PHOTOS: Guitar Shorty heats up the stage at Bluesmore

The sixteenth edition of Bluesmore, the Linn County Blues Society's annual event on the Brucemore lawn, found a portion of the large crowd wearing jackets on Saturday to stave off the chill.

Nevertheless, the headliner was determined to bring some heat to the evening with the help of his guitar, “Red.”

During the first number of his set, Guitar Shorty passed the solos around as though he were introducing us to his bandmates-the upfront slapping presence of the bass player, the organ sound of the man on the keys, the shifting patterns of the drummer - while establishing his own bona fides as a guitarist.

After that, however, the focus stayed squarely on the 70-year-old frontman.

And why not? Guitar Shorty (born David William Kearney) has been a major player in the blues world for decades, gigging with and influencing a host of legends. He shouted out the lines of several traditionally structured blues numbers (repeat the first line and head for that rhyme at verse's end) and let his guitar do the majority of the talking.

For the casual blues fan, some of Guitar Shorty's solos may have been overly extended, though he has a knack for reeling the audience back in. For example, in the middle of his long feature in the ballad “This Is a Hard Life,” he focused the audience's attention with a few bars in which “Red” seemed to be striking up a conversation.

Notably, the most engaging numbers were taken from the bluesman's latest album, “We the People.” The title track, a working man's anthem, was performed with an uptick in energy and rewarded with audience acclaim.

“I Got Your Number” followed, and the crowd, despite having thinned out after the sun went down and the temperature dipped, hardly needed encouragement to bellow for an encore. Guitar Shorty obliged, thrilling the extremely enthusiastic crowd and wrapping things up with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Mike Zito performed before Guitar Shorty and was settled into a blues-meets-early-rock groove until his take on Prince's “Little Red Corvette.”

That number, slowed down but still given an '80s-style treatment, was intriguing but seemed to lead to a watering-down of the blues in favor of pop and rock sensibilities.

Zito's take on “Hey Joe,” a song made famous by Jimi Hendrix, was not nearly as centered in the blues as Guitar Shorty's take on the same song - perhaps because Guitar Shorty influenced Hendrix (his brother-in-law) while Zito was influenced by Hendrix.

Whether it was blues, pop, or rock, however, Zito's brand of music was popular with much of the crowd.

By Rob Kline, freelance writer