Last year, Cognac Blues Passion celebrated its 30th anniversary with one of the genre’s best veterans: American guitarist Buddy Guy, 87, then in the middle of a triumphant farewell tour that ended this spring in Chicago. During that same edition, the Charente event also welcomed crooner Chris Isaak, but also Frenchmen Michel Jonasz, Placebo, MC Solaar and Matthieu Chédid, whose connection with the blues is not immediately obvious.
This is the strength of this summer event, one of the most important and earliest of the summer in New Aquitaine: mixing genres and pleasures, and thereby crossing public typologies.
“Coming across artists who embody passing of the baton, or promising successors, welcoming to audiences of all ages,” summarizes the historic artistic director Michel Rolland. Half a dozen places: in the heart of Maison Martell, in the green setting of Jarnac, the natural amphitheater of the Cognac Public Garden, at the castle of King François 1ᵉʳ, in the cafés and restaurants of the city… Five days During this time, music is everywhere, even on the balconies of three districts of the city. “Cognac Blues Passion is more determined than ever to assert itself and become an unmissable event,” assures Samuel Vincent, director of Belle Factory, the festival’s producing company.
From Nat Myers to Deep Purple
With some 40 bands or artists scheduled, the 2024 vintage manages to combine several programs in one. Blues purists are already eyeing the announced American artists. Among them, two protégés of Dan Auerbach, half of the duo The Black Keys and boss of the formidable Easy Sound label, based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nat Myers, seen on tour last winter with Robert Finley, is a storyteller of Korean American origin. This young street singer denounces, with his voice and his guitar, the injustices of an America that is fragmented like never before. Early James, for his part, summons the great southern authors (including Faulkner) to sing stories of murder, lost romances or optimistic spirits with a powerful voice beaten up with bourbon, in the manner of a youthful Tom Waits.
They will of course applaud the incredible Cedric Burnside with his hypnotic pieces, served with a total lack of show-off and a lot of soul. As it should be.
To strengthen the game and broaden the horizons, they will happily welcome two groups from California: Robert Jon & the Wreck, full of virtuosity, and the authentically rock quartet Rival Sons, author of nine albums that hark back to the seventies, from Led Zep to Free, from the Animals to Deep Purple.
The latter will also be there: the English group Deep Purple still has three of its historic members in its ranks (singer Ian Gillan, drummer Ian Paice and bassist Roger Glover, all approaching 80 years old) and continues to release studio albums. But plays most of his classics at every concert, from “Black Night” to the seminal “Smoke on the Water.”
Ditto, the English of Pretenders, reformed around the iconic singer Chrissie Hynde, always excellent on stage and armed with a concrete repertoire.
Ki Price
Chrissie Hynde, punk veteran, still at the helm of the Pretenders.
The Return of The Inspector Cluzo
Also highly anticipated, two local duos are particularly relevant: the Girondins Franck & Damien, masters of cool West Coast-style acoustic soul, and the Landes farmers of The Inspector Cluzo, just returned from a new tour in the United States. United where they played their songs produced by Vance Powell, producer of Raconteurs and Chris Stapleton albums. Finally, the tribute to the late Calvin Russell is already the subject of a very beautiful album with Johnny Gallagher, Beverly Jo Scott and Charlélie Couture… who will come together around Manu Lanvin for a concert that is expected to be exceptional.
But Cognac Blues Passion opens its chakras to other music. Like the rough funk of the Creole blues trio Delgres, or the strange universe of the blind and non-binary artist Brittany Davis: original gospel, pop and today’s R’n’B, it’s a UFO with the voice of an angel.
Finally, to excite as many people as possible, Cognac can count on the crazy and festive electro-swing of Caravan Palace, the eternal disco of Gloria Gaynor (the real one, that of “I Will Survive” and “Never Can Say Goodbye”). , the vocal gospel of the excellent Senegalese singer Faada Freddy or the music of the Malian goddess Fatoumata Diawara.
Meetings and acoustic sessions
A partner of Cognac Blues Passion for several years now, the monthly magazine “Rolling Stone” is now on the programme with a very original proposition: the Rolling Stone Conversations promise, between 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., around ten new master classes and impromptu showcases. “The idea came from Michel Rolland, the artistic director of the festival,” recalls journalist Xavier Bonnet, who – in tandem with Alma Rota, the magazine’s editor – will host these “Conversations”. “These are moments of exchange and interviews with artists programmed at the festival. Most of them will offer a short acoustic session of two or three songs afterwards.” Announced on this specially designed stage at the heart of the festival are Little Odetta, Jessie Lee & the Alchemists (winner of the Cognac Passions 2024 prize), The Inspector Cluzo, Rival Sons, Delgres, Cedric Burnside, etc.
A vinyl record of these “Rolling Stone Live Sessions at Cognac Blues Passion” is already planned: it will be mixed in London during the summer and available from September. It will mark the beginning of a unique collection of its kind.
