Charlie Musselwhite

Charlie Musselwhite

with support from The Xcelerators

Saturday, June 13th, 2026

Sisters Bar & Restaurant opens at 5pm. Information and reservations here.

16+ // under 16 must be accompanied by parent or legal guardian

* This is a seated show. *

** To add Angel Parking, select your tickets and click Checkout. If parking is available, it will appear as an add-on on the following screen. Additional parking information is available here.

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Charlie Musselwhite

**VIDEO**

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Charlie Musselwhite’s journey through the blues was from his birth in Mississippi to Memphis, Chicago and California. Arriving in Chicago in the early sixties, he was just in time for the epochal blues revival. In 1966 at the age of 22 he recorded the landmark Stand Back! to rave reviews. A precipitous relocation to San Francisco in 1967, where his album was being played on underground radio, found him welcomed into the counterculture scene around the Fillmore West as an authentic purveyor of the real deal blues. 

Fifty years of nonstop touring, performing and recording have reaped huge rewards. Charlie Musselwhite is living proof that great music only gets better with age. This man cut his (musical) teeth alongside Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and everyone on the South side of Chicago in the early 1960’s. Thank your lucky stars that he is still with us telling the truth with a voice and harp tone like no other.

More than 20 albums later he is at the top of his game, a revered elder statesman of the blues nowhere near ready to hang up his harps, his depth of expression as a singer and an instrumentalist unexcelled and only growing deeper.

Charlie has been collaborating with the world’s finest Artists for many years, including Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Gov’t Mule, INXS, Mickey Hart and Japan’s Kodo Drummers, George Thorogood, Eliades Ochoa, Cat Stevens and personal friend and best man at his wedding John Lee Hooker.

Musselwhite, more than any other harmonica player of his generation, can rightfully lay claim to inheriting the mantle of many of the great harp players that came before him with music as dark as Mississippi mud and as uplifting as the blue skies of California. In an era when the term legendary gets applied to auto-tuned pop stars, this singular blues harp player, singer, songwriter and guitarist has earned and deserves to be honored as a true master of American classic vernacular music.

2019 GRAMMY Nominee NO MERCY IN THIS LAND with Ben Harper

2014 GRAMMY Winner GET UP with Ben Harper 

13-time GRAMMY Nominee

33-time Blues Music Award Winner

Many-time Living Blues Award Winner

The Xcelerators

The Xcelerators are a group of soulful musicians who have landed in Tucson from around the country, each bringing a lifetime of experience exploring Blues and American Roots Music. 

Jimmy Crimmins started his blues journey in his home town of Madison, Wisconsin where he fronted his own bands and played alongside such greats as Pinetop Perkins, Albert King and other blues all stars. From Madison to L.A. and now here in Tucson where he is a founding member of The Xcelerators, Jimmy continues to thrill crowds with his searing guitar work and original song writing.

Tom Albanese, originally from New Jersey where he first started playing harmonica after hearing Paul Butterfield records as a teen, has spent time in Tucson on and off since the 1970s. After living in Chicago for decades where he played with Johnny Littlejohn, Willie Hayes, Sam Lay, Eddie Clearwater and several local Chicago blues bands, Tom again makes his home in Tucson where he continues to tear it up on blues harp as an original member of The Xcelerators.

Les Merrihew, a decades long veteran of the Seattle blues scene, is now known as the hardest working and most in demand drummer in Tucson. Another original member of the band, Les is a virtual groove machine whose resume includes stints with Little Milton, Charlie Musselwhite, Pinetop Perkins, Albert Collins and several other bands across the western U.S.

Ken Saydak, pianist, organist, vocalist, songwriter and  producer since 1974, joined the Xcelerators in 2025. Born and raised in Chicago and schooled in the Chicago blues tradition, Ken arrived in Tucson in 2024. Having recorded and toured with Johnny Winter, Lonnie Brooks, Mighty Joe Young, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush and many others, he brings a wealth of experience to the band. Having over 65 recording credits to his name with a who's who of Chicago blues artists, including five Grammy nominated releases and solo works on Delmark and Evidence Records, Ken’s contribution to the band speaks for itself. 

Russel Sacks, the newest member of The Xcelerators, is a seasoned bassist with decades of experience deeply rooted in Chicago’s rich blues tradition. With every band he’s played in, from New York to Los Angeles, Russ  brings a rock steady bottom end to the rhythm section and his playing reflects a lifetime immersed in the blues genre. 

Together, The Xcelerators bring an exciting, high energy blues experience that is unique to Tucson, and will keep you dancing and tapping your toes until the last note is ringing in your ears!