Blues Brunch at Davis Family Vineyards

Bluesman Guy Davis with Marcella Simien

When: Sunday, June 2
Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Davis Family Vineyards, 52 Front St., Healdsburg
Tickets: $35 (includes glass of wine)

What do you get when you put together a singer harboring a gentle backwoods blues voice with one who can howl like a bayou banshee? Guests at the June 2 Healdsburg Jazz Festival Blues Brunch are about to find out.

Guy Davis, hailing from New York City by way of the Mississippi Delta, has done the Blues Brunch before, but this year he has a special guest – Marcella Simien, a swamp soul songstress weaned on the zydeco of her father, Terrance Simien, who is Louisiana Creole royalty. She thus knows how to throw a party, but nowadays she brings a little extra polish to the art thanks to several years rocking the R&B haunts of Memphis. As she puts in, “Louisiana raised, Memphis braised.”

She is electric, but in Healdsburg Marcella will be leaving the band behind to nestle up to the natch’l blues of Guy, who over 25 years and a dozen acclaimed albums has pretty much owned a swath of homespun finger-picking country blues, pioneered by the likes of Charley Patton, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Robert Johnson. Marcella may have to rein in her vocal cords some out of respect for the hour, but diners should expect to be transported. And reminded that the blues can be as much about lifting hearts and breaking them.

A delicious menu will be prepared by celebrity chef Duskie Estes from Zazu restaurant, and available for purchase to all those wanting to enjoy brunch. One glass of award-winning Davis Family wine is included with ticket purchase, and additional wines are available at a discount. Gates open at 11 a.m., the music begins at noon.