BETHLEHEM, Pa. — ArtsQuest’s annual Blast Furnace Blues Festival will return for an 14th year in July, again as a free, two-day, entirely outdoor festival.
And it will feature one of the most honored blues singers of the 21st century, who this year was nominated for three Grammy Awards and four Blues Music Awards.
ArtsQuest has not formally announced plans for this year’s Blast Furnace Blues, but it has listed shows for the festival on its website.
It already lists 11 performers — the same number as last year's festival. It's not clear whether that will be the entire lineup.
The Blast Furnace Blues festival will be held 5-11 p.m. July 18 and 2-11p.m. July 19 on the SteelStacks campus, with performances at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and the Town Square Community Stage.SteelStacks website
The apparent headliner is Shemekia Copeland, whose latest album, "Blame It On Eve," was nominated this year for Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Blues Album and Best American Roots Album, and the title track for Best American Roots Song.
The festival will be held 5-11 p.m. Friday, July 18, and 2-11p.m. Sunday, July 19, on the SteelStacks campus, with performances at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and the Town Square Community Stage.
Last year's Blast Furnace Blues, which was the first to contract to two days and be held entirely outdoors, was paired with ArtsQuest's new Steel City Smokeout barbecue festival.
There has been no announcement or indication that festival will return this year.
Much-awarded headliner
As Blast Furnace Blues headliner, Copeland will perform at 7:30 p.m. July 19.
Copeland, daughter of Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland, has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album three other times: in 2000 for “Wicked,” in 2013 for “33 1/3″ and in 2015 for “Outskirts of Love.”
Copeland has been nominated for 47 Blues Music Awards in the past 25 years and won 15.Blues Music Awards website
Her new album also is nominated this year for Blues Music Awards for Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Blue Album and Song of the Year for "Tough Mother."
Those awards will be handed out May 8.
Copeland, who has been nominated for 47 Blues Music Awards in the past 25 years and won 15.
“Wicked,” which was Copeland’s sophomore disc, in 2000 won the Blues Music Award for Album of the Year, as did her third album, “Talking to Strangers” in 2003, "America's Child" in 2019 and 2021's "Uncivil War."
She won Blues Entertainer of the Year in 2021and was nominated five other times. She won Best Female Artist in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2016, 2020 and 2021.
Copeland also headlined the Blast Furnace Blues Festival in 2015.
Lineup of 10 other acts
According to the SteelStacks website, kicking off the festival will be Lehigh Valley blues favorite BC Combo at 5 p.m. on the Levitt Pavilion stage.
Three-time Blues Music Award nominee Alexis P. Suter will continue the festival's first night at 6 p.m. on the Town Square Community Stage.
Headlining the first night will be blues rock band Indigenous, which has had three discs reach the Top 3 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart. It will play at 7:30 p.m. on the Levitt Pavilion stage.SteelStacks website
Headlining the first night will be blues rock band Indigenous, which has had three discs reach the Top 3 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart. It will play at 7:30 p.m. on the Levitt Pavilion stage.
Closing the night will be rising singer-songwriter-guitarist Jax Hollow on the Town Square Community Stage.
The second day of Blast Furnace Blues will kick off with another Lehigh Valley favorite, Sarah Ayers Band, on the Community Stage at 2 p.m.
Performing on the Levitt Pavilion stage at 3 p.m. will be Dyer Davis Band, whose debut album “Dog Bites Back” hit No. 6 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart.
Soul-blues-reggae-funk band Kelly Bell Band will play the Community Stage at 4:15 p.m., and blues/rock guitarist Zach Person, whose album "Let's Get Loud" was released March 1, will play the Levitt stage at 5:15 p.m.
Blues rocker Mckinley James, who recently released his debut album "Working Class Blues," will precede Copeland on the Community Stage at 6:15 p.m.
And closing the festival will be blues and soul performer Dylan Triplett on the Community Stage at 9 p.m.
