Ana Popovic Live at B102.7 & Icon in Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls has become a hotbed of smokin' blues shows over the past year or so and Saturday night (March 30) continued that trend as a dear friend and world class guitar player and singer came back to see us: Ana Popovic!

Ana played the 1st anniversary show of the Icon Lounge and Event Hall downtown Sioux Falls at 6th & Main to a packed house of very happy people.

I first met Ana at JazzFest here in Sioux Falls when she opened the festival in 2006. This was her fourth trip back through town since that day in the park and like so many of the blues artists I've been fortunate enough to get to know, she continues to grow as an artist and as a guitar player.

Ana has put together a funky, fantastic road band of Doc Samba on bass, Stéphane Avellaneda on drums and Christophe Keyes on keyboard that complimented Popovic's style and stage presence perfectly. The four really enjoy sharing the stage with each other and it comes out in their playing and smiles.

Popovic spent about a half hour in the studio with us Saturday afternoon and I was told by several people at the show that it sounded like a couple of old friends sitting around talking about the blues. Good. That's just what it was. Ana is one of my favorite people and it's always a joy to have her drop by and put on a show like she did Saturday at Icon.

I apologize for the sound on the video of the song performance. Still very much a novice and trying to dial in the sound. You can at least get a taste of what we saw (or what you missed!)