Thunder Bay Blues Festival 2015 unveils line-up

Canadian Johnny Reid, legendary guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Paul Rodgers of Bad Company will headline the 2015 Thunder Bay Blues Festival, scheduled for July 3 to 5 at the city's waterfront.

More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the annual music festival.

The schedule is created with something to please all musical tastes, said the manager of marketing.

"We're hoping that if the average blues enthusiast hit shuffle on the iPod that this music would definitely come up and at the same time we're hoping to bring some new people down that haven't experienced the festival before and we always find that new people come down and go 'wow, this is amazing,'" said Trevor Hurtig.

The festival is also continuing a long tradition of featuring young up-and-coming blues performers. Brandon Niederaurer, performing on Sat. July 4, is only 12 years old.

"This kid is phenomenal. He makes me not to want to pick up my guitar anymore. He is that good,"said Hurtig.

Tickets for the Blues Festival go on sale Friday March 13.

The full schedule is as follows:

FRI JULY 3

• headliner Johnny Reid
• Alan Frew of Glass Tiger
• The Paul Deslauriers Band
• The Boardroom Gypsies

SAT JULY 4

• headliner Kenny Wayne Shepherd
• Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea
• The Walkervilles
• Kelly Richey
• Brother Yusef
• Brandon "TAZ" Niederaurer
• The Groove Merchants
• Loose Cannon

SUN JULY 5

• headliner Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company
• Doyle Bramhall II
• Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
• The Sheepdogs
• The Brothers Landreth
• Jordan John
• The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer
• The Krazy Kenny Project