15th Annual New England Winter Blues Festival

Celebrating its 15th year the 2025 New England Winter Blues Festival will be loaded to the hilt with harmonica royalty and a monster band that the whole Blues world is talking about. Headlining is the hippest harmonicat the world has ever known, Rick Estrin (Rick Estrin & the Nightcats), harmonic legend Jerry Portnoy (Muddy Waters Band, Eric Clapton Band) bonafide harmonica genius Jason Ricci (Jason Ricci & the Bad Kind, Desoto Tiger), the smooth yet monsterous Sugar Ray Norcia (Sugar Ray & Bluetones, Roomful of Blues) all backed by the powerhouse band The Wicked Lo-Down.

About Rick Estrin
Rick Estrin was born in San Francisco, California in 1949, and grew up fiercely independent. As a 10-year-old boy, he made his way to the tough Market Street area and befriended many of the neighborhood characters. When he was 12, his older sister gave him a copy of Ray Charles’ The Genius Sings The Blues, and he became infatuated with the music. Albums from Jimmy Reed, Champion Jack Dupree, Mose Allison, Nina Simone and others soon followed. By the time he was a teenager, Estrin had immersed himself in the urban, African-American culture surrounding him. He got his first harmonica at age 15, and by age 18 was proficient enough to begin sitting in at black clubs around the city. He first jammed with blues master Lowell Fulson and immediately was hired to open five shows for R&B giant Z.Z. Hill. He worked five nights a week for almost a year with guitar legend Travis Phillips in a band fronted by famed pimp/bluesman Fillmore Slim (who was the centerpiece of the acclaimed Hughes Brothers documentary American Pimp). Slim introduced Estrin to singer Rodger Collins, the man who would become Rick’s first real musical mentor. Collins schooled Rick on the finer points of songwriting and show business. At 19, Estrin relocated to Chicago and worked with some of the city’s best bluesmen. He met and jammed with the legendary Muddy Waters, who told Rick, “You outta sight, boy! You got that sound! You play like a man!” Muddy wanted Estrin to go on the road with him, but Estrin missed Muddy’s phone call and it never happened. Estrin eventually moved back to the Bay Area, met guitarist Charlie Baty and formed Little Charlie & The Nightcats. With Charlie’s retirement from touring in 2008, Rick brought in guitar virtuoso Kid Andersen and formed Rick Estrin & The Nightcats.

Estrin cites Sonny Boy Williamson II, Percy Mayfield and Detroit bluesman Baby Boy Warren as his major songwriting influences. His work on the reeds is deep in the tradition of harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs, while at the same time pushing that tradition forward with his innovative songs. And his sly and soulful vocals are the perfect vehicle for driving those songs home.

About Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy was born in 1943 and grew up in the blues-rich atmosphere of Chicago’s famous Maxwell Street Market during the golden age of Chicago Blues. He began his professional career in the late 60s and since that time has performed, live and on television, for millions of people around the world. During a career that includes six years as a member of the fabled Muddy Waters Blues Band, another six as leader of the Legendary Blues Band, four years at the head of his own band The Streamliners, and another four as a featured member of the Eric Clapton Band, his touring schedule has carried him to every state in the union and twenty-eight foreign countries on six continents, with performances at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Smithsonian, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and at major jazz festivals worldwide, including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreaux Jazz Festival, the Warsaw International Jazz Jamboree, the Hawaii Pacific Jazz and Music Fair, and the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France.
Jerry has played on several Grammy Award-winning albums while recording with a wide variety of artists including Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Hubert Sumlin Bill Wyman and many others, and was a Grammy Award nominee in 1997 for his work with the Muddy Waters Tribute Band. Television credits include appearances on Saturday Night Live, Soundstage, MTV, VH1, and the Disney Channel, as well as writing and performing original music for Sesame Street. In addition, he has lectured at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, and his definitive 3/CD instructional package, Jerry Portnoy’s Blues Harmonica Masterclass, is widely regarded as the premier teaching tool for those wishing to learn the instrument. Jerry Portnoy now makes his home outside Boston, Massachusetts.

About Jason Ricci
Jason Ricci is an award winning and decorated American singer and harmonica player. In his youth, Jason’s mother brought him to many live Blues shows in his early teens to witness performances of James Cotton, Charlie Musslewhite, Eddie Clearwater, Rod Piazza, Buckwheat Zydeco, Marcia Ball and many more. After studying at the feet of local New England harmonica players and blues musicians Jason moved west to Idaho to attend College. In Boise he found mentorship under Blues Club owner and Hammond B3 player Ken Harris. The relationship between Harris and Ricci, the lure of music and nightlife quickly replaced Jason’s formal studies. Ken Harris gave Ricci a low paying job, 10 dollars a night, working at the bar to allow the underage teen a legal pass to hear and play music. Ken Harris and music patron Dara Longabardi would aid an 18 year old Jason at “The Blues Bouquet” to perform with the likes of Sam Lay, Norton Buffalo, Eddie Shaw, Mark Hummel, Mel Solomon, Smokey Wilson and many more. Harmonica Player and Blues Singer Madison Slim spent many hours teaching Ricci. Jason would join his first band in Boise with Blues Singer Cyndie Lee and Streetwise.

About “Sugar Ray” Norcia 
Singer, harp man and three time Grammy Nominee Sugar Ray Norcia’s career kicked into high gear in 1979 when he formed the original Sugar Ray and the Bluetones with guitar giant Ronnie Earl and it has stayed there ever since. Norcia has received a total of twenty two Blues Music Award Nominations including winning two Blues Music Awards in 2014 and has appeared on over sixty albums. In 2012 Ray was inducted into Rhode Island’s Music Hall of Fame. In 2016 Sugar Ray and his band The Bluetones released a CD called “Seeing Is Believing”. Sugar Ray was nominated for an unprecedented seven 2017 Blues Music Awards including Traditional Blues Male Artist and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year!

Indulge your senses in great food and dine at one of our on-site restaurants before the show! Click to make a reservation for dinner before the show at Seaglass Restaurant, or Capri Seaside Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria.