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Fact Box

If you go

What: Third annual Chicago Blues Party and fundraiser for "Blues in the

Schools"

Where: The Lafayette Hotel

When: Friday. Doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 9.

Musical act: "Big James" Montgomery and The Chicago Playboys.

Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members, available at the door.

For more information: www.bjfm.org

Guests welcome:

Guests can join the Blues, Jazz and Folk Music Society at the event for $15 and receive the discounted ticket price. There will be a cash bar.

Get on your dancing shoes, Marietta, because Friday night the joint will be rockin.'

Back by popular demand for the third year in a row, the Chicago Blues Party at the Lafayette Hotel promises to be a good time for all.

"There's going to be a lot of dancing. This isn't the slow, cry-in-your-beer blues," said Steve Wells, vice president of the Blues, Jazz and Folk Music Society, which puts on this blues event as well as others throughout the year.

"We've been lucky to develop a good blues audience," Wells added. "We draw from a good radius - Cambridge, Columbus, Wheeling, Charleston. We're lucky to get the support."

While it might seem like an odd fit for this area, Marietta has a strong connection with the blues.

Wells cites a Feb. 2009 article in Ohio Magazine which calls Marietta "Ohio's blues cradle."

Along with the annual Chicago Blues Party, Marietta also plays host to the annual River City Blues Festival, coming up on its 19th year.

"Through perseverance and education, blues is no longer a bad word," Wells said.

Part of that education is the "Blues in the Schools" program, which began more than four years ago as a way to introduce area students to the history and importance of blues music.

"Blues is the basis for everything else," Wells said.

The Chicago style of blues takes the simple acoustic guitar and harmonica of the Delta blues and revs it up with electric guitars and amplifiers.

Some of the big names in Chicago blues include Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley and Elmore James.

Trombonist "Big James" Montgomery got his first taste of the blues when as a young teenager he would stand outside of a club on the southside of Chicago and listen to B.B. "Big Voice" Odum sing with Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues. Eventually, he was allowed to sit in with the band and as the old saying goes, "The rest was history," according to the artist's Web site, www.bigjames.com.

A group of representatives from the West Virginia Blues Society first saw the group at the River City Blues Festival last March and was fortunate enough to catch the band while at the Chicago Blues Festival this past summer.

Wells says this event is the chance for people to come out and sample a bit of Chicago blues without the travel expense.

"Big James is the real deal," said Wells. "This is your chance to see a real Chicago blues band on the rise - definitely on their way up. You'll hear real Chicago blues, R&B and soul at its best."