Misty Blues – Odetta Tribute

A passion project that has been brewing since the mid-1990s for the lead singer of Misty Blues, Gina Coleman, whose encounter with the legendary Odetta at the Bottomline club in New York City as a guest of Arlo Guthrie left a powerful impression and was a seminal moment in her career. This inspiration came full circle in the form of a live recorded album in May of 2023. The switch to acoustic instrumentation and performing folk standards was a switch for the band, but pushing to the edges of the blues genre is nothing new for the band. Ultimately, Gina has expressed on multiple occasions that African-American folk music is most certainly blues in her book. This performance of their tribute album comes on the heels of Misty Blues’ most recent original album “Outside the Lines.” Gina and Misty Blues have not skipped a beat, not even during the pandemic, when they remarkably released three albums. A Global Blues Radio review once wrote: “The key to their sound is depth, coupled with bravado and grace. If you like roots music with deep ties to the blues, you will love this band!”

MISTY BLUES BIO:

2019 International Blues Challenge finalist, Misty Blues, is led by lead singer/band founder Gina Coleman. The band is based out of Berkshire County, Massachusetts playing original and traditional blues with hints of jazz, soul, funk and tent revival gospel since 1999. The band has recorded with Eric Gales, Charles Neville and Joe Louis Walker, and opened for contemporary blues artists like Tab Benoit, James Montgomery, John Primer, Roomful Of Blues, Albert Cummings and Michael Powers. Misty Blues performs extensively throughout New England and has toured the continental U.S. and Canada. The band has been nominated for a few Independent Blues Music Awards and their original recordings have broad international airplay.

In the summer of 1999 Gina Coleman was performing in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of A Raisin In The Sun. That production featured the acting of Ruben Santiago Hudson, Viola Davis, Kimberly Elise and Gloria Foster. Coleman was cast as a gospel singer. Nearing the end of the show’s run, Ruben Santiago Hudson gave Coleman a cd collection entitled Men Are Like Streetcars. He told her that her voice was well suited for the blues and urged her to take that next musical direction. Coleman heeded his advance, and after 24 years, Misty Blues has stood the test of time.