LEWISTON – Local blues singer and saxophonist Pat Pepin will join L/A Arts for its Music in the Parks concert at noon Thursday, July 31, in Fountain Park.

As always, the noontime Music in the Parks event is free.

Pepin will be joined by harp master Tom O’Connell, with whom she performed at the 2008 International Blues Challenge, and by bass virtuoso Alfredo Grado. The three will deliver original and old-school blues combined with their own brand of wry humor.

Pepin sings with conviction and power, infusing her music with heart-felt emotion reminiscent of her vocal influences: Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Etta James. She began her singing career in the church choir like countless blues and soul singers.

Besides singing, Pepin plays saxophone, guitar, flute, drums and bass. While getting her degree in music from the University of Maine at Augusta’s music program, she began fronting her own band, the Pat Pepin Project, playing local and regional gigs. She has won the Maine Blues Society competition three times and represented Maine at the International Blues Challenge held in Memphis in 2002, 2004 and 2008.

Pepin has performed at numerous blues festivals, including the North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland; Giving Hunger the Blues Festival in Sarasota, Fla; and the Sugarloaf Blues Festival in Carabassett Valley.

Fountain Park is on Mill Street in the Bates Mill Complex next to Davinci’s restaurant. Rain location: Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston, same date and time.

For more about about each Music in the Parks concert, including music clips and artist links, log on to www.laarts.org, call L/A Arts at 782-7228 or send an e-mail to [email protected].