Jimi Hendrix
Photo: Don Nix/Authentic Hendrix LLC

Several performers from last year's gangbuster Jimi Hendrix jam session at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will get to re-Experience the magic at this year's Street Scene festival in San Diego.

Last September 12, an all-star concert featuring former Hendrix bandmates Billy Cox (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums) as well as members of Kid Rock, Double Trouble and Buckcherry celebrated the opening of the Jimi Hendrix Surround Sound Theater and Museum and the release of the box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The Street Scene performance on September 8 will feature Hendrix's post-1969 rhythm section, the Band of Gypsys (Cox and drummer Buddy Miles), performing alongside a roster of guitarists including Kenny Olson of Kid Rock, Doyle Bramhall, Eric Gales and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos.

Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, Police guitarist Andy Summers, Jonny Lang and the Reverend Horton Heat may step onboard as well, according to the Band of Gypsys' manager, who is still confirming artists for the tribute.

Non-guitarists who will participate include Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section of Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) and Living Colour vocalist Corey Glover, the manager said. He also said he hopes some of the artists already scheduled to play Street Scene — including Counting Crows, Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band, Soulive, G. Love & Special Sauce and the Long Beach Dub Allstars — will also show up.

"This kind of collaboration doesn't happen anymore," said event organizer John McDermott, catalog manager of the Experience Hendrix foundation. "So we're invoking Jimi's legacy to make it happen. The goal is to continue to reach out to music fans of all ages and make them aware of Jimi's music."

In addition to witnessing the all-star jam, Street Scene attendees can visit the Red House Exhibit, a traveling museum of Hendrix memorabilia.

Other acts scheduled to play the 2001 Street Scene include Outkast, James Brown, En Vogue, the Offspring, P.O.D., Burning Spear and his Burning Band, Cake, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Sugarcult, Third World, Eek-a-Mouse, Rollins Band, Cheap Trick, X, Social Distortion, Doug E. Fresh, Jurassic 5, Whodini, the Fixx, Berlin and Rufus Wainwright.

• Jimi Hendrix
• Kid Rock
• Los Lobos
• Buckcherry
• The Black Crowes

John Mayall
Photo: Neil Zlozower

Almost 40 years into his career, you might think blues legend John Mayall wouldn't find much to be surprised about anymore.

After all, his seminal 1960s Bluesbreakers lineups launched the careers of several acclaimed artists — Eric Clapton, former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, and Fleetwood Mac founders John McVie, Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood — and since then he's played with just about every blues great under the sun.

But even Mayall is surprised by how happy he is with his latest album, Along for the Ride, which came out May 8. In addition to appearances by Taylor and the first recorded McVie-Green-Fleetwood collaboration since 1969, the album features ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Steve Miller, Otis Rush and two of the blues' rising stars, Shannon Curfman and Jonny Lang.

"It's a dream list, really," Mayall said. "I was hoping to round up people old and new, and that 'let's go for it' attitude carried over into the vibe on the album." That's why the album is credited to "John Mayall & Friends." And it's also why the album's got such an effortless feel, Mayall said, from the hard-rocking "If I Don't Get Home" to the shuffling "Early in the Morning" to the bouncy "Yo Yo Man," which brought McVie, Green and Fleetwood back together, at least on record.

The three played together in Mayall's Bluesbreakers from 1966 to 1967 before forming Fleetwood Mac. When the British-born Mayall asked bassist McVie and drummer Fleetwood to play on the project, they signed on immediately, he said. "They only live 5 miles away, so it was easy. Peter was another story." Green left Fleetwood Mac in 1970, and mental illness and his disdain for the music business kept him out of the limelight until the mid-1990s, when he started recording again. After Mayall, McVie, Fleetwood and Miller recorded "Yo Yo Man" in Los Angeles, Green added his sprightly acoustic slide guitar fills and solos in London.

"It was hard hooking up with him, but once we got him, he nailed it after hearing the song once," Mayall said.

In addition to letting him reunite with old friends, Mayall said the album turned into a mutual admiration society of sorts. Miller showed up at a Bluesbreakers gig and asked to be on the track, while working with the young Lang and Curfman offered Mayall a chance to play with two of his favorite new artists.

"There's a bond and a loyalty and great admiration between everyone who's on the album, both for each other and for the blues itself," Mayall said, adding that the age gamut on the album runs from 15-year-old Curfman to 73-year-old saxophonist Red Holloway, who blows on "California." "The thing about the blues is that it doesn't have anything to do with chronological age," Mayall said. "When you hear Jonny Lang, and particularly Shannon, you'd swear that they all had as much experience as Red." Mayall and his current Bluesbreakers still play 120 shows a year and are now wrapping up a string of U.S. dates. After six weeks in Europe they'll return to the States for more shows starting in late August.

• John Mayall
• Jonny Lang
• Steve Miller

Jonny Lang and Susan Tedeschi have signed on to headline A Festival Of The Heart & Soul, a benefit concert for Camp Heartland being held in downtown Minneapolis on May 20, 21.

Gov't Mule, Indigenous, Nina Storey, Chris Whitley, and Cowboy Mouth are also set to perform at the two-day event, the proceeds from which will be donated to Camp Heartland, a summer recreational facility dedicated to enriching the lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Located in Willow River, Minnesota, the non-profit camp is open to all children who either have the virus, have a loved one with the disease, or have lost a family member to AIDS. Festival organizers are hoping to raise more than $150,000 through ticket sales and corporate sponsorship of the event.

For more information about A Festival Of The Heart & Soul, including ticket sales and a complete list of the artists involved in the benefit, be sure to check out the event's Web site at www.soul4kids.com.

• Jonny Lang
• Susan Tedeschi

Teen guitar virtuoso Jonny Lang traveled to the White House yesterday to perform alongside fabled bluesman B.B. King as part of a special program, "Tradition and Legends of the Blues Performance," staged on the South Lawn.

• 8/7 - Atlanta, GA @ Chastain Park Amphitheater (w/o Jeff Beck)
• 8/17 - Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach Amphitheater
• 8/18 - Tampa, FL @ Ice Palace
• 8/20 - Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap Filene Center (w/o Jeff Beck)
• 8/21 - Bethlehem, PA @ Musikfest (w/o Jeff Beck)
• 8/23 - Mansfield, MA @ Tweeter Center For the Performing Arts
• 8/25 - Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach Amphitheater
• 8/26 - Holmdel, NJ @ P.N.C. Bank Arts Center
• 8/28 - Camden, NJ @ Blockbuster - Sony Center
• 8/30 - Syracuse, NY @ New York State Fair
• 8/31 - Stanhope, NJ @ Waterloo Village
• 9/2 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake P.A.C.
• 9/3 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheater
• 9/4 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
• 9/8 - Cleveland, OH @ Nautica Stage
• 9/9 - Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theater
• 9/10 - Tinley Park, IL @ New World Music Theater

• Jeff Beck
• Jonny Lang

July 1 [16:00 EDT] -- While guitar prodigy Jonny Lang is barely old enough to drive, he has been learning the ropes from some well-known veterans.

The 16-year-old Fargo native recently wrapped up a tour with Blues giant B.B. King, and will soon be seen backing soul legend Wilson Pickett in the upcoming "Blues Brothers" sequel. Now, Lang is on the road with Aerosmith, where he is sure to learn at least a few new lessons as well.

The teen blues guitarist received glowing notices last winter for his debut album "Lie To Me," but some critics still wonder how much a teenage boy can know about the blues. But if you think you need to pay your dues to play the blues, don't tell that to Jonny.

"For me, it's like a big myth, I think, that you have to lead this huge life of misery and be down on your luck constantly to play the kind of music that I play," Lang told MTV News.

Considering that Lang just picked up his first guitar three years ago, he is pretty fortunate indeed. The guitarist got his start trying to learn a Stone Temple Pilots song, but his fate was sealed when his father exposed him to a local blues band, which he soon joined.

You can catch Lang opening for Aerosmith in Ottawa on Wednesday.

• Jonny Lang