The first memorable event for BlueNotes at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival yesterday was that -- he got carded. Now, be aware that BlueNotes would not be mistaken for being under age on a dark night in a grade school. But nonetheless, it was flattering for a few minutes, until it became obvious they were carding everybody who wanted to buy beer.

Due to some delays, the afternoon's music schedule was slightly re-arranged, which put most of the early afternoon in the capable hands of some Pittsburgh musicians, including Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones, then an aggregation of local band members billed as the Pittsburgh Blues All-Stars.

The All-Stars featured John Pergal of the Pawnbrokers on vocals, then swapped him out for the work of Andrea Pearl, Jill Simmons and Ali Schelin. They're all good, but I especially enjoyed Pearl's throaty blues. The three women closed the set with a rousing "Chain of Fools."

Larry MCray is a big man with a big voice, and kicked of his set with a very appropriate "Blues is My Business (And Business is Good)."

McCray uses big fat guitar notes and a lot of pedal to make his blues a little funkier than your father's bluesman, but he's got the pipes and the chops to make it all work.

I like his rich voice and expressive guitar, and Noel Neal (I hope I got that right) contributes lively, funky bass lines.

Guitarists like McCray, and Bernard Allison (see below), are often talked about as being the future of the blues. We could do a lot worse.

Bernard Allison, meanwhile, is the son of the late, great Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison, and while the son has risen in a slightly different direction, you get a taste of some more straight-ahead blues in his music.

But that said, he's still moving in his own directions -- and his extended blues tribute to his Dad showed his strong guitar work.

Allison spent a lot of time living and working in Europe, where blues musicians generally get a lot more respect than they seem to here, and often tells interviewers that blues education is sorely neglected in the land where it all began. He provides strong evidence that it's not quite ready to go away.

Guy Davis, who wound up playing third in stead of first, was his usual entertaining self, picking out old and original blues on guitar and banjo (he gave Muddy Waters "Cain't Be Satisfied" an unlikely but highly successful banjo treatment).

That was until his band kicked in. It was the first time I'd seen Davis with a band (electric guitar, upright bass and drums), and his gruff and gritty vocals play well against that background.

Guitarist Nerak Roth Patterson adds considerable fire to the mix -- the electricity jolts Davis to another blues level on standards like "Driftin' Blues" and "Goin' Down Slow."

Davis may have gotten the second and smaller stage treatment at the festival because he was delayed, or he may not have. But it was a much more ferocious set than his usual acoustic shows, and would've been a nice addition to the main stage. On the other hand, you could get nicely up close and personal with the music on the smaller stage.

For blues festival fans who are more traditionally blues oriented, this should've made their day.

Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush closed out the night, with Marino's strong rock roots trumping the earlier blues. He's an exciting guitarist with roots in Jimi Hendrix (who had his own great blues moments), and blues filters into Rush's music as it does in much of rock.

But the blues, Marino told the PG's Scott Mervis last week, "isn't something that I have deep roots in."

"We're an original jam band, but they won't let me in," he says. "They think I'm some big rock guy from the '70s like Aerosmith or Nugent, 'cause that's who I played with all the time. That's really not who we are. If they hear me, the jam band fans become Mahogany Rush fans. If the promoters would put us on their Bonnaroos, they'd find that we fit in perfectly."

That sounds extremely rational, but there were plenty of blues festival fans lined up to hear Marino last night. Or maybe they were music fans who love the kind of rock that Marino can still crank out.

For a little more on this rock/blues thing, keep reading.

More from the readers

Judging from the response, we've touched a nerve in writing about what a blues festival should be. Here are two more comments from the last couple of days.

This most recent one from Joe Bordini:

And this one from Bill Halaszynski:

Thanks to all the contributors. Keep the mail coming, on any bluesy topic you like. Meanwhile, I'm headed back to Hartwood today for the blues festival wrapup. More on that tomorrow morning.

First Published: July 22, 2007, 4:00 p.m.