Society celebrates 'blue collar blues'

National act Watermelon Slim comes to Toledo Sunday for the Blue Collar Blues Festival.

It's a pretty obvious idea but no one thought of it until now: a blue collar blues festival.

The folks at the Black Swamp Blues Society will present their first one Sunday in the Toledo Speedway Ballroom featuring national act Watermelon Slim and Toledo's Josh Boyd and the V.I.P Band digging into that most blue collar-style of music (country music excepted, of course): the blues.

Slim, who has been nominated for six 2008 Blues Music Awards, has been a truck driver and a garbage man, among other jobs, and his band is called The Workers. Slim plays harmonica and guitar, and his albums on the Northern Blues level have received universal critical acclaim.

Boyd has also been a laborer and has won numerous awards on the local level for his rocking blues guitar style. Also on the bill are Andrew Wills and the Setting Sons and Frostbite.

Tickets are $15 for the general public and $13 for members of the blues society and will be available at the door. The Toledo Speedway Bar and Grill is at 5625 Benore Road.