Artists / Booking

Artists are selected by the volunteer Cincy Blues Fest booking contacts. They take the information from numerous press kits and their experience at many live performances (locally and nationally) to determine who to invite to perform. Budget and scheduling considerations also come into play when booking for the two-day Fest, but our booking contacts always seek to bring a wide variety of blues artists to Cincinnati every summer.

Local acts that perform on the Main Stage and Local Stage are determined by their scores in the annual Cincy Blues Challenge, which happens in May. Bands that complete and submit their entries to the Challenge are allowed to perform, and the highest-ranking acts are invited to play at the Cincy Blues Fest. The first-place winners from both the band and solo/duo challenges perform on the Main Stage, and the other high-scoring acts are invited to perform on the Local Stage.

(Links to booking contacts for next year’s festival coming soon.)