Gates open at 5 p.m.

Cellular South Stage

6:10 p.m., Plain White T’s: Suburban Chicago outfit Plain White T’s has been slowly climbing its way through the pop-punk ranks. Released last year, the group’s fourth album, Every Second Counts, might be its best, offering a heavy dose of eighth-note riffage and sharp melodies.

7:40 p.m., Sum 41: It’s been nearly three years since multi-platinum Canadian pop-punk outfit Sum 41 has released a new record. Led by singer Deryck Whibley — who, along with his wife, Avril Lavigne, are the reigning king and queen of the Hot Topic set — the group will be offering a preview of material off the forthcoming fifth album. The self-produced Underclass Hero is due in July, and the record will be the band’s first without guitarist Dave Baksh, who left the group last year.

9:15 p.m., Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Florida post-hardcore group Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has had a rapid rise since forming in 2003. Generating heavy buzz after a series of memorable performances on the Van’s Warped Tour last year, the band’s 2006 debut for Virgin Records, Don’t You Fake It, achieved gold status before the end of the year.

10:55 p.m., Iggy & The Stooges: Perhaps the most-anticipated set of the festival, proto-punk kingpins Iggy Pop and The Stooges return to Memphis for the first time since opening for the New York Dolls (also recently reunited) in 1973. The full-scale resumption of the Stooges career — sidetracked by a 30-plus year hiatus — has certainly been a surprise. Although critics have been less than kind to the group’s recently released studio effort The Weirdness, the band’s live shows are still the stuff of legend. Not to be missed.

Budweiser Stage

6 p.m., The Derek Trucks Band: Named one of the “New Guitar Gods” by Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year (and pegged as the “Jam King”) Derek Trucks has been in the spotlight since emerging as a 9-year-old child prodigy. He formed the Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and his playing and audience both have grown as he’s matured. His work has been recognized throughout the guitar world — no less than Eric Clapton tapped Trucks to be his guitar foil on several recent tours.

7:30 p.m., Jerry Lee Lewis: Music Festival perennial and Memphis legend “The Killer,” Jerry Lee Lewis, returns for what’s sure to be another scintillating glimpse of the master. Lewis has been back in the national spotlight this past year with the release of his critically-acclaimed and star-studded duets record, Last Man Standing, and a recent companion DVD.

9 p.m., Gov’t Mule: Originally born as an Allman Brothers side project back in 1994, the Warren Haynes/Matt Abts-led Gov’t Mule has become a Southern rock/jam band institution in its own right. The group, which revamped its lineup after the death of founding member Allen Woody in 2000, released its tenth album, High & Mighty, last summer.

10:55 p.m., Allman Brothers Band: Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, the Allman Brothers Band has weathered all sorts of death, tragedy and turmoil over the course of its nearly 40-year career. They remain a vital musical force, having nabbed Grammy nominations in 2003/2004 and, thanks to relentless touring and performing, continue to be embraced by successive generations of new fans, including the denizens of the contemporary jam band scene.

AutoZone Stage

6 p.m., North Mississippi Allstars: Regional heroes North Mississippi Allstars are among those kicking off this year’s music festival. And there’s no act better at getting a festival crowd to its feet than this crew of roots eclectics, led by the Dickinson brothers Luther and Cody. The group, which helped score the soundtrack to “Black Snake Moan,” is working on a follow-up to the 2005 album, Electric Blue Watermelon.

8 p.m., Chevelle: Illinois band Chevelle has carved a loyal fanbase since breaking out nationally in 2002. Led by brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler, the group’s fourth album, Vena Sera, released last month, quietly debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard charts. And Chevelle’s winning blend of hard rock and alternative-styled metal continues to be a popular live draw.

9:40 p.m., Social Distortion: Longtime Southern California combo Social Distortion has seemingly been around forever. The group first emerged in 1978 out of the same Orange County punk scene that spawned bands like the Adolescents and China White. Though there were times when it looked dicey — including a temporary breakup in the mid-’80s — frontman Mike Ness has survived the roller-coaster ride of drug addiction and revolving door of line-up changes to keep the group intact. They haven’t been in the studio since 2004, but Social Distortion looks to be busy on several fronts this year with a greatest hits collection and a new album reportedly in the works.

11:20 p.m., Three 6 Mafia: It’s been particularly hard out here for Three 6 Mafia of late, with the group having to dodge the slings and arrows of cultural critics who take issue with the standard fodder of rap lyrics. But there’s no reason to think that the Academy Award-winning outfit’s fifth consecutive Beale Street music festival appearance will be any less exciting or audience appropriate than its previous shows. (The group will be performing its usual “clean” set). Three 6, who are currently starring in their own MTV reality series, are set to release their much anticipated album, Last 2 Walk, later this month.

TN Lottery Blues Tent

6 p.m., Popa Chubby: Rotund Bronx-born Ted Horowitz might look a most unlikely bluesman, but for more than a decade he’s been one of the contemporary scene’s most boundary-pushing practitioners, mixing disparate elements like sitar and rap into his heavy sound.

7:30 p.m., Hubert Sumlin and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith: Two Chicago legends pair up for what’s sure to be a memorable musical summit, as Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin and Muddy Waters drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith take the stage for a set of Chess-styled electric blues.

8:55 p.m., Richard Johnston: Mississippi troubadour Richard Johnston has been lauded for his efforts in carrying on the Hill Country blues tradition. A mainstay of the late Junior Kimbrough’s band and a regular on Beale Street, Johnston was the subject of an award-winning PBS documentary in 2005. His sets draw on a potent mix of original compositions and nuggets from Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill, among others.

11 p.m., Koko Taylor: The “Queen of the Blues” Koko Taylor is coming back home. Born just outside of Memphis in 1935, Taylor first gained fame after moving to Chicago in 1954. In the past half century, she’s starred for the Chess label and since 1975, Alligator Records. Taylor will be playing a mix of classics and material from her brand new collection, Old School.

– Bob Mehr: 529-2517

Cellular South Stage

2:20 p.m., Companyia Electrica Dharma: Representing this year’s Memphis in May honored country, Spain, Companyia Electrica Dharma is one of the most famous bands in the northeastern province of Catalonia. Brothers Esteve (guitar), Joan (saxophone) and Josep Fortuny (percussion) started the band in 1974 with the expressed purpose of making modern music that reflects the sensibilities of their Mediterranean homeland. The group has recorded 17 albums over the years, most infusing a jazzy style of world music with elements lifted from Catalonian folk music.

4:05 p.m., Eddie Floyd: Born in Montgomery, Ala., and raised in Detroit, Eddie Floyd will always be associated with Memphis soul thanks to the 1966 soul hit “Knock On Wood.” A decade earlier in Detroit, Floyd founded the Falcons, an early soul group that featured himself and lead singer Wilson Pickett. That group scored a hit in 1962 with “I Found A Love,” featuring music by an early version of the Ohio Players (also on today’s line-up). After the demise of the Falcons in 1963, Floyd landed in Memphis, where he became a staff songwriter for Stax Records, teaming with guitarist Steve Cropper to pen such hits as Pickett’s “634-5789 (Soulsville, USA).Floyd released To the Bone in 2002, and tours often with the Blues Brothers band.

5:45 p.m., Old Crow Medicine Show: They sound like they’re from the Smokey Mountains, but in truth this five-piece, old-timey string band formed in Ithaca, N.Y. The group was busking in front of a North Carolina pharmacy when they caught the ear of country-folk guitarist Doc Watson, who invited them to play Merlefest, his annual roots music assemblage held in Wilkesboro, N.C. The exposure lifted the band off the streets and onto the stage of Grand Ole Opry and on tours with Merle Haggard among others.

7:30 p.m., Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Shreveport, La., guitar slinger Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 29, has been a force in the blues world since releasing his debut album, Ledbetter Heights, in 1995. His latest project, a CD and DVD released in January called 10 Days Out: Blues From the Backroads, documents a 10-day pilgrimage Shepherd took to play with some of the blues elder statespeople. With Stevie Ray Vaughan’s rhythm section Double Trouble serving as house band, Shepherd visits artists both celebrated (B.B. King, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown) and obscure (93-year-old guitarist Etta Baker, Neil Pattman) and wisely sits back and lets the masters have the spotlight.

9:15 p.m., Bar-Kays: The Bar-Kays were the other great house band at Stax, after Booker T. & the MGs. The group scored with their very first single, the party anthem “Soul Finger,” in 1967, landing the coveted gig that year as Otis Redding’s backup band. A plane crash outside of Madison, Wis., on Dec. 10, 1967, claimed the lives of Redding and all but two of the Bar-Kays, trumpeter Ben Cauley, who somehow survived the crash, and bassist James Alexander, who had missed the flight. The pair reconstituted the band, reshaping it as a funk group. They played on Isaac Hayes’ landmark Hot Buttered Soul, and after the demise of Stax in 1975, found new life recording dance floor anthems like “Freakshow on the Dancefloor” and “Sex-o-Matic” for Mercury Records. Their latest, House Party, produced by Alexander’s son, top producer Jazze Pha, came out in February.

10: 50 p.m., Steely Dan: Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Steely Dan kick off their 2007 tour at this year’s Beale Street Music Festival. Co-founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met in the late ’60s while students at Bard College, and in 1972 formed Steely Dan. In the ’70s, the band released seven critically acclaimed studio albums, noted for their sophisticated songwriting, pristine production quality and expert musicianship. Steely Dan stopped touring in 1975, preferring to focus on studio work, and after 1980’s Gaucho, Fagen and Becker went on a 13-year hiatus. When they finally reunited in 1993 it was for a tour. Since then, the once road-shy duo have become road regulars and have recorded two new albums, including 2000’s Grammy-winning Two Against Nature.

Budweiser Stage

2:20 p.m., One Less Reason: In 1998 in Jackson, Tenn., guitarist/lead singer Cris Brown and bass player Jereme Hubble formed the band Lapdog. The pair soon settled on drummer Kevin Scott and lead guitar player Jeremy Jones to complete their line-up. In 2002, the band changed its name to One Less Reason and signed a deal with Universal Records, recording a four-song demo including “Favorite Color.” The deal with Universal did not work out, but the demo became the core of 2005’s Everydaylife, featuring a Metallica-like take on Prince’s “When Doves Cry.”

4 p.m., Hawthorne Heights: Dayton, Ohio’s Hawthorne Heights blends the bouncy, punk-inspired rhythms of emo with an aggressive vocal style that has led critics and fans to dub the new genre screamo. Vocalist/guitarist J.T. Fowler formed the band out of the ashes of his previous group, A Day In the Life. They hit early on with the song “Ohio Is For Lovers.” Last year’s If Only You Were Lonely, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard charts.

5:40 p.m., Jack’s Mannequin:The band started in 2004 as a side project for songwriter/singer/pianist Andrew McMahon. On temporary hiatus from his regular gig in the punk-pop quintet Something Corporate, McMahon paid to record songs that morphed into Everything in Transit, a sprawling “concept album exploring his alienating return to the hometown he left to pursue his music.” Just before the album’s release in 2005, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia; following a transplant using bone marrow donated by his sister, McMahon recovered and started playing shows last year.

7:25 p.m., Taking Back Sunday: Pop-punk band Taking Back Sunday hails from Amityville township on Long Island, best known for the creepy events that inspired “The Amityville Horror.” It’s a fitting home base for this band’s dark and aggressive music. The 2004 Victory Records album Where You Want To Be debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and the band had songs on the “Spider-Man 2″ and “Fantastic Four” soundtracks.

9:05 p.m., Wolfmother: Australian rockers Wolfmother formed in 2000, but the trio’s sound is straight from the 1970s, with trippy blues inspired by such seminal hard-rock acts as Black Sabbath. Last February, the band took home a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. And last November they earned the ultimate metal seal of approval, playing Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” for the legendary group’s induction into U.K.’s Music Hall of Fame.

10:50 p.m., Godsmack: One-time drummer Sully Erna stepped out from behind the kit in 1995 to front a new band with guitarist Tony Rambola, bassist Robbie Merrill and drummer Tommy Stewart. Taking their name from an Alice In Chains song, the band’s first studio effort, made for $2,600, was picked up by Universal Records and sold 3.5 million copies. Their fourth album, last year’s IV, was produced by Erna. The effort signifies maturation not just in the band’s sound, but also in Erna’s lyrics, which reflect the cleaned-up singer’s new-found spiritual side.

AutoZone Stage

2:15 p.m., The Duhks: The progressive folk group hails from Canada but its music pulls from all over the place — bluegrass from Appalachia, blues from the Mississippi Delta, French-Canadian folk from Nova Scotia, and percussion from Latin America. Their third album, Migrations, earned them a Grammy nod earlier this year. When the group plays the BSMF there will be one notable personnel change; lead singer Jessee Havey is on indefinite leave and has been replaced by Sarah Dugas.

3:45 p.m., Keller Williams: Virginian Keller Williams is a hi-tech descendant to such Memphis blues artists as Joe Hill Louis, a one-man band who provides his own percussive accompaniment by creating rhythm loops. In high school, Williams was inspired by guitar player Michael Hedges. Another influence was the Grateful Dead, whom he followed on tour for a while. In 1994, Williams released his debut album, Freek, which contained his best-known song “Freeker By the Speaker,” one of many compositions inspired by his days as a Deadhead. Williams, who is closely associated with such latter-day jam bands as his label bosses String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String band, has released 10 more one-word-title albums.

5:30 p.m., John Butler Trio: Guitarist John Butler was born in California but raised in the remote town of Pinjarra in Western Australia. There he started learning guitar, and eventually was bequeathed his grandfather’s prized Dobro. In college in Perth, Butler busked on the streets and earned a residency in a local bar. With a regular gig, Butler put together the first version of the Trio, focusing his sound into a jammy, reggae-inflected pop stew reminiscent of Ben Harper or Jack Johnson. The band’s second full-length, Three, got attention stateside, landing gigs at Bonnaroo and South By Southwest. Sunrise Over Sea followed in 2004, and in March the trio released Grand National.

7:15 p.m., Taj Mahal: Born Henry St. Clair Fredericks in Springfield, Mass., Taj Mahal is the son of a jazz musician of Jamaican descent and a gospel-singing schoolteacher from South Carolina. He started playing music while an agriculture and animal husbandry student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. After graduating in 1964, he formed the short-lived, proto-roots rock band Rising Sons with Ry Cooder. In the late ’60s he went solo and has tested his musical mettle on everything from Caribbean rhythms to children’s songs to Indian classical music, winning two Grammy Awards in the process.

8:55 p.m., Ohio Players: Among the best loved of ’70s funk bands, the Ohio Players started in Dayton, Ohio, in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables and backed Detroit vocal group the Falcons (featuring Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd) on 1962’s “I Found A Love.” They recorded a string of classic funk records in the ’70s that were as notable for their sexy cover images as for songs like “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster.” The group has suffered numerous personnel changes over the years; guitar player Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, who joined in 1964, is the longest-serving current member.

10:35 p.m., George Thorogood: A former semi-pro baseball player, George Thorogood was inspired to switch careers by his musical heroes John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley. He and his band the Destroyers scored modest late ’70s hits with such retro boogie workouts as his covers of John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and the Hank Williams honky-tonk classic “Move It On Over.” His chart success reached its apex with 1982’s Bad to the Bone, the title track from which became an unlikely MTV hit thanks to a video starring Diddley. Thorogood released the studio effort The Hard Stuff last year.

TN Lottery Blues Tent

2 p.m., Daddy Mack Blues Band: Should anyone’s tour bus break down in Tom Lee Park this Saturday, they’ll be in luck. Blues guitarist “Daddy” Mack Orr is a mechanic by day. But at night he becomes one of Memphis’ premier bluesmen. A native of Como, Miss., Orr was 40 when he started playing out, eventually landing a gig with the celebrated Memphis blues band The Fieldstones. After that group’s demise 16 years ago, Orr put together his own band with fellow Fieldstones Harold Bonner on bass and James Bonner on guitar. The group’s second album, last year’s Slow Ride, got as high as No. 8 on the Living Blues chart and resulted in more high profile tours of U.S. festivals and Europe.

3:25 p.m., David “Honeyboy” Edwards: Nonagenarian guitarist David “Honeyboy” Edwards is one of the last living links to the roots of the Delta blues in the cotton fields of Mississippi. Born in Shaw, Miss., in 1915, Edwards found himself in the middle of the blues universe from a young age. As he wrote in his 2000 autobiography The World Don’t Owe Me Nothin’, he saw Tommy Johnson play when he was just 14 years old and immediately knew what he wanted to do with his life. Within a few years, Edwards was gigging with all the greats in the region. In 1938 he was playing a Mississippi juke with none other than Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson when the former reportedly took the fatal sip of strychnine-laced whiskey that killed him a few days later. Edwards toiled in obscurity longer than many of his contemporaries. Always a fine exemplar of the Delta style, he was recorded by blues archivist Alan Lomax in 1942, but it is only as he has emerged as one of the last of a generation, that his status has risen. The Memphis-based Blues Foundation included him among nominees for Best Acoustic Artist of the Year.

4:45 p.m., Alvin Youngblood Hart: Like his mentor Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart started in the blues but has gone in wide-ranging directions since. Raised in San Francisco, he learned the blues on visits to his grandfather’s farm in Northwest Mississippi. In 1996 Hart released his debut disc, Big Mama’s Door, a traditional acoustic blues record that featured Taj Mahal on three cuts.

6:20 p.m., Ryan Shaw: Like his current tourmate Joss Stone, 26-year-old Decatur, Ga., native Ryan Shaw is deeply committed to the sound of classic soul. He began singing in church when he was 5, and dropped out of college to star in the gospel musical “A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Part II)” which led to an engagement in the New York production of Tyler Perry’s “I Know I’ve Been Changed.” Next he worked at New York’s Motown Cafe, where he sang hits by Marvin Gaye and the Temptations. When he joined the New York doo-wop tribute group the Fabulous Soul Shakers, he met guitarist Johnny Gale who teamed with percussionist Jimmy Bralower to produce Shaw’s recently released solo debut, This Is Ryan Shaw.

7:55 p.m., Kelley Hunt: a Kansas City, Mo.-born singer and piano player, Kelley Hunt’s sound is steeped in great old jazz and blues performers like Ruth Brown, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin. After becoming a Midwest club staple and recording two indie releases for 88 Records, Hunt made a trip to Nashville to audition for Garth Fundis (Keith Whitley, Alabama, Trisha Yearwood), one of the most respected producers in Music City. Fundis took Hunt under his wing, teaming her with song-writing partner Gary Nicholson, with whom he co-produced her 2004 album New Shade of Blue.

9:25 p.m., Walter Trout & The Radicals: After a lengthy career as a sideman for some of the blues’ biggest names, guitarist Walter Trout has emerged in recent years as a respected artist in his own right. Trout got his start in the Jersey bar band scene of the early ’70s before moving to Los Angeles where he backed such notable R&B superstars as Joe Tex and John Lee Hooker. Later he served stints in the legendary blues bands Canned Heat and the Bluesbreakers. In 1989 he went solo. His new album Full Circle features the singer/guitarist collaborating with a host of friends he has made over his 35-year career, including John Mayall, Jeff Healy and Coco Montoya.

11:10 p.m., Bobby “Blue” Bland: Originally from Rosemark, Tenn., Bland got his musical start in the late ’40s and early ’50s as a member of the Beale Streeters, a loose group that also included future stars B.B. King and Johnny Ace. After a stint in the Army, Bland returned to Memphis in 1955. His former bandmates’ successes had left Bland behind; famously, he worked for a time as King’s chauffeur. But Bland had a newfound maturity of voice. Recording for the Houston-based Duke label, he began an extraordinary run of R&B hits that included “It’s My Life Baby,” “I Pity the Fool” and “Farther Up the Road.” Bland recorded with diminishing return following Duke’s sale in 1973. He still tours regularly, with his last album of new material being 2003’s live set Blues at Midnight.

– Mark Jordan: markjordan@fusemail.com

Gates open at 1 p.m.

Cellular South Stage

2 p.m., Billy Lee Riley: Sun Records veteran Billy Lee Riley is the odd man out today on the Cellular South Stage, sharing the bill with a crew of light pop purveyors. Although Riley’s known for his own tongue-in-cheek numbers (”Red Hot,” “Flyin’ Saucers Rock ‘n’ Roll”) he remains a rockabilly heavyweight, capable of knocking out audiences at a still spry 73 years old.

3:30 p.m., Umphrey’s McGee: This fast rising Midwest sextet has been tagged as the “next Phish” due to its popularity with jam band audiences. The group, which released the well-received Safety In Numbers in 2006, followed with a disc of leftovers from the sessions, The Bottom Half, earlier this year.

5:15 p.m., Guster: Boston-based Guster made its name in late-’90s college rock circles playing with a stripped-down set-up (a pair of acoustic guitars and hand percussion). Since then, the fan-friendly act has expanded its line-up and sound, moving beyond its early jam style into more layered alt-pop explorations.

7 p.m. Barenaked Ladies: This Canadian joke-pop outfit, often described as a poor man’s They Might Be Giants, remains popular almost a decade after breaking out in the States with radio hits like “One Week,” “Pinch Me” and “Brian Wilson.” The group is reportedly in the process of compiling tracks for a box set due later this year.

8:45 p.m. Counting Crows: The Counting Crows have been turning out its signature brand of jangly, melancholy pop since the early ’90s. Along the way the band has sold over 20 million records worldwide and been nominated for an Academy Award (for its contribution to the “Shrek 2″ soundtrack). Last year the group released its second concert collection, New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall 2003. The group has also been back in the studio, working on a new album with Pixies producer Gil Norton.

Budweiser Stage:

2:10 p.m., Companyia Electrica Dharma: This instrumental outfit from the Catalonia region of Spain is part of the festival’s mission to honor the country. The five-piece group, led by brothers Esteve, Joan and Josep Fortuny, has been earning raves for their sprite brand of European jazz-fusion.

3:55 p.m., Ann Peebles: Soul songstress Ann Peebles made her reputation as a part of the Hi Records family in the 1970s. But Peebles’ work has remained prominent in popular culture, thanks to sampling by numerous rap acts, including members of the Wu Tang Clan. Last year, Peebles released Brand New Classics, on which she re-cut some of her hit songs in a stripped-down acoustic style.

5:30 p.m., Edwin McCain: South Carolina singer-songwriter Edwin McCain rode in on the wave of success created by his hometown friends Hootie and the Blowfish. Landing a record deal with Atlantic in the mid-’90s, he sired the hit “I’ll Be,” launching a career that’s boasted 10 albums of soulful pop, including his latest Lost in America, released on Vanguard last year.

7:40 p.m. Corinne Bailey Rae: The Leeds, England-born singer-songwriter charmed the U.K. last year and has done the same here in the States. Playing a brand of jazz-inflected soul, Rae’s self-titled debut earned her a trio of Grammy nominations and has sold 3 million records worldwide.

9:10 p.m., John Legend: R&B piano man John Legend has successfully navigated the worlds of soul, rap and pop during his meteoric rise to the top of the contemporary music scene. A five-time Grammy winner, Legend’s work with the cream of the hip-hop world (Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Jay-Z) has been balanced by his own gospel and classical background, the combination proving chart gold for the singer on his first two platinum efforts, 2004’s Get Lifted and 2006’s Once Again.

AutoZone Stage

2 p.m., Alison Heafner: Local up-and-comer Alison Heafner kicks off Sunday’s festivities with a set of soulful Southern rock. With a voice pickled in whiskey and cured in Kools, Heafner admirably carries the torch of female forebears like Janis Joplin and Bonnie Bramlett.

3:10 p.m., Egypt Central: This Memphis alt-rock act, led by singer John Falls, has had its ups and downs over the years. The group drew national attention signing a deal with Atlantic/Lava only to see its label imprint close and have its album shelved. The band has bounced back, releasing a debut CD to brisk sales, landing a tune on the soundtrack to the Steve Austin flick “The Condemned,” and growing a loyal local following.

4:45 p.m., Papa Roach: Fronted by Jacoby Shaddix, these popular California-based nu-metal hitmakers were responsible a string of chart records including the 2000 high-water mark Infest. The group softened and sweetened on more recent albums, including last year’s The Paramour Sessions .

6:20 p.m., Project Pat: Three 6 Mafia collaborator Project Pat branches out for a solo set, sure to draw on last year’s Crook by the Book: The Fed Story, a heavily autobiographical song cycle released after his lengthy imprisonment.

7:35 p.m., Daughtry: The vehicle for “American Idol” alum Chris Daughtry, the singer formed this muscular alt-rock group in 2006 after his fourth-place finish on the popular TV talent show. The group’s first album, released in November, is the fastest selling debut in SoundScan history.

9:05 p.m., Hinder: Oklahoma hard rockers specializing in a fun, mindless brand of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll hedonism. Catching the attention of Universal Records after a successful independent EP, the group released its major label debut, Extreme Behavior, which has since gone double platinum and spawned the hit singles “Lips of an Angel” and “How Long.”

TN Lottery Blues Stage

2 p.m., James “Supa Chikan” Johnson: A nephew of the great guitarist “Big” Jack Johnson, James “Supa Chikan” is a multimedia outsider artist who happens to play a mean boogie blues on a variety of homemade instruments, mixing outre spoken word elements into his songs as well.

3:20 p.m., The Lee Boys: A family gospel group from Florida, The Lee Boys specialize in a brand of sacred steel music popularized by Robert Randolph. Though faithful to the traditions of the genre, they suffuse their sound with dashes of jazz, funk, world and even hip-hop, creating a potent sonic stew.

4:50 p.m., Watermelon Slim: North Carolina-based Bill “Watermelon Slim” Homans and his group, the Workers, have been a breakout success in the blues world. The group leads the 2007 Blues Awards with a record-tying six nominations for their self-titled album. Homans’ authentic lap slide playing and vocal stylings are even more fascinating when you consider his varied personal background as a Vietnam vet, an accomplished academic and an active member of high-I.Q. society, Mensa International.

6:25 p.m., Backdoor Slam: Led by 19-year-old guitar wizard Davy Knowles, this British blues power trio hails from the Isle of Man. Working a sound not unlike John Mayall’s classic Bluesbreakers line-ups and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, their debut CD, Roll Away, will be released this summer on Blix Street records.

7:45 p.m., Tab Benoit: The Houma, La.-bred guitarist and singer has been a longtime Memphis favorite. Though he’s often been paired with disparate musicians and producers over the course of his career, Benoit has remained loyal to his Cajun roots on albums like Wetlands, Fever for the Bayou and 2005’s Brother to the Blues, which was nominated for a Grammy. A tireless road warrior, Benoit continues to dazzle audiences with his swampy take on modern blues.

9:20 p.m., Elvin Bishop: Though he’ll probably be best remembered for his 1976 pop hit “Fooled Around and Fell In Love,” Elvin Bishop has been at the cutting edge of the modern blues world, dating back to his early days as a member of Paul Butterfield’s classic band. In the late ’80s, Bishop returned to more roots-oriented releases, like his last album, the emotionally charged 2005 effort Gettin’ My Groove Back.