The Team
This Year's Bands
The Michelle and Fitch Band
11:30 AM — 1:00 PM
In 2022 guitarist Mark Fitchett and vocalist Michelle McBride joined forces to create Michelle and Fitch songwriting partnership and live performance band.
At the core of their sound are unique interpretations of classic covers as well as original compositions. Whether they're reinventing timeless favorites or unveiling their own creations, with each performance this ensemble of seasoned musicians pays homage to the traditions of blues, rock and R&B while carving out their own distinctive sound.
The band is currently in the studio working on their upcoming release of original funky blues rock tentatively titled “Here and Now Blues.”
One More Heartache - Mark Fitchett Band (Full Version)
Michelle & Fitch - Shaky Ground
Fever - Michelle McBride with Mark Fitchett Band
Maxx Cabello, Jr.
1:30 PM — 3:00 PM
The American music flame will never go out as long as artists such as Maxx Cabello Jr. take the torch and keep it burning. This amazing guitarist, soulful vocalist, and prolific songwriter, hails from the streets of the San Francisco Bay area where he is turning heads and bending the ears of the most jaded veteran musicians and music aficionados. Straight out of the South Bay, this quiet-spoken, polite person turns into a powerful and captivating artist when he begins to play the guitar.
Maxx is no stranger to the Gateway to the Blues stage, having played for here in 2023.
Maxx Cabello Jr - "My Love" (official video) Love & War MUSIC MMXI©
Maxx Cabello Jr. @ Crest Theatre, Sacramento CA
MAXX CABELLO JR, ‘Keep on Pushing’ Tortilla Soup Music Inc Music Concert, San Jose, 8-23-25
Lisa Mann
4:00 PM — 5:30 PM
Two-time Blues Music Award winning artist Lisa Mann hails from blues-soaked Portland, Oregon. Originally from West Virginia, Mann’s vocals effortlessly straddle the line between the honey sweet warmth of the south, and the force-of-nature sound Mann has cultivated by mastering everything from hard rock to rhythm and blues. Her clever blues and Americana balladry is complimented by her considerable prowess on bass guitar. Her bass grooves deliver the solidness of a Muscle Shoals Swamper or a Funk Brother.
Her influences run the gamut, from low down blues sisters Etta James and Koko Taylor, to singer-songwriters like Bonnie Raitt and R&B belters like Little Milton. She writes the majority of her recorded material, and her songs paint pictures of a gritty (and sometimes humorous) personal experience in life, love and the not-always-pretty music business.
• Song “It’s the Monkeys or Me” First Place in Blues category, Unsigned Only Music Competition – 2021
• Album Old Girl hits Billboard Blues Chart Top Ten – 2020
• European Blues Award nominee for Best Live Performance – 2018
• Oregon Music Hall of Fame – NW Recording of the Year – Hard Times, Bad Decisions – 2017
• Blues Music Awards, Instrumentalist-Bass – 2015 & 2016
• Blues Blast Sean Costello Rising Star Award – 2014
• Blues 411 Jimi Award, Best Rock/Blues Release – Move On – 2014
• Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame
Lisa Mann Live Session - Hard Times
Lisa Mann - It's the Monkeys or Me (Official Music Video)
Lisa Mann - Move On (Live) | Jiffs Mixes