Porretta Soul Festival Day three

As  ever, the Saturday at Porretta was the busiest of the weekend. Fortunately the line up did not disappoint, despite a lack of really big names on the bill.
Kicking off proceedings was the Curtis Salgado band  and very good they were too. Portland based Curtis was once in Robert Cray band and that showed in his soul/blues style, not least with 'Walk a Mile In My Blues'. He began with 'I'm Trying', putting his harmonica to good use and well supported by guitarist Anthony Stelmaszack. Other numbers were equally good  including 'Blues Get Off My Shoulder', 'Nobody But You' (A duet with LaRhonda Steele), the self-penned ' How To Feel The Same About Love', the Oregon themed 'Driving Rain' and, a song I could relate to, 'The Older I Live The Older I Want To Get'. O V Wright's 'I Wanna Forget About You' was good, as was a further duet 'Both Sorry Over Nothing'. Curtis ended his excellent set with a rocking "Slow Down'.
After an interval and the appearance on stage of Anthony Paule's band things did indeed slow down somewhat with a couple of numbers by backing singer Omega Brooks and Aussie singer Georgia Van Etten, who livened up 'Sugar' with some impressive mouth trumpet work. Next up was LaRhonda Steele whose set was a tribute to Aretha Franklin with 'Rock Steady',  'Respect', "Chain Of Fools', and 'Love The One You're With'. Other songs in her set included 'Imagine", 'Take Me To The River', 'Rock Mr Baby' and a good version of 'Spirit In The Dark".
One of the stars of recent Porrettas, Wee Willie Walker, came next and once again his beautiful soulful voice shone through. There were some new songs and some old ones  including 'Breaking Up Somebody's Home' and a 1965 track ' From Warm To Cool To Cold'. Other numbers included 'I Don't Want To Take a Chance' and 'Read Between The Lines', all exquisitely delivered, but it was an extended 'After A While', with great tenor sax work by Charles McNeal, that lit up his set.
After a short break we were treated to a sparkling Memphis styled set by Wendy Moten, a lady new to me, who mixed Rufus Thomas numbers such as 'All Night Worker" and 'Breakdown' with some Aretha, including 'Since You've Been Gone' , 'Baby I Love You' and "Think'. 'Ain't No Way' was a stand out number, as was a duet with Jerry Jones on 'Raise Your Hand'. But it was anothet duet  this time with Wee Willie on 'True Love', that sealed the deal. I enjoyed Wendy a lot and will look out for her in future.
What can you say about the final act Tony Wilson? Billed as the Young James Brown  he bounded onto the stage in a sparkly suit and set about gyrating and dancing his way through JB numbers such as 'Get Off Your Thang', 'Cold Sweat' and 'Soul Power ', performing somersaults and Michael Jackson steps along the way. He brought on a violinist named Judy Lei for 'This is a Man's World'  which was interesting and unusual, but eventually his antics became a little tedious.  A showman he undoubtedly is, but he is a novelty act and comparisons to James Brown are a bit kind. Loads of energy on show however.
Altogether this was a good, if not a great night and very entertaining.