I'm not sure Sugar Blue or Billy Branch have a beef here, but I certainly could be wrong. I don't think there are enough African-American blues acts out there nowadays to populate all these fests. At least in numbers. I think if there were, they'd be hired. When I started out in the late 60's, you had several dozen hot blues bands working in Chicago alone on the South and West Sides. If you wanted great slide guitar, you could go out and catch J.B. Hutto, Hound Dog Taylor, and Johnny Littlejohn any night. Harp? James Cotton, Jr. Wells, Big Walter Horton, Billy Boy Arnold, Little Mac Simmons, and a bunch of others were active around town. Hot guitarists? Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, Sammy Lawhorn, Buddy Guy, Fenton Robinson, Brewer Phillips, Louis Myers, etc. Most of the giants of the music were around then and in good form: Muddy, Wolf, Hooker, Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Williams, Lightnin' Hopkins etc. I don't think we have people around today of that stature. Robert Cray, Keb Mo'? Nice singers but not in the league of the people I named. Here in Chicago, the taverns in African-American neighborhoods that used to employ and support these bands are mostly gone or on the ropes. Hence, the number of blues acts are down. But if Billy Branch or Sugar Blue are having trouble getting festival work, then something is definitely wrong. And unless you're in Finland, there should never be a blues fest without an African-American act on the bill. My opinion.