Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises

Cruise the beautiful Willamette River and hear the blues in an intimate setting on the Portland Spirit. A no-host hors d’oeuvres buffet and full bar are available on all cruises.

All Blues Cruises board from the seawall, SW Salmon and Naito Parkway, in front of McCall Fountain, just north of the A&E Front Porch Stage. SW Salmon and Naito Parkway. The cruises will head south up the Willamette River to Oregon City, and/or north past the Port of Portland docks.

Evening cruises, for those 21 and older, except for Rock the Boat Dance Cruise, Friday, July 3, which is all ages. Evening cruises board at 10:15 p.m. and return to dock at 1:15 a.m.

Afternoon cruises, open to all ages. Afternoon cruises board at 2 p.m. and return to dock at 4:30 p.m.

Photo ID is required to board the Portland Spirit for all cruises. Exception: children 12 and younger do not need photo ID.

Proceeds benefit Oregon Food Bank's mission to eliminate hunger and its root causes ... because no one should be hungry.

Advance tickets are available through Tickets Oregon.

Tip: To avoid disappointment, purchase your ticket before the festival begins. These cruises are very popular and sell out quickly.

Tax deductibility note: Oregon Food Bank does not provide a tax receipt for any event pass or cruise ticket, other than at the Individual Sponsor level, because the fair market value of the goods and services received exceeds the price paid. 

Note: Blues Cruise are SOLD OUT except for Sunday afternoon's Driftin' Cruise.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 (evening) SOLD OUT
DME Hoodoo Moon Cruise with

• Louisiana-based slide-guitar wizard Sonny Landreth and
• the incendiary sacred steel of The Lee Boys with a rousing repertoire of gospel, blues and funk.
• The Reverb Brothers with an eclectic sound that ranges from jug band to swamp rock
• Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Zybach

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Friday, July 3, 2009 (afternoon) SOLD OUT
DME Blue Bayou Cruise with

• the rattlesnake soul of Dave Gonzalez, Mike Barfield and the Stone River Boys,
• Malford Milligan, acclaimed blues-belter from Austin with his new band, Nation Sack,
• acclaimed Dallas, Tex., guitar-slinger Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat and
• Gulf Coast boogie-woogie, keyboard master David Vest.

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Friday, July 3, 2009 (evening) ALL AGES SOLD OUT
DME Rock the Boat Dance Cruise with

• Loose Marbles, from New Orleans, a favorite with serious swing and blues dancers,
• blues-belter Candye Kane and
• West Coast and Chicago blues harpist Jim Wallace and the House Cats.  
• Alan Hagar and Albert Reda

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Saturday, July 4, 2009 (afternoon) SOLD OUT
DME Driftin' Blues Cruise with

• Harmonica ace Rick Estrin and the Nightcats,
• Blazing roots rockers Too Slim and the Taildraggers and
• Terry “Harmonica” Bean, one-man blues band from Pontotoc, Miss.
• The David Samuel Duo

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Sunday, July 5, 2009 (afternoon)
DME Backwater Juke Cruise with

• Ryan Shaw, 26-year-old, who is reviving R&B with his stunning voice for a new generation,  
• Louisiana songwriter and roots-rocker Kevin Gordon and
• A rare acoustic blues collaboration with Terry Robb and Lauren Sheehan.
• From Seattle, Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band
• The last of the Bentonia Mississippi bluesmen, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes

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