Best live venue for blues

Slippery Noodle Inn
372 S. Meridian St., 317-631-6974, www.slipperynoodle.com
The Slippery Noodle Inn offers live blues seven nights a week, including a combination of local, regional and national acts. Acoustic performances can usually be found at the start of the week.

1. Gordon Bonham Blues Band
www.gordonbonham.com
With his gritty Chicago-blues-meets-Texas-boogie sound, Bonham can play any venue on any day of the week and strum any kind of guitar he wants. From his traditional blues band to the you-name-it cover tunes he performs with Soul Bus, Bonham can play it all. But we’re still waiting on a surfer instrumental album, Gordon!

2. Craig Brenner & The Crawdads
www.craigbrenner.com
Brenner, a top-notch piano player, is one of Indiana’s ambassadors to the blues and the boogie woogie songs of Louisiana. He’s a healthy reminder that blues is not all about guitar — no disrespect to the six-stringers out there.

3. Tony Cheesebourough
www.tonycheese.com
 Cheesebourough can sing, play guitar, bass and harmonica and be a charismatic bandleader. If you ask him, he’ll do it all during one song. Go ahead. Tell him NUVO sent you.

4. Governor Davis
www.governordavisandthebluesambassadors.com
Davis has been one of the most visible faces when it comes to Indianapolis music — blues and beyond. The well-dressed man with the Chicago guitar will remind you to boogie.

5. Gene Deer
www.genedeer.com
One of the local bridge builders between blues and rock, fans that don’t know the difference between Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Liston will appreciate Deer’s blues power.