Schedule
Thursday, September 11, 2025 (Beer Pairing Dinner - Madeline Hotel)
Friday, September 12, 2025 from 3:00 - 4:00 pm (Main Stage)
Jontavious Willis is the performer this festival whose acoustic blues are the link between past and present. Since the age of 14, when he stumbled across a video of Muddy Waters doing Hoochie Coohie Man, Jontavious knew what he wanted to play. Already a seasoned performer thanks to attending church and singing with his grandfather, that first taste of the blues set him on his own path. His original songs mine the Delta, Piedmont, Texas and Gospel blues traditions, giving those classic artforms fresh interpretations. None other than Taj Mahal took note of Jontavious, calling him his Wonderboy, and inviting him on the road as the opener for the TajMo Tour with Keb’ Mo’.
His 2018 album, Blues & Rhythm, was awarded Best Self-Produced CD at the Blues Foundations’ International Blues Challenge and his second album, Spectacular Class, earned him a Grammy nomination.
He views blues music as a way to honor the past while keeping it relevant in the present. It’s a genre that resonates through time. “Out of all the current music I connect with the blues the best. The same blues songs of the Jim Crow era can still be sung today. The songs about getting mistreated and abused are still fights we battle daily.”