GA-20/Amani Burnham
Black-eyed and Blues Festival
Mortensen Riverfront Plaza
Hartford
Sept. 12, 2026
Black-Eyed Sally’s hosted its annual Black-eyed and Blues Festival, celebrating the tradition of blues music in New England. This was the first year the festival was held at the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza,. The glistening Connecticut River was the perfect backdrop for music that began in the Mississippi River Delta.
I planned to see headlining band GA-20, so I arrived early for their performance. That was fortunate because I caught the tail end of the penultimate performer, Amani Burnham. The 21-year old, born in Ethiopia and adopted by a family here in Connecticut, lit the stage on fire with his performance.
He just looked cool while doing it. Burnham told the crowd that he loves Jimi Hendrix; it’s awesome to see that rock and roll archetype continue to endure into the 21st century. Burnham and his bandmates made it clear that blues is not just for older people.
Burnham was a terrific lead-in for headlining band GA-20, which got their start when the wunderkind was only 13 years old. Where Burnham represented the raw rebellion and energy of the blues, GA-20, which takes its name from a 70-year old guitar amp, brought almost a kind of wizened serenity to the music.
GA-20, which consists of guitarist Matthew Stubbs, vocalist/guitarist Cody Nilsen and drummer Josh Kiggans, slowed down the tempo with a mixed set of blues classics and music from their new album, Blues Now.
Their rendition of Johnny Winter’s song My Soul had a grungy, homemade sound as Nilsen’s gravelly vocals delivered the lyrics about introspection and sadness. The magic of the blues is that it can turn melancholy into movement; before long the audience was coming onto the stage to dance.
That’s in no small part to Stubbs' expert guitar play. His guitar sounded like a mournful wail, the kind you’d hear from a man who’s down to his last bit of luck. He achieved the sound with a light touch, and while I was definitely listening to the blues, it never made me feel sad or down.
GA-20's members are also talented songwriters, with an impressive ability to channel the emotion of the genre into their own works. Dry Run takes the age-old after-breakup question of “Did I matter to you?” and sets it to a slow, looping rhythm that makes those regrets and wonderings tangible, then slams home the question with its matter-of-fact lyrics:
Well, I've got somethin' on my mind
It's been buggin' me for quite a while
Was there ever anythin' to see
Or were you usin' me to wet your feet?
Well, was that all
I'll ever be
Your dry run?
Blues belongs on the river, and the Black-eyed and Blues Festival delivered some great performances. Blues may not have come from here, but it's certainly found a home here.
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