Janiva Magness. Courtesy/seveneightfive.com

Janiva Magness’ show at Ashley Pond tonight will be a lot more than a great concert, it’ll be an experience! The “experience” is presented by the sponsors of the Los Alamos County Summer Concert Series. It’s another free Los Alamos concert, it starts at 7 p.m. and you should be bring your friends, family and chairs.

Opening tonight, will be my great friends, the Jimmy Stadler Band. This is the 25th Anniversary of the Series and Jimmy’s bands have played at least 25 times. Jimmy is from Taos and plays both his original rock music and classic covers. He’s one of the New Mexico’s favorite entertainers.

Janiva will come on about 8:10 p.m. She is, arguably, the greatest female blues singer in the world! She’s won the Blues Music Awards “Best Female Contemporary Singer” four times including 2013 when she also won the award for Song of the Year, “I Won’t Cry.”

Magness sings blues, soul, gospel, roots rock, jazz and rock. She has lived the blues and it comes through in her music. Her parents died when she was very young and she lived in a dozen different foster homes. Janiva is very active is foster home causes. She had a very tough upbringing until she discovered blues music as a young lady and soon realized she could sing in this style and that she liked the people in her business.

Her music is upbeat, bittersweet, lively, sensual, bright, intimate, confident, dramatic, gritty, earnest, theatrical, passionate, dark, elegant and stylish. She’ll remind you greats like Koko Taylor, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Shemekia Copeland and Susan Tedeschi. She also reminds me of the 50s jazz and blues giants June Christy, Anita O’Day and Billie Holiday. They were truly special entertainers and so is Janiva Magness. In 2009 she won the “B.B. King Blues Entertainer of the Year Award.” When Janiva was 13, her mother committed suicide. Her father did the same when she was 16. Janiva Magness is a singer of raw power.

Friday night is the Series’ portion of the Los Alamos County Fair & Rodeo. The Fair continues throughout the weekend. You can read more about Janiva at www.janivamagness.com. Read about Jimmy at www.jimmystadler.com. You can listen to their music on YouTube. You can read about the Series at www.gordonssummerconcerts.com.