Ernie Hawkins to perform in York

Few living musicians have mastered the art of acoustic blues guitar like Ernie Hawkins. The Pittsburg native will make his first visit to the Seacoast on Sunday, Aug. 17, when he will play a solo show at Remick Barn in York, Maine.

Hawkins began playing blues guitar as a teenager in the 1960s. After graduating from high school, he studied under blues legend Rev. Gary Davis in New York City. He later graduated from the University of Pittsburg with a degree in philosophy and, in 1973, moved to Dallas to earn a Ph.D. in phenomenological psychology.

He continued playing music throughout his schooling and became proficient in country blues and ragtime guitar. He recorded his first solo album, “Ragtime Signatures,” in the early 1980s and followed it up with “Blues Advice,” which was dedicated to Davis.

Hawkins has now released six solo recordings, including 2006’s “Rags & Bones.” He has also released two albums with Pittsburg-based R&B band the Blues Bombers, with whom he played electric guitar for 10 years. He has performed in Canada, Europe and Japan, playing numerous blues and folk festivals. Hawkins is also a long-time guitar teacher.

Presented by the Seacoast Guitar Society, Hawkins will be at Remick Barn at 7 p.m. The newly renovated barn is at the corner of York Street and Lindsay Road. Tickets are $15, $8 for students. Call 207-363-1886 or visit www.seacoastguitar.org.

Country Fest in Prescott Park

The WOKQ Country Music Festival hits Portsmouth on Sunday, Aug. 17, bringing four regional acts to Prescott Park. The fourth annual festival runs from noon to 5 p.m. at the waterfront park on Marcy Street. The lineup this year includes Crisis, Branded: No Rules, The Tom Dixon Band and Calico and Friends. An $8 donation is suggested.

Formed in October, 2006, Crisis is a New England-based foursome that plays country and southern rock music. With two guitarists, the band is purported to have near equal appeal with fans of country and rock ’n’ roll.

Based in Epsom, Branded: No Rules is a project of singer-songwriter Dan Morgan, who also plays rhythm guitar. The band is rounded out by Mark Edgerly on lead guitar, Curtis J. Seeliger Jr. on bass and Keith Fields on drums and backup vocals. 

Hailing from the Manchester area, The Tom Dixon Band plays regular shows around New England. Dixon is a singer-songwriter and rhythm guitarist with a southern rock and country style. He is backed by Tom Elby on lead guitar, Wayne Cochrane on bass and Randy Hansen on drums.

The Calico duo consists of Danielle Carrier, of the WOKQ Morning Waking Crew, and her sister Jeannine. The group has been performing in New Hampshire since 1995 and has served on the Durham Evangelical Church’s praise and workshop team since 2001. Other members of the church team will join the two sisters onstage at Prescott Park.
Visit www.prescottpark.org or call 603-436-2848.

Buddy Guy and George Thorogood at the Ballroom

For the second time this month, a crowd at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom will hear music from a living blues legend. Less than two weeks after 82-year-old B.B. King took the Ballroom stage, guitar genius Buddy Guy is coming to Hampton, along with blues bad boy George Thorogood and The Destroyers. The double bill show on Saturday, Aug. 16, is sold out, but its six-string reverberations are likely to echo across the beach.

Anyone who caught Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones documentary “Shine a Light” got a taste of Buddy Guy’s electric guitar ferocity (Keith Richards even gives Guy his guitar in the film). The Chicago bluesman has heavily influenced almost every big name in the rock guitar world, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. At 72, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is still going strong, having just released his latest album, “Skin Deep.” 

A regular at the Ballroom, Thorogood has also earned a spot in the blues canon after performing with The Destroyers for well over 30 years. Often just putting his own growly twist on blues standards, Thorogood plays for the joy of playing. As he says on his Web site, “Dylan has a Rolls Royce dealership. I have a used Chevy dealership. But I’m in the business. You got it? That’s all I wanted from this thing. A gig, man. And I got a gig.”