NORWICH – The Honey Island Swamp Band returns to Norwich to kick off Blues Fest weekend with a show downtown.

Thursday night’s installment of the NBT Bank Free Summer Concert Series presented by the Chenango Blues Association features ‘Bayou Americana’ of The Honey Island Swamp Band.

Aaron Wilkinson takes on mandolin, guitar and vocals, Chris Mule plays electric guitar and vocals, Sam Price brings the bass, Trevor Brooks plays organ, and Garland Paul handles the drums.

The group earned the Big Easy Award for Best Roots Rock artist in both 2011 and 2012. The band’s sound draws from influences Lowell George and Little Feat, The Band, Taj Mahal, Gram Parsons, Jerry Garcia, Johnny Cash, Earl King and Dr. John.

“There aren’t many towns like Norwich that have such an appetite for live music,” said Aaron Wilkinson in a previous interview with The Evening Sun. “It’s just cool to get up there, everyone is so enthusiastic and so nice. The festival is just really great and we’ve made some great friends with the organizers and fans.”