Blues-Bred Rock, Soul at Long Beach Fest

The blues may be the foundation of the American musical culture of this century and a powerful vehicle for personal expression, but its overworked three-chord changes can also be a bore when served up endlessly at blues festivals. Avoiding that trap, the 13th annual Long Beach Blues Festival’s opening day Saturday at Shoreline Aquatic Park broadened its lineup with a refreshing infusion of blues-bred rock and soul music.

“I’m still me!” declared headliner Chuck Berry early in his set, and truer words were never spoken. Berry is one of the greatest poets rock ever produced, he practically invented rock guitar and, nearly four decades after “Maybellene” hit in 1955, he remains one of music’s most abandoned performers. Of his generation, only Jerry Lee Lewis is as feisty and unpredictable.

As ever, Berry’s guitar was so out of tune that his musicians often could only guess what key he was in, but he had the crowd dancing and shouting through an hourlong set of his American beauties: “Rock and Roll Music,” “School Day,” “Memphis” and “Johnny B. Goode” with a duck walk.

New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas’ voice just gets better with time, and the hope and pain that went into her early-’60s hits such as “Wish Someone Would Care” and “It’s Raining” were deepened by the mature, soulful voice she brought to bear on them Saturday.

Bay Area singer-guitarist Joe Louis Walker shot his blues full of Stax-label Southern soul and inventive song structures, making for a charged show, while 77-year-old Chicago stalwart Honeyboy Edwards offered a relaxed solo set of back-porch blues. Sunday’s festival finale was scheduled to continue the mixed bag, from Soul Brother No. 1 James Brown to Chicago pianist Pinetop Perkins.