About as far north from the Delta as one can get doesn’t mean there ain’t no love of the blues up here.
What started as a “Wouldn’t it be great if…” idea late one night in a Beale St. blues club in ’04 continues today as one of the oddest, most intimate music events anywhere. A handful of passionate fans gather every summer for a weekend of blues, BBQ, and friendship at a small cabin on the shore of a large lake in northern Wisconsin. The boathouse gets swept out, a few pieces of carpet are thrown down on the floor, some holiday lights get thrown over the rafters and the scene is set.
The beat up old pontoon boat floats around the lake, or just sits at the dock serving as a conversation pit…. A knot of innertubes is tethered to a sunken cinderblock just off shore, one hosting a communal cooler full of frosty adult beverages surrounded by sunburned bodies recounting tall tales of past glories. Folks put up with cramped quarters, sand on the floors, sleep deprivation and a couple of mosquitoes to rekindle friendships and make new ones. This is Boathouse Blues.
As the sun goes down, the charcoal pit gets hotter and the blues tunes coming from the stereo get a bit louder…. The first keg of homebrew beer is starting to float in the washtub of ice! Bean bag toss scores are getting scrawled on most hard surfaces, the foosball table is getting a real workout again. As the musical gear is being set up in the boathouse, someone adjusts the sailfish mount on the wall that will serve a backdrop to be sure it’s not straight. Can’t have it look so formal…. just ain’t right.
As darkness falls, the musicians that traveled so far to get here pull up to the shack and wonder aloud what they’ve gotten themselves into. As they tune up and get the first round of handshakes and a plate BBQ ribs out of the way, they realize they just made a couple dozen life long friends. The laughter starts to swell, the first strains of the Delta begin to drift from the doors of the boathouse over the lake… now let’s get this party going! We’re ‘gonna try and stomp the floor out of this place! This is Boathouse Blues.