The legendary Buddy Guy will headline the two-day Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival on July 11 (photo by Christian Lantry)
World Financial Center Plaza
220 Vesey St. between North End Ave. & West St.
July 11-12, free, 6:00
212-417-7050
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
The blues return to World Financial Center Plaza this week with another diverse lineup for the second annual Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival. Last July, such greats as Taj Mahal and James Blood Ulmer played in the shadow of the Hudson River; this year features seventy-four-year-old living legend Buddy Guy, who will be headlining the July 11 show (after signing copies of his new memoir, When I Left My Home: My Story). Wednesday will also feature thirteen-year-old-prodigy Quinn Sullivan and the one and only John Mayall, the seventy-eight-year-old British master who led one of the seminal blues groups, the Bluesbreakers, which gave rise to such guitarists as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor. On July 12, Rob and Rachel Kolar’s He’s My Brother She’s My Sister kicks things off, joined by tap dancer Lauren Brown, followed by sixty-three-year-old Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires. Born in Florida but raised in Brooklyn, Bradley has lived the life he sings about on his debut album, No Time for Dreaming. The evening concludes with a performance by indie fave Neko Case, the northwest singer-songwriter who is a member of the New Pornographers and has released such well-received solo albums as 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and 2009’s Middle Cyclone.