Pop Music : Ruth Brown Steals the Show at Blues Fest

“Stormy Monday” figured to be a mighty popular song at the 11th annual Long Beach Blues Festival at Cal State Long Beach on Saturday. This year’s event was dedicated to T-Bone Walker, who wrote that classic blues, but none of Saturday’s headliners mentioned Walker. Nor were there any references to another Texas blues guitarzan, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The attendance, officially estimated at 10,000 but looking a little more, was the largest first-day crowd since the event expanded to two days in 1984. Headliners Johnny Winter’s and Bo Diddley’s drawing power with rock fans probably accounted for the turnout, but the day’s high point was R&B; queen Ruth Brown, whose smooth, horns-and-organ sound downplayed six-string heroics.

The veteran singer completely captivated the audience. Brown, who opens a two-week engagement at the Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday, has been riding high on the strength of the Broadway hit “Black and Blues,” and her 40-minute set Saturday came straight from the blueswoman-as-font-of-wisdom school.

Brown played to her audience, mentioning late-’40s artists Buddy Johnson and Ella Johnson, who were undoubtedly unfamiliar to the Diddley-Winter crowd. But vintage Brown hits like “5-10-15 Hours” and a final double-entendre blues, “If I Can’t Sell It, I’m Going to Sit on It,” galvanized the audience.

Diddley’s half-hour set was a major letdown. Bo may know Diddley but apparently he still doesn’t know how to find a backing band that can play even a passable Bo Diddley rhythm.

Johnny Winter’s hourlong headlining set was a time capsule that could have happened back in his blues trio days 20 years ago. The heavily tattooed albino guitarist put his signature cascade of notes on an assortment of originals and standards like Robert Johnson’s “Kind Hearted Woman.”

His blues feel is undeniable, but Winter’s solos always sound like the full repertory of licks that could possibly be played in a given solo--he leaves everything in, where others might edit phrases out. Also appearing were Lonnie Mack, the Bernie Pearl Blues Band and the festival talent search winner, Beto Lovato & the Neato Banditos.