In addition to the festivities, more than 150 classic cars will be vrooming in as a part of the Blues, BBQ and Bumpers Cruise-In on Broadway Street. The Highway to Help motorcycle riders will pull onto Broadway at 3 p.m. after the car show concludes.
The festival is free and open to the public.
Eleven blues bands, featuring prominent female musicians, will perform as a part of Women in Blues, delivering the flare of soulful blues across every style. Three bands will perform on Friday night and eight will perform on Saturday.
Several Dayton-native blues acts will represent the Gem City at the festival, including blueswoman Sharon Lane and alt-folk-gone-blues NOVENA.
Pianist Sharon Lane has been widely considered one of the framers and wise elders of the Dayton music scene, not just in terms of the blues but the music that also stemmed from blues — so, almost all of it. Her raspy voice and sharp storytelling are only enhanced by her piano skills.
Some folks consider Lane to be a jazz player, but she would fit right in at a smoky jazz lounge, a smoky blues house or any house in between.
“We all play the same damn notes,” Lane said, on the blues and jazz comparisons. “If you want to call me this or that, I don’t really care. This is what I do and I’m going to do it until I’m dead.”
Spoken like a true blueswoman: the first blueswoman, in fact, to play the Dayton Blues Festival. Lane’s a little Chicago blues, a little Tom Waits and a lot of whatever she wants to be because that’s what she enjoys doing.
Lane will take the stage at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be joined by saxophonist Danny Sauers. The duo can be seen hosting musician showcases every Thursday night at Trail Town Brewing in Yellow Springs.
This will be Lane’s third appearance on the Lebanon Blues Festival stage, and the first for NOVENA.
Before guitarist Eric Henry joined the band in 2020, NOVENA was more of an alt-folk act with a slew of rotating band members, held together by bassist Jennifer Taylor and singer-songwriter and guitarist Emma Woodruff.
But since adding Henry (who deejays The Blues Revival every Sunday on 91.3 FM WYSO), keyboardist Charlie Worth and blues drummer David Randall, NOVENA has incorporated far more blues sensibilities into its sets.
NOVENA will be covering Janis Joplin, Koko Taylor and Tina Turner, and will likely include blues renditions of songs from its catalog. Eric Henry’s song “Depression” will also be a part of the set. And while the band didn’t need a 180-spin to get to the blues, since it dabbled in the past, even Henry says it will be odd for people who know NOVENA.
But odd can be refreshing.
“It’s been a really fun little side quest that we’ve been working on this summer,” Taylor said, on playing the blues. “I think it just adds to the diversity of a set that we can provide.”
Last year, for NOVENA’s fifth anniversary, it played Levitt Pavilion. On the sixth, it’s playing the Lebanon Blues Festival. NOVENA will take the stage at 2 p.m. on Saturday, right after Sharon Lane.
“At first it kind of seemed like a challenge to me,” Woodruff said. “But there’s something that’s so liberating about using that very gutsy part of your diaphragm and really pouring your entire heart and soul out into it.”
With Woodruff’s show tune-derived powerhouse vocals and a versatile band, NOVENA can adapt to almost any style.
Bands also playing at the Lebanon Blues Festival are Authorized Personnel, Lady Joya, Amy McFarland and the Teeny Tucker Band (with Dayton keyboardist Jimmy D. Rogers).
How to go
What: 25th Anniversary Lebanon Blues Festival, themed “Women in Blues”
When: 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 2 and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Aug. 3
Where: Lebanon, Ohio’s Bicentennial Park (on the corner of Mulberry and Cherry streets)
Cost: Free