Ruthie Foster and The Paladins will each return to ZooFest this weekend.
The Zoo Bar’s annual street festival celebrating the bar’s 51st anniversary will continue Friday and Saturday on the expanded 14th Street footprint that last year moved the stage to the north side of P Street.
Foster, who won the 2023 best contemporary female artist Blues Music Award, previously headlined ZooFest in 2017.
Singer/songwriter Foster, who has won 11 Blues Music Awards, isn’t a pure blues artist. Rather she’s a blues-folk-pop-rock-gospel (and even a little country) artist with powerhouse church-rooted singing reminiscent of Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples.
She just released a pair of singles: “Rainbow," a flowing, insistent love song, and “Heartshine,†an uplifting gospel/soul anthem from her forthcoming album, “Mileage,†set to come out Aug. 23.
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Foster will take the 9 p.m. featured slot on Friday, the second of the three ZooFest days this July.
The Paladins, who last played ZooFest in 2019, will be playing a rare show when they return to the festival in the 7 p.m. slot Saturday.
The southern California rockabilly trio, which has played the Zoo for decades, is essentially retired and will only be playing a handful of dates, mostly in Europe this year.
That performance will draw Paladins fans from across the country.
“I’ve gotten calls asking when they’re playing,†said Zoo Bar owner Pete Watters. “They’re not doing any dates around it, any supporting dates. They’re just coming here for the one show.â€
The 9 p.m. Saturday slot will be taken by The Soul Rebels, an eight-piece New Orleans outfit that incorporates elements of soul, jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock and pop into the Crescent City brass band framework.
Tickets for ZooFest are $60 each day and will be available at the festival gate at 14th and O streets.
Weekend lineup
Friday
5 p.m., Jimmy Carpenter Band.
7 p.m., Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.
9 p.m., Ruthie Foster.
11 p.m., A Ferocious Jungle Cat.
Saturday
3 p.m., Lloyd McCarter & the Honky Tonk Revival.
5 p.m., Keisha Pratt featuring Kevin Burke.
7 p.m., The Paladins.
9 p.m., The Soul Rebels.
11 p.m., The Midland Band (Steely Dan tribute).