Canadian musician Jeff Healey will head the list of performers at Blues in the Park on June 23.
The singer and guitarist will perform with the Blues Fest Band at Whittington Park in conjunction with Balloon Fest 2002.
Healey is best known for the 1980s songs "Angel Eyes" and "Confidence Man" and for his band's appearance in the Patrick Swayze movie "Road House."
Blind since the age of 1 because of cancer, Healey first picked up a guitar when he was 3 and later played with Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King, among other blues legends before finding success with the Jeff Healey Band.
Steve LaVere, owner of Greenwood Blues Heritage Museum and Gallery and a member of the Balloon Fest Board, played a significant role in bringing Healey to Greenwood.
LaVere said he has known Healey for 15 years. The two met in Southern California when "Road House" was being filmed and realized they shared an interest in jazz and dance records from the 1920s and 1930s.
LaVere was selling those kinds of records at the time, and Healey bought some from him. Since then they have spoken regularly, LaVere said.
"We speak three or four times a year, regardless of where we are or what we're doing," he said.
Both are members of the Canadian Collectors' Congress, a group of record collectors that meets each year in Toronto. LaVere said he couldn't go to this year's meeting but heard that a couple of friends there, including Healey, had some records he was interested in.
So the two talked again, and then in April, they spent a couple of days together in Canada, where Healey owns a club.
After LaVere returned to Greenwood, he heard the Balloon Fest organizers needed a headliner for the Sunday blues event.
The Jeff Healey Band no longer plays together, and Healey performs one-time shows rather than tours. He also focuses mainly on jazz and rhythm guitar, with some rock songs thrown in.
But when LaVere brought up the idea, Healey responded enthusiastically.
"He said, 'Yeah, I'd love to come to Mississippi and hang out with you guys,'" LaVere said.
Healey will be "essentially fronting" the blues band for Sunday's jam session, LaVere said. He will step to the front and play his own songs - including "Angel Eyes" - but he will enjoy blending in with the big group as well, LaVere said.
