Going All Out

Intimacy is not the usual reward of an outdoor blues festival. Not with all those lawn chairs scattered in a crowd of portable restrooms and merchants shilling beer, barbecue and baubles. But intimacy is what fans got on Sunday at the Doheny Blues Festival, where the likes of Robert Cray and the Fabulous Thunderbirds performed with an intensity rarely heard outside a nightclub.

That energy was most welcome in the hourlong set by Cray, who headlined the Dana Point weekend festival’s closing day. Cray has too often chosen to buff away the rougher edges of the blues, while still staying true to the genre’s dark, personal themes. He’s known for injecting his music with elements of pop and soul, leaning more on delicate passages of his guitar than on exploding with wild soloing.

But in this somehow intimate, looser setting, Cray came off as intense and passionate, and not the slick and remote presence he has often seemed. He performed a surprising number of straight-ahead, old-school blues tear-jerkers, singing in a typically warm and pained voice.

Not that Cray has abandoned the quieter, soul-influenced side of his music. His “The One in the Middle” sounded about ready for the likes of Al Green, setting Cray’s tasteful guitar licks against the soothing organ flourishes of Jim Pugh.

As much as any other act on Sunday, the Fabulous Thunderbirds thrived in the outdoor setting, playing at dusk to a crowd too excited to sit any longer. The Thunderbirds actually offer little that’s new to the blues, but the sheer force of their delivery, finding contemporary fire in the same old blues patterns, makes up for a lack of innovation.

As led by singer and harp maestro Kim Wilson (now the lone original member of the band), the Thunderbirds performed a raucous set of rip-roaring blues and rock, including Muddy Waters’ “I’m a Man.” Their tough-guy blues were most effective during lengthy instrumental jams, with Wilson strutting between lyrics with his harmonica.

The middling good-time boogie of their better-known songs, including the radio hit “Tough Enough,” hardly seemed necessary in this context. The band quickly escaped that abyss of mediocrity with a one-song encore of roadhouse boogie performed with former band member Jimmie Vaughan.

For his own set, Vaughan was accompanied by the day’s largest band, which included two keyboardists and a trio of soulful backup singers. His guitar work was always sophisticated but was often wasted on material not up to his abilities. He seemed trapped in mid-tempo, too content to boogie comfortably when he could be soaring.

The few slower, emotionally extreme songs suited him better. His performance of Art Neville’s “Six Strings Down” movingly bade farewell to the endless line of worthy bluesmen (including late brother Stevie Ray Vaughan) who have left the world behind.

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Earlier in the day, the festival showcased a variety of local talent and the multi-genre blues blend of Maria Muldaur. For a taste of the core blues ethic, fans were able to turn to veteran singer Sam Myers, who performed with guitarist Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets.

Myers stepped unsteadily to the microphone with a cigarette burning between his fingers and smiled warmly from behind his thick glasses. As Funderburgh chewed gum while squeezing out sparks of pain and euphoria from his instrument, Myers shouted and sang with a deep, energetic growl, easily outclassing most other singers on the bill.

Though little appreciated beyond hard-core blues harp aficionados, local heroes Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers offered one of the tightest sets of the day. All accomplished instrumentalists, the quintet roared through a variety of originals and such chestnuts as Muddy Waters’ “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” following the lead of Piazza’s squealing, industrial-strength harmonica.

He was joined most effectively by guitarist Rick Holstrom, adept at both tearful, stinging lead lines and lighter glancing blows. Likewise, keyboardist Honey Piazza found fire and sweetness from her electric piano during frequent solos; after one, the band leader rightfully declared: “If that wasn’t boogie, you ain’t gonna hear none tonight.”