The Annual December Holiday Gala Concert and Sacramento Blues Soceity (SBS) Membership Party, this year starring legendary Texas Blues Queen, Angela Strehli and her all star band! Presented by the Sacramento Blues Society.

"... full of fervour and a ton of cool. Strehli graces us with her presence like the expert she is, reminding the young guns just who brought the game to the table in the first place... Strehli makes effortless work of songs made famous by Elmore James, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Clay and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, cementing her own place as a true genius of the genre."  --Holler

This is also a record release party for Ace of Blues, her first new album in 17 years! Her band is an eight piece band with Mighty Mike Schermer as her guitarist and musical director. Her new rhythm section is Timm Walker on bass (Elvin Bishop bassist) and William Allums , Jr. on drums ( you might also know them as the tough section that holds down The Zydeco Flames), and she has a three piece horn section. Here’s a bit about her new record, Ace of Blues.

Angela Strehli returns with Ace of Blues  via Antone’s/New West Records. The 12-song set is her first album in over 17 years and was co-produced by Strehli and her husband Bob Brown. For over five decades, the 76-year-old Strehli’s voice has coursed through the genre akin to blood through a heart. Her influence can be felt in the legacy of Antone’s — the iconic Austin blues club she helped found with the late Clifford Antone and where she performed and became friends with the likes of Muddy Waters, Albert King, Otis Rush, Jimmy Reed, and countless others. Ace of Blues pays tribute to the artists who inspired her throughout her career and features renditions of songs made famous by Elmore James, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Clay and more. It concludes with “SRV,” a beautiful and personal tribute to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. As the only original on Ace of Blues, the song celebrates their friendship, creative connection, and musical bond with one of the most heartfelt, hypnotic, and hard-hitting performances on the record.

A year-end soul-lifting finale to another year. Renew your membership, bring a friend to join. Cocktails, food, vote for the new SBS Board members, buy your raffle tickets. Dress up, dress down. Wear your boots! Yes, there will be a dance floor!

Buddy Guy calls Ace of Blues, “Tough, soulful, and sexy. My kind of blues” while Bonnie Raitt says, “Always a fan, I’m so glad Angela’s back with a new album, putting her soulful take on this collection that pays tribute to her old blues friends.” Charlie Musselwhite says, “Angela has just kept getting better. She truly loves and ‘gets’ real deal blues and what it means. It’s great to see her share her blues with us all” while Maria Muldaur offers, “Her lifelong devotion to the blues is fully realized here! This is an absolute, must-have album for any blues lover.”