Kettle Moraine Blues Fest

Description

Join us for our 3rd Annual Kettle Moraine Blues Fest

 A 2-day festival of live Blues music! Buy a ticket for day 1 (Friday, 3/28/2025) or day 2 (Saturday, 3/29/2025) OR buy a 2-day pass to experience both nights of The Bend's Kettle Moraine Blues Fest.

Blues has been called America's only true original American music art form; whether it's Chicago blues, delta blues, New Orleans blues, or southern rockin' blues. These blues bands showcase the diversity of what the term 'blues' is all about.

Friday, 3/28/2025:

Night 1 of Kettle Moraine Bluesfest (Friday, 3/28/2025) features Host, originally from West Bend, WI, Mandi Strachota followed by  Dave Steffen Band and ending the evening with The Georgia Thunderbolts.

The Georgia Thunderbolts:

The road to being hailed as the new torchbearers of Southern rock hasn’t been as glamorous as you might imagine for The Georgia Thunderbolts. It wasn’t many years ago that the guys busked at gas stations, fumbled through covers, and drove four hours to Alabama to play to a bartender and a three-legged dog sitting on a barstool.

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These days, however, the Rome, Georgia-based quintet is a critically acclaimed and internationally touring band fending off the sophomore slump with its latest album, Rise Above It All, out on Mascot Records. The 13-track record is an artistically assured collection of hard-hitting Southern rock, blues, and heartfelt Americana.

“When you cut back on being a tough guy, more emotions can come through, and you hear that on this record,” says TJ Lyle, lead vocals, harmonica, and keyboards. “This album travels all musical genres.”

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The Georgia Thunderbolts are rounded out by Zach Everett, bass, classical guitar, harmony vocals; Bristol Perry, drums; Logan Tolbert, guitar; and Riley Couzzourt, guitar. The quintet’s earthy and emotive aesthetic spans late 1960s singer-songwriter intimacy, the yearning of the blues, the mythological stories of country, and a bracing dose of arena-ready classic hard rock.

“I was raised by my dad and my grandma. He loved 1980s rock, and my grandma loved classic country, like Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard,” Riley says. “As soon as TJ opens his mouth you know we’re from the South.”

Previously, the band released it’s debut album, Can We Get A Witness, smack in the middle of the pandemic. Despite not having the opportunity to tour, the album amassed over 6 million streams across digital platforms, and earned critical acclaim from No Depression, Rolling Stone, Classic Rock, American Songwriter, Loudwire, Paste Magazine, and many others.

The Dave Steffen Band:

Anyone who has heard the DAVE STEFFEN BAND play live understands that their music is more than just notes. With ten albums and literally thousands of live appearances under his belt, Dave Steffen has made music a way of life. Since Dave received his first recording contract at the tender age of fifteen, he has devoted his life to playing, recording and living his music.  

Dave moved to San Francisco in 1986. In 1995, Dave returned to his native Wisconsin, where he first earned his reputation as a top-flight axeman. Determined to find the hottest young players he could find, he hooked up with Craig Neuser on bass and vocals.  The newest addition to the band is drummer, Spencer Panosh.

Several of the band's songs have been used on the popular daytime soap, The Young and the Restless. The show's producer enjoyed their music so much, he requested that they appear on an upcoming show. The show aired February 24th and 25th, 2000. They appeared as themselves.

The trio, simply called The Dave Steffen Band, packs a live punch which gets the crowd on its feet every time.

Saturday, 3/29/2025:

Night 2 of Kettle Moraine Bluesfest (Saturday, 4/20/2024) features Host Mandi Strachota followed by Ivy Ford Band and ending the evening with Davina & The Vagabonds.

Davina & The Vagabonds:

Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene with their high-energy live shows, level A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism, and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. With influences ranging from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe.

Much like the music, the story spurns era, expectation, and classification. The often unbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowers gave birth to her eponymous band Davina and The Vagabonds in 2004. As the tale goes, she grew up in the economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA, which she now describes as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.” She was adopted by her much older stepfather when he was in his 80s; he passed away when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, she first heard The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and many others. “Great man. He was my angel and still is,” she says.

On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player where she religiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Simon and Garfunkel records belonging to her folk singer mom.

To this day, Davina still refers to music as “my first and eternal love.” Despite early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in high school, which morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail, and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band, and worked [her] ass off every day since.”

Davina and the Vagabonds shine every time they play. To date, they’ve performed in forty-five states, twelve European countries, and two Canadian provinces. Not to mention, they’ve earned feverish acclaim from the Chicago Tribune, NPR, and more in addition to performing on BBC’s international favorite late-night program Later… With Jools Holland and appearing on PBS’s Bluegrass Underground.

Ivy Ford Band:

Ivy Ford is versatile, talented, an old soul. From singing the blues to being sultry, she is an indigo artist who's gift connects those who are around her and those who listen. Whether leading a full band or serenading a small audience solo on stage, Ivy Ford commands an energy that is most magical.

About the host - Mandi Strachota:

Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in the wilds of Wisconsin, Mandi Strachota is the product of southern roots and Midwest know-how, a potent mix of practicality and soulful dreaming. Mandi has become a fixture on the Atlanta scene, playing at local spots like Northside Tavern, Blind Willie’s, Fat Matt’s. Third Door, and Moonshadow Tavern. She also performed as an opener for Delbert McClinton at the Variety Playhouse in 2020, as well as an opener for Robert Earl Keen at The Eastern in 2021. She began taking her music nationwide with a successful cross country tour in 2019 and a scheduled tour for 2020 that was unfortunately postponed by the Coronavirus. She is known for her soulful vocals, but is a multi-instrumentalist who is quickly becoming known for her songwriting. Mandi released her debut album Fly in the fall of 2013. Her second project Unleashed, which was released in September of 2017, tells her very honest story of self-discovery. Embracing R&B, gospel and soul, with a touch of grit and country sway, Unleashed is timeless in its sound, but thoroughly modern in its message. Mandi was selected as Creative Loafing’s 2019 Reader’s Choice Best Acoustic Artist and was a semifinalist in the 2020 International Blues Challenge. Following the IBC in March of 2020, she released her third album, Pictures, a blues based project that dabbles in jazz, gospel, and country and includes her Major 7 bandmates as well as a couple other local favorites. Her 2017 country single Whiskey In the Parking Lot was featured in the Indie film Live or Die In La Honda, and she is currently in the process of recording a double country album aimed at being released in 2025, among other projects. She completed successful cross country tours in the fall of 2022 and 2023, and plans to return to travel in 2025 with shows in Memphis, WI, and IN, among others.

Mandi is a member of blues legend Mudcat’s band, collaborating with him on his 2018 release Castaway as well as his most recent album Flight School. Mandi is also the former lead vocalist and percussionist for the Wasted Potential Brass Band, who performed at Bonnaroo 2018 as well as Super Bowl LIII. They released their first full length album titled Ruining the Surprise Party in 2019 and released another EP, Room To Grow, in 2021. In addition, she has worked on multiple projects by Andrea and Mud, as well as working on projects with Alex Guthrie, Eddie 9V, and Se’Von. She has also shared the stage with Sean Costello, Donnie McCormick of Eric Quincy Tate, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Otis Redding III, and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi.

Doors open at 6:30 PM to give you time to find your seats, visit our historic lobby, concession stand and fully stocked bar!

Show begins at approximately 7:30 PM

Date & Time

Mar 28 - 29, 2025

Venue Details

The Bend

The Bend