Rick Estrin & the Nightcats may just be the hottest blues group on tour this summer. Their The Hits Keep Coming album was number one on the Living Blues Radio Chart for the entire year of 2024. This Bay-Area band is a three-time winner of the prestigious Blues Music Award for Band of The Year and Living Blues Magazine’s 2025 Critics Band of Year. Their current tour of the United States precedes dates in British Columbia, Finland, Denmark, and The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise out of San Diego. (See itinerary below.)
Each member of the Nightcats has a legendary background. Estrin began singing at the Fillmore West in San Francisco as a teenager in 1969 and worked five nights a week for almost a year with guitar legend Travis Phillips in a band fronted by famed pimp/bluesman Fillmore Slim, who was the centerpiece of the Hughes Brothers documentary American Pimp.
At 19, Estrin relocated to Chicago and worked with some of the city’s best bluesmen. He met and jammed with the legendary Muddy Waters, who told Rick, “You outta sight, boy! You got that sound! You play like a man!”
He formed Little Charlie & The Nightcats with guitarist Charlie Baty, who retired in 2008. Rick then took over leadership of the group and took in guitar virtuoso Kid Andersen, renaming the band Rick Estrin & The Nightcats.
The Hits Keep Coming is a career-defining album of adult songs with references reflecting Rick’s long strange trip into the blues. Recorded for Alligator, the blues label that’s been in business almost as long as Rick has, it features Kid Andersen on guitar and was recorded at Kid’s Greaseland Studios. It’s a textbook example of originals that have one foot in traditional postwar Chicago blues and another in contemporary 21st century mainstream electric blues. This is Alligator’s wheelhouse, and Kid is a master guitarist ubiquitous to many of the best albums recorded in his studio. The combination is a perfect foil for Rick whose stage personality is a character with a capital C.
Christofer “Kid” Andersen backed American blues stars in his native Norway including Homesick James, Nappy Brown, and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. He moved to California at 21 and currently is owner, engineer, and producer at Greaseland Studios. He released four solo albums before joining Charlie Musselwhite’s band. He’s been with The Nightcats since 2008 and has produced all six of their albums as well as albums by blues royalty Tommy Castro, Nick Moss, John Nemeth, Wee Willie Walker, and Finis Tasby.
The Nightcats’ Derrick “D’Mar” Martin was Little Richard’s drummer for the last 17 years of that rock and roll legend’s life and has a three-decade career as a virtuoso drummer, recording artist, producer, songwriter, educator, and public speaker.
Lorenzo Farrell has been The Nightcats’ keyboardist since 2003. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley and studied religion in Delhi, India. He has performed and/or recorded with Elvin Bishop, Finis Tasby, Andy Santana, and Terry Hanck.
I can’t think of another electric blues band where every band member has such a universally rich heritage. DownBeat describes the way Rick Estrin sings and writes songs as “the brightest wise guy in all bluesland and blows harmonica as if he learned at the knee of Little Walter.”
I agree with Estrin today when he says the band is creating “the best music we’ve ever made together. This band is killer. I’m enjoying this all more than ever.” More than half a century into his career, he says “It’s a blessing—there’s so much energy, so much collaboration. The band is just so good right now. And the live show is off the charts.”
He is sanguine about his age. “You gotta keep on the cue. That’s one thing I notice about getting older is it’s important to stay mentally active and physically active because you go downhill quick, and I’m afraid to stop. People say, ‘How long are you gonna do this, man?’ Either until I can’t do it, or no one wants to see us ’cause I enjoy it and probably appreciate it more than ever.
Itinerary:
August 1: Narrows Center for The arts, Fall River, Mass.
August 2: Towne Crier Cafe, Beacon, NY
August 3: Music Haven Concert Series: Blues BBQ, Schenectady, NY
August 6: Blue Frog Studios (two sets). White Rock, BC
August 8: Blue Frog Studios (two sets). White Rock, BC
August 7 – 10: Nanaimo Blues Festival, Nanaimo, BC
August 22 – 24: Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival
August 23 – 24: Downtwon Tacoma Blues & Jazz Festival
August 30: Little Village’s Big Easy Party & Beet Fetat Poor House Bistro, San Jose
September 30: Malmitalo, Helsinki, Finland
October 1: Kulttuurikorjaamo – Kulturgaraget
October 2: Tampere Hall, Tampere, Finland
October 4: Blues Heaven Festival, Frederikshavn, Denmark
October 10: The Sofia, Sacramento, CA
October 17: Chateau Lacombe Hotel. Edmonton, AB
October 18: Chateau Lacombe Hotel. Edmonton, AB
October 25 – November 1: Legendary Rhytrhm & Blues Cruise no. 43 – Dea of Cortez (sold out)
