Blues concert kicks off Lakeville Art Festival

Posted under Lakeville,Thisweekend on Wednesday 1 September 2010 at 3:49 pm

Sofie Reed developed a taste for blues and jazz music in an unlikely place – her native Sweden. While she was growing up in her hometown of Ludvika, Reed’s music-aficionado parents would play jazz music into the night. Reed’s Sept. 17 concert in Lakeville is the opening event to the Lakeville Art Festival, which runs through Sept. 19. Photo by William Clark

Aretha Franklin-esque vocalist Sofie Reed plays the Lakeville Area Arts Center stage on Sept. 17

by Andrew Miller
Thisweek Newspapers

Before the weekend-long exhibition of fine art begins, there will be blues.

This year’s Lakeville Art Festival kicks off with an evening of blues and folk music.

Vocalist/harmonica player Sofie Reed is set to perform on the Lakeville Area Arts Center’s stage on Friday, Sept. 17, as the opening event to the annual  festival, which runs through Sept. 19.

The concert is a homecoming show of sorts for Reed, a former Minneapolis resident who worked as a backup singer for Sheila Charles, daughter of Ray Charles, and did session work at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios during her stay in the Twin Cities from 1987 to 2000.

A vocalist whose style has drawn comparisons to Aretha Franklin, Reed developed a taste for blues and jazz in an unlikely place – her native Sweden.

While she was growing up in her hometown of Ludvika, Reed’s music-aficionado parents would play jazz into the night.

“My mother had this old radio playing jazz out of it every night before going to bed,” said Reed. “That really moved me a lot.”

Looking to break into the American music business, Reed said she chose Minneapolis as her destination because of its “Minnesota nice” reputation.

“My dream as a teenager was to go to America, and it sounded like Minneapolis was a pretty safe area,” said Reed, now a Colorado resident.

Her debut album, “Baby Boo Got Gone,” became a top seller in the blues-folk category on CDBaby.com.

Reed will be joined at the Lakeville concert by her three-piece backing band consisting of guitar, bass and percussion, and the performance will include tracks from “Baby Boo Got Gone,” along with covers of blues and folk standards by artists such as Paul Simon.

More about Sofie Reed’s concert and the Lakeville Art Festival is at  www.lakevilleartfestival.org.

IN BRIEF: Blues singer Sofie Reed is set to perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at the Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holyoke Ave. Tickets are $25 and are available by calling (952) 985-4640 or online at www.lakeville-rapconnect.com.

Andrew Miller is at andrew.miller@ecm-inc.com.

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