Touring together for the first time, Solid Blues brings together all-star cast of Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, the North Mississippi Allstars and New Orlean’s-style piano and organ wizard Joe Krownfor a Southern-tinged, soul-stirring performance celebrating the blues tradition for one night at the Napa Valley Opera House.

From early days sharing lead vocals with her groundbreaking gospel group the Staple Singers — with hits including “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There” — to her acclaimed solo recordings, Mavis Staples has become an inspiration in modern popular culture and music. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, she received three Grammy nominations in 2004, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three W.C. Handy Awards in 2005, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship Award in 2006.

Charlie Musselwhite has been called “the world’s greatest living blues harmonica player” by the New York Press. Eight-time Grammy nominee and 18-time W. C. Handy Award-winner, Musselwhite won lifetime achievement awards from the Monterey Blues Festival and the San Javier Jazz Festival in Spain and the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. His latest CD, “Delta Hardware,” was called “an early candidate for blues record of the year” by All Music Guide.

North Mississippi Allstars won three Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Blues Album — for their debut recording, “Shake Hands with Shorty” in 2001, “Phantom 51” in 2003 and their latest recording, “Electric Blue Watermelon,” in 2005. “Electric Blue Watermelon” also reached number one on the 2005 Billboard Top Blues Album Chart. The group recently recorded the soundtrack (along with Charlie Musselwhite) for Paramount’s “Black Snake Moan.”

New Orleans-style piano and Hammond B-3 player, Joe Krown is a favorite of the Crescent City and has won numerous awards there for his recordings and performances. He held the keyboard chair with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown & Gate’s Express from 1992 until Gatemouth’s passing in the fall of 2005 and has performed and recorded with innumerable other artists including Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, B. B. King. Joe’s latest CD is “Livin’ Large with the Joe Krown Organ Combo.”