Lineup announced for first Charbonneau music festival in August

Published 9:43 am Thursday, April 17, 2025

Rock out to blues music while supporting the arts programs at local high schools: This is the vision for Charbonneau’s Blues for Schools music festival.

Charbonneau’s first music festival will take place on Aug. 2-3, with one smaller, outdoor stage in the Charbonneau pavilion and a main stage in the dining room of the Charbonneau Clubhouse. Seven Portland-area bands will play over the two days, with the first headliner Ben Rice & The PDX Hustle performing Saturday evening. Five bands will play throughout Sunday afternoon before the second headliner, Revival Brothers Band, that evening.

Profits from the concert will go towards the performing arts programs at Wilsonville High School and Canby High School. The festival is supported by a $10,000 Wilsonville Community Cultural Events and Programs grant, but Alice Galloway, who is leading the planning effort, said organizers are seeking sponsors as well.

Galloway said that she expects the festival to draw 300 people on Saturday, and 500 throughout Sunday.

“We’re really eager to bring people from the Portland area to show them what a great place Charbonneau is, and to establish a base for a yearly music festival,” Galloway said.

The festival was originally planned for July 25-26 on one of the Charbonneau Golf Club’s courses, but Galloway said organizers had to pivot because the golf club’s board of directors did not support using the course for the festival.

Arts and crafts vendors will have tables at the festival and on Sunday attendees will be able to watch the shows with Mexican cuisine from a food truck and alcohol from The Market Cafe. Ken Boddie of KOIN TV will emcee the event on Sunday.

The festival’s music coordinator, Timmer Blakely, said Ben Rice is a longtime Portland blues staple and has made the finals at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis at least once. The other headliner, the Revival Brothers Band, is an Allman Brothers tribute band that won the Cascade Blues Association’s Muddy Award for performance.

“They have huge followings,” Timer said about the headliners. “I’ve never seen them not sell shows out.”

Other performers include young blues rock band Low Maintenance, Portland blues scene veterans Noah Bell and the Bottle Neck Blues Band and Chad Rupp and The Sugar Roots, and Bon Ton Rulers, who have a zydeco influence that “generate(s) a party as soon as they start playing,” Blakely said. Another group, Bennett Matteo, was scheduled to perform but Blakely said it had to withdraw from performing due to the death of a band member. A replacement has yet to be determined.

Blakely, who is also the president of the Portland-based Cascade Blues Association and bassist in Sunday’s headlining band, said the bands were chosen based on their ability to draw a crowd as well as their community-focused mindsets and alignment with the festival’s intention as a fundraiser.

“All of these bands are deeply tied to our community. They’re not just out working, but they’re participants in our community,” Blakely said.

Regarding the fundraising aspect of the festival, Blakely added that it is “incredibly important” to give schools resources “to bring music into these students’ lives.”

“I think that this is a major community thing … and (community) is how we’re going to survive the challenging times that we’re going through right now,” Blakely said.

More information on the festival and line up can be found on its website, where those interested in attending can purchase tickets as well. Tickets for Saturday cost $20, and those for Sunday cost $40. Student tickets cost $25 on Sunday and children under 12 have free admission.