We asked a handful of the Blues Festival participants to talk about the musicians who influenced them. Here's what they had to say:

Frank Marino on Jimi Hendrix
For years the story was that Marino was not only influenced by Hendrix, but that the Canadian guitarist went into a coma and Hendrix's spirit entered his body. The leader of Mahogany Rush is here to tell us it's not true.

	Frank Marino first saw Jimi Hendrix in 1967, but at first he didn't get it. Click photo for larger image.

"I first heard him in 1967, but I wasn't a guitar player. I was part of the '60s generation of people into that kind of music. It was impressive to me from a psychedelic point of view. I was really into psychedelic music, and the first song I heard from him was 'Are you Experienced?' I remember thinking, boy, does that music fit the way I live. And I was born in '54. I would have been turning 13. I was part of the hippie generation when I was 10. I think when I heard Hendrix I was knocked out by the psychedelia, but I was a drummer so I was just as influenced by Mitch Mitchell.

It's a funny thing. I've become so equated with Hendrix over the years, to the point where it kind of bugs me. But when I saw Jimi Hendrix in '68, I left. I thought it was awful. I didn't get it. I thought it was going to be what I heard, the psychedelic sound effects stuff on 'Are You Experienced?' I remember this guy came out in red pants and proceeded to make the most god-awful noise I ever heard. I remember walking out of this, I was the only one and it was almost eerie. I could hear my footsteps on the cobblestones as I walked. And I remember as I got older and people would say, Frank Marino/Jimi Hendrix, Frank Marino/Jimi Hendrix. I thought, this is this guy's revenge on me for walking out of his concert. 'I'll make sure you never forget my name, pal.'

I developed a healthy love for him when I became a guitar player. In late '68 I went to a hospital for having abused psychedelic drugs and I stayed there for a while. There was really nothing to do there besides get my mind off my trip. But there was a guitar there and I picked up this guitar and played it all the time. Naturally, I was trying to play psychedelic music. By the time I emerged from the hospital, I had stopped taking the drugs, and of course, everyone in the world was taking it, so I became kind of an ostracized person. I was not part of the gang anymore. So I spent a lot of time by myself. And spent a lot of time with the guitar. When I got out, my mother got me an electric guitar -- an SG I played all my career.

When my music started to emerge, it really did have that flavor, and it was considered perfectly normal at the time. But he happened to die two years later. All of a sudden it became, who do you think you are? A 16-year-old white kid from Canada playing Hendrix and no one else is. Then this music magazine invented this ridiculous story about reincarnation and hospital accidents. I was this 16-year-old kid. I didn't have a publicist. I tried for so many years to tell the facts about this. It wasn't until I had a Web site that I was able to publish my side. It's on the record that way back then I was telling these reincarnation stories. It's in Rolling Stone's bible of rock. It's taken 30 years to try to make this normal."

Walter Trout on Michael Bloomfield

Michael Bloomfield influenced many guitarists through his playing with the Butterfield Blues Band. Click photo for larger image.

Blues guitarist Walter Trout is a native of Ocean City, N.J., who worked early on as a sideman for John Lee Hooker and as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before launching a solo career. His latest record, "Full Circle," features such guests as Mayall, Jeff Healey, Coco Montoya and Bernard Allison.

"He was the guy who really turned my ear towards blues guitar playing. When I first heard him I was listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, it was 1965, and I was really into Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Stones, and the Animals.

Along came this record from the Butterfield Blues Band. In that time, in 1965, no one was playing the guitar like that. He had all this fire and aggression. He was playing the blues, but playing it with the rock and roll fire and wild abandonment. He sounded like he was right on the verge of blowing up.

If you put it on now, I still hear it the same way. The one thing he didn't have was overdrive on the amplifier. They didn't make amplifiers with overdrive, and he didn't have pedals to give sustain to the amps. He had to pay with a clean-sounding amp, but he still managed to just really rip.

	One of the players Bloomfield influenced was Walter Trout, who describes him as "revolutionary." Click photo for larger image.

His playing was revolutionary. He was really one of a kind. The first time I heard that, I had to sit down. It had that kind of impact on me. It really gave me an idea of what was possible.

"My parents played John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. I heard all that stuff growing up. Never had an idea that it could be played so wildly and with such technique, also. It opened up a whole new world to me. If you put that on now and remember it was done at the same time as 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and 'Get Off My Cloud,' it's amazing. A lot of guys who are my age are massively influenced by that album."

Billy Price on Otis Clay

Price needs no introduction to local audiences, having ruled the blue-eyed soul scene here since the '70s. His latest record is 2006's "East End Avenue," a collaboration with John Tiven.

Pittsburgh's Billy Price says of Otis Clay, "For many years, I copied Otis blatantly and shamelessly." Click photo for larger image.

"On the first Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band LP, recorded in 1979, we covered a song called "Is It Over?" that was originally recorded by Otis Clay. That was the title song of that first LP.

My manager at the time got in touch with Otis and, after much coaxing, he got Otis to agree to come east from Chicago to do a couple of dates with our band backing him up. We worked hard to learn all of Otis' material, studying his 'Live in Japan' album carefully. At the first rehearsal for our first show at Desperado's in Washington, D.C., it was instantly clear that the band and Otis were perfectly matched. At the show, toward the end of Otis' great set, he unexpectedly called me up to sing with him. I will never forget the chills that went down my spine when I stood next to him -- this was the real Otis Clay and not a recording in my living room -- and improvised with him on "Is It Over?"

We've performed together many times since, and Otis was kind enough to make a cameo appearance with me on my "Soul Collection" CD in 1998. For many years, I copied Otis blatantly and shamelessly. I'm probably a bit more subtle about copying him now, but when I sing, he is always in there somewhere. From Otis I learned focus -- the ability to block out distractions and enter deeply into a song. I also learned to approach every gig, no matter how few people are in the audience, with the same commitment to practice the craft of singing. I've seen Otis sing in a wide variety of settings and circumstances and have never seen anything less than a transcendent performance."

Guy Davis on Blind Willie McTell and Kenny Neal

Guy Davis is a composer, actor, director, writer and son of famous actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. He's also a self-taught blues guitarist, who accompany himself with a harmonica and sings in a plaintive style reminiscent of the great Son House.

	Guy Davis says his guitar playing was influenced by Blind Willie McTell, and his harmonica playing by Kenny Neal. Click photo for larger image.

Davis came to the blues after hearing Taj Mahal and subsequently listened to Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt and Howling Wolf. But his greatest influence came from William Samuel McTell, better known as "Blind Willie," one of the blues most gifted storytellers.

"As a musician and storyteller, he was a fantastic 12-string guitarist. He played 12-string slide like I had never heard before. No one could spin a story like Blind Willie. There were people that could do it and do it beautifully, but it was something the way Willie did it that resonated. I can still hear Willie's recording of "Atlanta Strut."

On harmonica, Davis found inspiration from Kenny Neal, who not only is a wonderful musician but a great showman.

"You are not going to find anyone doing better than [Neal]. He is a fantastic showman. But on the harmonica in particular, he is one of the best. I got some harmonica lessons from him, and if I didn't know it was going on, I wouldn't have known it happened. Years ago, we were working on Broadway, and I was his understudy. On his way down to the stage, he would blow on his harp a little and that was my harmonica lesson. The only thing he ever told me was how to hold my head when trying to play in the upper register. I stole a great deal from Blind Willie and Kenny. If you have the power to steal it, you should. You also have to earn it and practice until it becomes part of your own."

Larry McCrary on his sister Claire and Duane Allman

Larry McCrary's stinging guitar lines trace to his older sister Claire, a blues guitarists who played in the style of Albert Collins.

McCrary said his new recording, "Larry McCrary," released last week, has plenty of heart and soul.

"It's power blues and soul," he said. "I've been at this a long time. Still trying."

"She was absolutely my most direct influence. She was extremely progressive for her time, playing that rocking blues. Back then, there weren't too many people playing a lot of heavy electric guitar. She was on that curve. She was really into Albert Collins, so I started checking him out. I also heard some B.B. King records."

Later, McCrary said he turned to jazz and rock, listening to musicians like Grant Green and Duane Allman.

Devon Allman (with the Stax T-shirt), who leads Honeytribe, was inspired by Hendrix's singing as well as by his guitar work. Click photo for larger image.

"I try not to copy anyone note for note, but I've always tried to capture the same soul that they had. I was a huge fan of the Allman Brothers. Honestly, I love everyone that can play music that is heartfelt."

Devon Allman on Hendrix

Devon is the son of Greg Allman, but he grew up with his mom in St. Louis and didn't have much contact with his dad until he was 15. He formed his band, Honeytribe, in 1999, and it debuted last year with the hard-rock album "Torch."

"He has such a phenomenal body of work for dying so young. The cat really sounded like he was coming in from another astral plane. His sound dripped, slithered and seemed to defy gravity and just felt like you could almost bite into it. His melodic sense was very crafty, and I think since he was such a guitar god that his vocals have really been overlooked. His vocals inspire me to no end."

-- Nate Guidry and Scott Mervis