Harp Attack with the Mark Dufresne Band plus special guests Andy Koch and Ted Hennessy

Harp Attack is back! And once again the great Mark DuFresne is at the helm. Our annual blues harmonica throwdown features some of the top players in the area backed by Mark and his band. Dufresne is one of the most sought after Blues talents in the Northwest. The Washington Blues Society has awarded him for best vocalist, songwriter and harmonica more than any other artist. His guests for this night will be Andy Koch and Ted Hennessy.

As the founder and manager of the Badd Dog Blues Society band, Andy Koch has kept the blues alive and kicking in Bellingham and the surrounding towns and cities. Andy has been an entertainer all of his life, playing a variety of instruments but settling on harmonica. His real, if unspoken, goal is for every person to listen to and feel the blues in their soul. To continue the work of his spiritual godfathers, and his exciting interpretation of the harmonica puts new definitions in the dictionary of music for this amazingly diverse instrument.

Seasoned blues-harp-honker, singer and songwriter Ted Hennessy arrived in the PNW from upstate NY in 2019. He now performs regularly on the North Olympic Peninsula with a number of local Blues and Americana bands including Ted’s Fault, Jase Texas and the Swing-a-Lings, and the Lost Trio. Prior to arriving in the PNW, Ted was a regular on the upstate NY blues circuit. He has logged in over 600 shows as frontman for regional favorites and countless performances with blues and roots bands in NY and New England. Ted was inducted into the New York State Blues Hall of Fame in 2012. His song writing has earned him respect with musicians and received accolades in blues circles. His tale of a dying blues scene, “Graveyard for the Blues,” was selected as “Best Original Blues Song” for 2001 by Real Blues Magazine. His original “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know” was featured on “The Best of the Upstate NY Harmonica Blow-off” CD (2001).