Buddy Guy, Stephen Stills headline Tampa Bay Blues Festival

Even if you only have one free evening this weekend, and no matter which day you have free, you can catch a great blues festival in downtown St. Petersburg.

The Tampa Bay Blues Festival gets going Friday evening in Vinoy Park, and it runs through Sunday. Each day’s lineup represents an impressive blues festival in itself.

If you’re a serious blues fan and you can only make it one of the three days, you’ll want to make it Friday, when Buddy Guy, perhaps the greatest living blues guitarist, plays from 8:30 to 10 p.m. There’s a solid schedule leading up to Guy, starting with Dennis Gruenling, a harmonica player who often plays with Bradenton’s Doug Deming (12:30-2 p.m), Brandon Santini (2:30-4 p.m.), Albert Cummings (4:30-6 p.m.) and Ana Popovic (6:30-8 p.m.).

The Rides, a blues supergroup that features guitarists Stephen Stills (of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash) and Kenny Wayne Shepherd and keyboardist Barry Goldberg take the headlining spot (8:30-10 p.m.) on Saturday, with Matt Schofield (12:30-2 p.m.), Samantha Fish (2:30-4 pm.), Toronzo Cannon (4:30- 6 p.m.) and Coco Montoya (6:30-8 p.m.) leading up to the Rides.

On Sunday, longtime St. Petersburg favorites Backtrack Blues Band play 1-2:15 p.m., followed by JW-Jones (2:30-4 p.m.), The Lee Boys (4:30-6 p.m.), Dawn Tyler Wilson (6:30-8 p.m.) and headliner Tab Benoit (8:30-10 p.m.).

Details: April 7-9, Vinoy Park, 701 Bay Shore Drive NE, St. Petersburg. 12:30-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1-10 p.m. Sunday. $45 Friday or Saturday, $35 Sunday. Three-day pass $110. tampabaybluesfest.com.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Buddy Guy, Stephen Stills headline Tampa Bay Blues Festival."