The mercury in Blowing Rock just skyrocketed to steamy with the return of the Hayes Performing Arts Centers second annual Summer Blues Festival. A trio of smoking-hot blues artists take the stage to combat the dog days of summer with their cool, sultry sounds for one night only, July 7 at 7:30pm, at the Hayes Center, 152 Jamie Fort Road (off Hwy 321), Blowing Rock, N.C.

The festival marks the return of the duo The King Bees, the crowd-pleasing international act that has made the High Country its home for more than 20 years. From concert and festival settings as varied as Rome, Manhattan, Paris and Amsterdam, The King Bees, with their deep musical sensibilities and unquestionable joy in performing, prove that they can rock the blues in any language.

Joining The King Bees on the festival ticket is Johnny Rawls, who appeared on the cover of the April 2002 issue of Living Blues Magazine and has been nominated four times for the W.C. Handy Award.His most recent major award came from the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame for RB Male Vocalist of the Year 2006. In 2008, Rawls most recent album, Red Cadillac, was nominated for the Blues Music Awards Soul Blues Album of the Year. Blues Revue praised the recording as powerful and inspired, replete with top-notch instrumental and vocal performances and a superb, soulful batch of songs. The single No Boundaries earned rave reviews from all the major blues publications and a rare 4-star rating from Downbeat. All songs on Red Cadillac were penned by Rawls and/or Rays bassist Bob Trenchard, and run the gamut from love songs and lost love songs, to cheating and party-time songs, to social commentary tracks remarking on the current condition of our country and our world.
Rounding out the festival is Big Ron Hunter, an emerging acoustic bluesman who traverses from sweet and melodic to uplifting and hard-hitting. This versatile Winston-Salem-based musician who has opened for such groups as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys performs solo acoustic concerts, electric guitar shows with his band and even bluegrass.