Mark Hummel & Anson Funderburgh

Mark Hummel and Anson Funderburgh are playing Blind Willie's on Saturday, October 17, and for anyone who knows the history of the place, there's a bit of a homecoming to it. The two used to play the Virginia Highland club several times a month back in the mid-1990s, so this is a pairing with deep roots in the room.

Hummel is a Grammy-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning harmonica player, vocalist, and songwriter who's led The Blues Survivors for years. Since 1991, he's produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, which has brought together harp players like James Cotton, Carey Bell, and Charlie Musselwhite. While he's usually identified as a West Coast blues player, he works across Delta blues, Chicago blues, swing, and jazz, and his harp playing here is described as raw and Little Walter-inspired. Funderburgh is a Texas guitarist who plays with a focus on class over flash, and the two bring those different styles together on one stage.

The set is likely to lean on Hummel's new album, Road Dog, which features Funderburgh alongside updated blues classics. That means you'll hear the new material alongside the older standards they've both spent their careers playing. It's a night that pulls from both ends of the record—the new songs and the classics that come before them.

The show starts at 9 PM at Blind Willie's, 828 N Highland Ave NE in Virginia Highland, and tickets are $15.