Singer/songwriter John Hartford made up that line, and you can drop it if you like at this year’s Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival.

By Mike Leonard

Hartford’s little ditty paid homage to the playful double-entendre tunes of jazz and blues and whatever your wink-wink interpretation such references suggested.

They all meant ‘having a good time’ in one way or another. Socially. Musically. And out on the dance floor.

After a nearly three-year hiatus, Bloomington Boogies is back in B-Town, and you can put on your dancing shoes or tap your toes from your seat in the audience, where you can boogie your socks off.

This is fun stuff, a high-spirited spin-off from jazz that has evolved to expand on numerous stylistic approaches, genres and subgenres of music, all reflecting the tastes and personalities of the performers.

At its core, the general definition of boogie woogie piano playing means laying down a strong rhythmic pattern with the left hand while using the right to play melodies, trills, riffs and licks, which are typically, among the best players, delightfully varied and inventive. And as with jazz, you likely will hear a player quote a famous “quote” line or melody that brings a smile to your face before the song is off to the races again.

“It’s such a fun style to play,” says festival founder, Craig Brenner. “Some people stay true to the simpler style, which is why people were drawn to it in the first place. For myself, I try to incorporate some more modern approaches to try to expand on what’s been handed to me over the years. Different chord voicing, that sort of thing.”

Sometimes you don’t even need a piano to star at this festival. C.J. Chenier, the son of the putative King of Zydeco Music, Clifton Chenier, plays accordion, in the tradition of his late father but with his own joyful and eminently danceable French/Cajun music that flowed out in all directions from Louisiana.

This year’s festival is pared back somewhat from previous boogies, due to the cutbacks facing most of the arts. Grants have dried up or disappeared, and even Brenner didn’t know whether there’d be a festival this year until a few months ago. What normally takes him all year to plan had to be carried out in weeks.

Bloomington rose to the occasion.

The funding and time frame won’t affect the quality of artists to perform in Bloomington, but it has made the educational component of the festival a bit harder to pull off. Yet there still will be a free performance and workshop at the Monroe County History Center at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 19, featuring Greenville, Mississippi pianist, vocalist and composer Eden Brent. And there will be artists visiting Jackson Creek Middle School, Templeton Elementary and potentially other schools as grants, gifts and other donations come in during the runup to the festival.

Like many events, a festival ticket does not come close to funding an entire festival, when artist’s fees, transportation, meals and lodging, performance facilities and numerous other costs are figured in. One extremely valuable expense the festival won’t have to bear this year are the services of retired Indiana University Recording Arts Lecturer Wayne Jackson, who the Audio Engineering Society has described as a “live sound guru.” Jackson will be lending his talent and gear to make the sound of Bloomington Boogies as good as it can be.

Pianist Eden Brent will kick off the festival with the 1:30 p.m. free (limited seating!) performance and workshop at the Monroe County History Center. Tickets are not required. But students and observers are advised to play it safe and register for a seat at https://bloomingtonboogies.com/education.

The primary site for the public performances is the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts, 202 S. Rogers Street in Bloomington. Tickets for the 5:30 p.m. expansive concert are available at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater for $30 and a small handling fee. The doors to the center will open at 4:30 p.m. and food trucks and beverages will be available on site.

The lineup, as usual, is an all-star cast of performers from the U.S. and abroad, including:

*C.J. Chenier,  accordion and vocals.

*Silvan Zingg, a boogie-woogie, jazz and blues pianist and founder of the International Boogie Woogie Festival in Lugano, Switzerland.

*Eden Brent – Mississippi blues pianist/vocalist, winner of the 2025 Blues Music Award for Piano (The Pinetop Perkins Award).

• Henri Herbert – Boogie-woogie/blues pianist originally from the UK, now performing worldwide.

• Cili Marsall – Austrian-based pianist, singer, and composer who performs at European festivals and is widely recognized for her virtuosity.

• Craig Brenner – festival organizer, nationally known performer and leader of Bloomington’s own Craig & The Crawdads.

• The mighty house rhythm section, which includes Gordon Bonham on guitar, Ron Kadish, bass; Dan Hostetler, drums; and Bill Bailey, rubboard and additional percussion.

Bloomington Boogies has been named one of the top 10 festivals in Indiana, Mark it on your calendar and you’ll see and hear why.🐝