Three of Robert Lockwood Jr.’s bandmates will become the first honorees of the Robert Lockwood Jr. Legacy Awards.
The Lockwood Music Festival on Saturday, May 3, will also feature performances by the three honored artists — D.C. Carnes, Benny Mostella and Gene Schwartz — plus a bill that includes local blues favorite Colin Dussault and Michael J. Calhoun of the Dazz Band.
The first recipients
Guitarist Charles “D.C.” Carnes joined Lockwood’s band in 1992 and performed on Lockwood’s last album, “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas,” which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2007.
“D.C. was always there to support my dad,” said Roy Lockwood, Robert’s son, one of the organizers of the legacy awards and annual festival. “He works with us to keep his legacy alive.”
Trumpet player Benny Mostella will also be honored at the festival. Mostella is currently a member of The Reid Project and continues to play locally.
Lockwood credits Mostella with helping to keep his father’s music from ending up in the hands of bootleggers. “If someone was recording a show, Benny would come and let me know that they’re recording and/or videotaping. He would let me know, especially when there would be people that want to do that to make money. When my mother passed away, Benny was there with me and my father. He’s very, very good, and played a lot with my father. Even after [Robert] passed away, he continued playing for my father.”
Bassist Gene Schwartz, also a champion drag racer, is a longtime family friend as well as having played in Lockwood’s band.
“[Gene] would be the one that was driving my father everywhere,” explained Lockwood. “Him and I would go to different gigs, he would do the driving. He would be the one that set things up for my father, set the band up, set up the stage and everything. And Gene was the one who would take care of the vehicle that we used to go from one place to another. Gene was the one, he was there to physically take care of my father as well as plan the music.”
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The festival will also feature a viewing of the 25-minute long “The Lost Robert Lockwood Jr. Film” by Jeff Dyson and a Q&A panel that includes Roy and Vice President of the Robert Lockwood Jr. Legacy Group Steve “Blu” Goebel.
Goebel organizes the annual Lockwood Festival with support from other local blues musicians. “Colin Dussault was my main helper the first year,” said Goebel. “Without Colin, it wouldn’t have been done.”
“[Colin] even wrote a beautiful song called the ‘Robert Lockwood Boogie’,” said Goebel. Dussault performed the song at Robert Lockwood Jr.’s 109th birthday celebration last year.
The Lockwood Music Festival is hosted by The Treelawn, opened in 2023 by music entrepreneur Cindy Barber of the Beachland Ballroom and several partners. The Treelawn regularly hosts jazz, blues and classical musicians in the Waterloo entertainment district.
The festival begins at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance.
STAY TUNED! Signal Cleveland’s Gennifer Harding-Gosnell and Cleveland Documenter Colleen Boyd are attending the Lockwood Music Festival to do a soundscape we’ll publish to all our podcast channels next week!