By Luke Voogt
The Bluestone Blues Festival will come of age this year and celebrate its 21st birthday with generations of local and national talent.
Geelong blues veteran Sweet Felicia will again take the stage at the two-day festival with her new band, The Tradies.
Sweet Felicia has always been in love with music. But it became her calling when her brother’s band mate invited her to play his bass.
“Once I played it knew it was what I had to do.”
For three decades Felicia has travelled the country with her “jump swing” blues while working as a systems analysts, shoe salesperson and everything in between.
Her up-tempo music and smoky voice saw her win the Melbourne Blues Challenge in 2011 and represent Victoria in Memphis the next year where she made the semi-finals.
“It was the first time in my life I had been out of Australia,” she said.
But nothing tops playing with the late Blues legend B.B. King in Brisbane during the late ’90s.
“He was such a gracious and kind man, and it was an honour to meet him,” she said.
Felicia moved to Geelong seven years ago when she was working on the Bellarine Blues Train and “Melbourne just got a bit too expensive to live in”.
When she’s not playing at Pistol Pete’s or a festival gig, she’s mentoring Geelong’s young blues artists.
“I just want to help them navigate the industry,” she said. “It can be very tough out there, especially for women.”
The festival is the biggest event of the year for the Sleepy Hollow Blues Club.
It will kick off at 6pm on New Year’s Eve with Geelong-based bands Lounge Lizards and Buxom Blues.
The Andy Layfield Sound will follow while Melbourne blues trio HouseWreckers will see in the new year.
“Recovery day” proceedings will get underway at 11am when Torquay-based blues quartet Righteous Desmond takes the stage.
Australian blues star Chris Wilson will start at 12.30pm filling the air with his penetrating voice and harmonica.
Another of the country’s prolific blues artists, Geoff Achison, will follow with his band the Souldiggers.
The Sammy Owen Blues Band will play the final set for the milestone festival.
The Bluestone Blues Festival starts at Murgheboluc Reserve at 6pm on 31 December.
For more information or tickets visit sleepyhollowblues.club.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of this season’s Geelong Coast Magazine to read Sweet Felicia’s remarkable story of music and triumph.
