MUSIC: Hot Springs fest to sing the blues in a new home

LITTLE ROCK — The Hot Springs Blues Festival is on the move.

The 12th annual festival will be held tonight and Saturday in a new location, Hill Wheatley Plaza, adjoining the visitors' center for the National Park on Central Avenue, instead of near the city's Transportation Plaza.

"We were bumping up against the Farmers Market, which gets bigger and bigger," says Leadra Orr, a board member of the Spa City Blues Society, organizers of the fest. "And we decided that moving more into the center of downtown would give the festival more visibility and tap into that historic thing. We'll be within walking distance of some of the hotels, too."

Another change involves cost. Always free until this year, admission will now be on a $5 donation basis, with no one who is unable to pay turned away, Orr adds.

"Last year we went $2,200 in the hole, but we had dug our way out by December," she explains. "We know it's so hard right now for our sponsors and donors to contribute, so we have cut back on expenses."

The festival kicks off tonight, starting with a set by a local group, The John Calvin Brewer Band, which will open for the festival's headline attraction, The Bluebirds, from Shreveport.

Like the festival, The Bluebirds have undergone somerecent changes. Long a trio led by brothers Bruce and Buddy Flett, the group is minus one Flett, at least for a time. Bassist Bruce Flett explains:

"Back in February, Buddy was struck by viral encephalitis and almost died. He's recovered some, but not totally. Mostly he's laying back and not playing every week. He had been out with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hubert Sumlin and went to Istanbul and Athens and did a blues cruise in the Caribbean, and it's likely he contracted the disease somewhere while traveling from a mosquito bite.

"If he hadn't gotten to a hospital, I think we would have lost him."

To keep the band aloft, 24-year-old guitarist and singer Jimmy Wooten stepped in to play with Flett and drummer Cody Lowery.

"Jimmy had filled in for Buddy when he was on the cruise," Flett says, "and he's from a musical family, where his dad plays guitar and his mother plays bass, and Jimmy played drums with them. So he's equally proficient on drums, bass and guitar, and a darn good singer. He was influenced by both Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Mayer, so he's into blues and rock and pop. And he's a great country picker, too."

One blues fan who grew up in Little Rock and now lives in Shreveport checked in to report good things about thenew 'bird.

"Jimmy is an awesome guitarist in his own right," says Grady Wahlquist, a music fan of long standing, and current observer of the blues scene in south Arkansas and north Louisiana.

The Bluebirds got started in 1986, with the Fletts tracing their musical roots to A-Train, a rock group that occasionally played at the old S.O.B. in Little Rock in the early '80s.Bruce Flett remembers one of the earliest Bluebirds shows in central Arkansas.

"It was the first time we played at the Arkansas River Blues Festival in '87 or '88," he says. "John Lee Hooker and Elvin Bishop were the headliners."

Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n about the festival, visit www.myspace.com / hotspring sbluesfest or call (501) 844-1022.

Hot Springs Blues Festival timeline TODAY AT HILL WHEATLEY PLAZA:

5 p.m. John Calvin Brewer Band

8 p.m. The Bluebirds ELSEWHERE TODAY

9 p.m. WSNB (We Sing Nasty Blues) at Maxine's, 700 Central Ave., (501)

321-0909

9 p.m. Jelly Brown at Rolando's, 210 Central Ave., (501) 318-6054

9 p.m. Heavy Sugah & the Sweet-Tones at The Big Chill, 910 Higdon

Ferry Road, (501) 624-5185 SATURDAY AT HILL WHEATLEY PLAZA

2 p.m. Jelly Brown & Guido Ciardetti

3 p.m. The Brethren

4 p.m. Heavy Sugah & the Sweet-Tones

5 p.m. Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm

6:30 p.m. Barbara Blue

8 p.m. Harper ELSEWHERE SATURDAY

9 p.m. WSNB at Maxine's

9 p.m. Jelly Brown at Rolando's

9 p.m. Heavy Sugah & the Sweet-Tones at The Big Chill SUNDAY

8 p.m. Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm at Shark's, 634 Malvern

Ave., (501) 318-5282