Grab your lawn chairs: Bluesmore takes over Brucemore's First Avenue lawn this Saturday

If your weekend plans involve cold drinks, open grass, and heavily driven guitar riffs, head over to the historic Brucemore estate this weekend. The estate's annual Bluesmore concert returns Saturday, transforming the First Avenue lawn into an open-air listening room from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with gates open at 3:00 p.m., according to Brucemore's event details.

Presented by the Linn County Blues Society, the festival features a triple-bill lineup capped by national touring bluesman Selwyn Birchwood. Birchwood arrives in Cedar Rapids following the release of his self-produced eighth album, Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, a record he created without label interference to capture the exact sound from inside his head.

"What you get on this album is the exact sound from inside my head translated right onto the tape because I didn't have to barter or fight with a producer or anyone from the label," Birchwood explained in an interview with The Gazette.

The Florida native discovered his path to the genre after seeing blues icon Buddy Guy live at age 17—an experience that steered him away from his early Jimi Hendrix inspirations and toward a lifelong pursuit of the blues, complete with mentorships from Guy and Sonny Rhodes.

Supporting Birchwood on the lawn are The Janeys and Cedar County Cobras, filling out an afternoon and evening of live music on the estate grounds.

Planning to go? Advance tickets are available for $25, while admission at the gate bumps up to $30, per Brucemore's ticketing system. Online and phone transactions include a $4.00 processing fee, and digital ticket sales close at 1:00 p.m. on August 2.