to me to get both local and regional acts on the stage to fill out the lineup. From there, it turned into a lineup that includes all national-touring acts, and the people seemed to love it.”
Lineup 2022
Friday, August 12: Katie Henry Band, Curtis Salgaldo, Damon Fowler, and Ruthie Foster.
Saturday, August 13: Billy the Kid & the Regulators, Kat Riggins, The Nighthawks 50th Anniversary, Brandon Santini Band, King Solomon Hicks, Albert Castiglia, Mike Zito, and Blood Bros Jam.
Sunday, August 14: Micah Kesselring, Pat Harrington & Owen Eichensehr, Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band, Popa Chubby, JP Soars, and the Red Hots, Joe Louis Walker, and Victor Wainright & the Train.
Second Stage: Catch Blues Band, Lil’ Red & the Rooster, Patrick McLaughlin, Pierce Dipner, and the Sarah Hays Band.
About 50-50
Wheeler thinks there may have been more people on the outside than on the inside during the first-ever BluesFest in downtown Wheeling.
The year was 2001, and Heritage Port was brand-spanking new. A schedule for live events had yet to be created, but Wheeler believed he had answers. He approached the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp., known now as Wheeling Heritage, with ideas for three shows, and, ultimately, he moved forward with BluesFest with the federal organization’s support.
And next to no one showed up that very first year, but the audience grew over the years, and now Wheeler believes, it’s just as popular locally as it has been regionally.
“Over the past few years, we have trended more toward local when it comes to those in attendance,” he revealed. “These days I’d be willing to bet the crowd is close to 50-50, and it’s taken all those years to get there because the blues wasn’t a big genre of music when we first got started a little more than 20 years ago.
“Country has always been king here in the Wheeling area,” Wheeler said. “But I believe it’s been word-of-mouth ever since, and it took a while. I used to go to Kroger, and people would ask me when ‘that Jazz festival’ is, and I would offer them the correct information, but as the years passed, it was more like, ‘I can’t wait for the BluesFest,’ and things like that. Well, it’s in just a couple of weeks.”
And tickets remain available.
“General admission and VIP tickets are still available online, and there are just a couple of backstage VIP tickets left, too,” Wheeler revealed. “There also are the after jams at the McLure House Bar and Grill, and all of that information, along with the schedule for the second stage inside the show, are on heritagemusicfest.com.
“The canopy locations are sold out, and so are all of the available rooms at the McLure House Hotel, so we are anticipating a terrific weekend for BluesFest,” he added. “Plus, we have some great food trucks coming this year, and we’ve made sure it all will taste great with a Yuengling.”
In 2001 I was in the Dave Chisolm Band from Columbus Ohio, and we were one of the bands Bruce booked for the very first Heritage Festival… possibly because we were the 2000 winners of the local Columbus Blues Challenge. The Nightowls were the headliners celebrating their 30th anniversary that weekend. We were so excited and pleased that we were chosen to perform that first night; it was our first major festival too! We were treated like kings by Bruce and the staff, and we played our hearts out that night to an appreciative audience. Thank you Bruce Wheeler for a wonderful event we will always remember.
Steve Woods