Riverfront Blues Festival kicks off Friday in Libby

It's blues time in Lincoln County and a star-studded lineup will perform this weekend in the 17th annual Riverfront Blues Festival at Riverfront Park in Libby.

Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are available at https://riverfrontbluesfestival.com/tickets/. 

For Friday, tickets are $40 and Saturday, $60. A two-day pass is $85. Kidds 12 and under get in free when attending with a paying adult.

Friday's lineup includes Missoula's Moneypenny at 4:30 p.m., Stoney Curtis at 6:30 p.m., Memphis' Tony Holiday at 8:30 p.m. and Chris O'Leary at 10:30 p.m.

Saturday, the music begins at noon with Kelly’s Lot. Atomic Jive follows at 2 p.m., then Alison Joy Williams at 4 p.m.

Libby's own Jay Snow and the Tone Keepers plays at 6 p.m. then Two Slim and the Taildraggers at 7:30 p.m.

The All-Star Jam ends the raucous weekend at 9 p.m.

There will be food and beverage, including the Beer Garden, for all ages as well as craft vendor booths featuring some of the most unique items Northwest Montana has to offer.

Also, the "Connecting Kids with Music” provides musical instruments and scholarships for students in the Kootenai Valley. Deserving students from the communities of Libby, Troy and Eureka will be surprised at the Riverfront Blues Festival when they are called onto the stage by one of the performing artists and presented with a brand new musical instrument or a music scholarship.

One of the featured performers is Chris O'Leary. A native of upstate New York and a rising force in the blues, O’Leary is a deeply soulful vocalist, powerhouse harmonica player and skilled, witty songwriter who tours nonstop and is well-known as a riveting and relentless live performer. 

O’Leary’s 2024 debut, The Hard Line, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart, and earned him multiple Blues Music Award nominations, including Artist Of The Year and Best Live Performer.

His new album, the self-produced BLUE COLLAR, features 11 original songs that turn O’Leary’s rich personal history into a one-of-a-kind, energetic, deep-dish gumbo of Chicago blues, Memphis soul and New Orleans funk. 

He delivers real life stories, ranging from late night displays of very bad judgment, to deep blue tales of heartbreak, to recollections of relationships gone wrong, to sagas of all-night drives from gig to gig. The music is fueled by his dynamic, swaggering band and highlighted by O’Leary’s powerful harp work and soul-testifying vocals. 

O’Leary—a Marine combat veteran, former frontman for Levon Helm’s Barn Burners, and former federal police officer—brings the kind of lived experience you can’t manufacture, and it gives these all-original songs weight, wit and perspective. 

Living Blues magazine describes Chris’ music as "gritty blues and soulful ballads [performed with] absolute authority...Chris O'Leary rocks relentlessly with assurance and a clear sense of passion and purpose. He is a potent tour-de-force."