Friday, 11/29/13 $5
Better Off With the Blues is an acoustic blues band in Salt Lake City. We are: Lou Borgenicht (harmonica and vocals), Ken Critchfield (standup bass), Jim Poulton (guitar and vocals), and Paul Rasmussen (guitar, mandolin and vocals).
Collectively our musical roots are eclectic – we’ve played in jazz, punk, Celtic, rock and roll, jug, bluegrass, old timey and folk bands, but we’ve always returned to the blues. Our blues influences are mainly traditional, but contemporary blues players can also get our attention.
Better Off With the Blues formed in 2008. The band’s repertoire has grown to include the music of Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi John Hurt, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes and Muddy Waters, as well as more contemporary music of Delbert McClinton and Tom Waits. We also play original music by members of the band.
Better Off With the Blues plays locally in Utah and the intermountain West.