Longview Blues—August Nights 2024

Roland Wines is excited to announce the first annual Longview Blues/August Nights during the month of August 2024. The event will be held over 5 weekends and will include performances by some of the best talent in the Pacific Northwest. All performances will be held outside on stage rain or shine. We are confident that the Gods will shine on us as we bring our brand of uplift to the Longview/Kelso area. We are also happy to hold the performances in honor of Longview bluesman, Willis Moss and we will be collecting food and donations for our local shelters!

Women artists will be the focus of this years event. Four of the five performances will feature incredible women in music. Many people in the Longview area will remember some of these women when they performed at the She’s Speaking concert at the Columbia Theatre in March.

It is time that women get the recognition they deserve.

Tickets will go on sale April 15st for each performance. Cost is $20 per person, per performance or $75 for all five concerts and a food item. Kids are alway free. Support live music in Longview by purchasing tickets at http://rolandwines.com/store

So here you go. Dates are as following:

Be a supporter of live music in Longview. Buy a shirt!

Kevin Selfe and the Tornados—Saturday August 3rd

A native of Roanoke, VA, Kevin Selfe learned to play the blues by watching the masters that lived and traveled through the area. Having combined this influence with his own distinct style, Selfe developed a swampy, primal sound that is reminiscent of humid, summer evenings in the rural South. He relocated to Portland, OR in 2007 where he is now a leading light in the Pacific Northwest’s robust blues revival. Selfe is a two time inductee into the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame for Electric Guitar and Traditional Blues Act, and his band, Kevin Selfe and The Tornadoes, has received prestigious Muddy Awards for Blues Act of the Year eight times. His recordings on world renown blues labels Delta Groove and Vizztone have landed on the Billboard Blues Chart and have been featured on SiriusXM radio.

Sonny Hess—Saturday August 17th

Veteran guitarist vocalist, Sonny Hess first picked up a guitar as a kid age 8, by the time she was a teenager she was picking up gigs all over and played in Portland’s top bands at the time, The Koffee Band and Margo Tufo’s Blues Sisters. From there she met the show stopping, late great, Paulette Davis. This band won Portland’s music association Crystal award for outstanding R&B act of the year. Paulette Davis gave Sonny the nickname ‘Sonny Smokin’ Hess’, they played together for four years and out of that came the CD “It’s About Damn Time”. After Paulette passed, Sonny continued their legacy as the Power Band always known for upbeat danceable R&B, a real energetic show. Sonny went on to be the first woman nominated in a male dominated field for Best Lead Guitar by the Cascade Blues Assoc, also holds a nomination for "Lifetime Achievement Award". She has played with, sung with and composed with many of the regions top artists, as well as opening for Etta James, Jr Walker and the All Stars, Average White Band and Bobby Womack. Sonny Hess is also widely known for her productions of the NW Women R&B Show, a specialty show she takes pride in producing. Her show has been seen by 100’s of 1,000’s over the past 15 years at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival.

LaaRhonda Steele, a blues and gospel singer and songwriter, is recognized as one of the region’s best rhythm and blues vocalists. She has been dubbed ‘the first lady of Portland blues’—a title of leadership that she lives up to as she shares songs that carry forth directly from her soul and spiritual life-force. D\She currently fronts the LaRhonda Steele band, is music director of the non-profit Portland Interfaith Gospel Choir, music director of Portland Center for Spiritual Living, 2021 recipient of Oregon Folklife Networks Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program award, Inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame,  the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame., and Cascade Blues Association Best Female Vocalist Muddy Award.

Lisa Mann—August 24th

Two-time Blues Music Award winning artist Lisa Mann hails from blues-soaked Portland, Oregon.  Originally from West Virginia, Mann’s vocals effortlessly straddle the line between the honey sweet warmth of the south, and the force-of-nature sound Mann has cultivated by mastering everything from hard rock to rhythm and blues. Her clever blues and Americana balladry is complimented by her considerable prowess on bass guitar. Her bass grooves deliver the solidness of a Muscle Shoals Swamper or a Funk Brother.

Her influences run the gamut, from low down blues sisters Etta James and Koko Taylor, to singer-songwriters like Bonnie Raitt and R&B belters like Little Milton. She writes the majority of her recorded material, and her songs paint pictures of a gritty (and sometimes humorous) personal experience in life, love and the not-always-pretty music business.

While Lisa leads her own powerhouse band, she has also performed with many Northwest greats, such as the late Paul Delay, Lloyd Jones, Kevin Selfe, Ben Rice, Karen Lovely, and Sonny “Smokin’” Hess, as well as national greats Sugaray Rayford, Johnny Rawls, Annika Chambers, and more. She often lends her bass grooves and musical direction to Sonny Hess’ NW Women’s Rhythm and Blues Revue, a very popular showcase at festivals such as the Waterfront Blues Fest, and at Musicians for the Cure’s annual cancer charity Christmas show.  Lisa also participates as a Musician Mentor for the neuro-diverse, differently-abled performers of United By Music North America (ubmna.org).

Lisa’s vocals appear on Canadian blues master Bill Johnson’s Juno Award nominated CD, Still Blue. (www.billjohnsonblues.com), as well as on the soundtrack to the movie Woodstock or Bust (2019). She also lent her voice and bass to acclaimed symphonic rock project Cry for Eden. (www.cryforeden.com), and has released a traditional metal album The Poisoner under the pseudonym White Crone (www.whitecrone.com). Currently she is the lead vocalist for Portland’s own traditional metal band Splintered Throne (www.splinteredthrone.com)

La Rhonda Steele—August 31st

Liz Chibucos and Far Out West—Saturday August 10th

With over a decade of experience as a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, audio engineer and educator, Liz Chibucos has been a major contributor to Portland’s music scene since she moved to the city in 2008. Prior to living in Portland, Liz graduated with a degree in Composition and Ethnomusicology from Bowling Green State University, where she was mentored by jazz pianist Russell Schmidt and audio engineer Mark Bunce.

Post graduation, Liz’s college-turned-professional band, The Student Loan Stringband, began touring nationally and internationally as part of the American Music Abroad program. Between 2008 and 2016, TSL toured 17 countries and played hundreds of shows. The experience solidified Chibucos’ passion and expertise for band leadership, touring, song arrangement and musicianship, equipping her for a rich career in music.

It also gave her a small but life-changing glimpse into the daily struggles and joys of everyday people all around the globe. They deepened her belief in the power of cooperation and solidified her commitment to fight for a more just and equitable world. In 2020, enlisted by Portland musician and activist Sarah Clarke, Liz joined a small group of Pacific Northwesterners to start Musicians in Solidarity, a nonprofit organization devoted to creating a more inclusive, equitable, and supportive music industry.

Inspired by the guitar work of John Scofield, Jimmy Page, and Tony Rice, as well as songwriting behemoths such as Paul Simon, Liz continues to hone her composition and songwriting expertise as Far Out West grows into an unstoppable force.