The Fountain Blues and Brews Festival Honors its Spartan Roots

"I was 19 or 20, and I watched as the sound guy put a microphone down low on the plywood stage," Ross recalls. "I asked the guy, 'Why put the microphone there?' He says, 'We're going to mic John Lee Hooker's boot.' And when [Hooker] walked out on stage and started this primal beat with his foot, it was remarkable. He changed 3,000 kids' lives with his boot."

As an undergrad at SJSU, Ross served as a program board director for Associated Students, where he teamed up with a group of fellow Spartans, overseen by then-Student Union program board adviser Ted Gehrke, to found what would later become California's longest-running blues festival. For the first several years, the festival was hosted on campus - the festival gets its name from the fountain opposite SJSU's Tower Lawn - and operated on a tight budget in order to offer free or low-cost shows to students and the community.

In 2013, festival organizers created the Fountain Blues Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting live music in the Bay Area. Foundation board president Suzanne St. John-Crane, who also sings in a band called Pearl Alley, explains that the festival offers opportunities for people of all ages to enjoy live blues, gospel, swing, zydeco, funk, soul and R&B.

"Blues really gave me my voice back in the day," St. John-Crane says. "When I first started performing, it was so accessible and I felt like I belonged, that I could just jump right in. I want to create that opportunity for others; I want others to experience the joy of live music."

St. John-Crane's husband David Crane, '97 Music, is a fellow musician and longtime member of the Fountain Blues and Brews community. He says that his time at SJSU established a strong foundation for the creative life he lives today.

"SJSU's music program is ever present in our lives," Crane says. "I'm in a band with three music program alumni of different generations, and play music with my wife Suzanne who is also the president of the Fountain Blues and Brews Festival, which started at SJSU. She's a Gator and I'm a Spartan, but we make it work."

Ross adds that over the years, the festival has involved SJSU music students, alumni and faculty members in many performances - and that members of SJSU School of Music are comped tickets every year. He's also the proud owner of a limo, which he has used to escort participating bands and musicians affiliated with the festival for many years. When he's not volunteering, Ross is playing drums with singer-songwriter Ruth Gerson.

On June 27 and 28, Fountain Blues and Brews Festival will bring 16 bands to two stages at Plaza Park downtown and feature more than 40 varieties of craft beer and cider. New this year, blues fans can also register for meet-and-greets with performers.

"We are very committed at the Fountain Blues Foundation to try and keep this festival affordable, and to pay artists what they deserve," says St. John-Crane. "If we want things like a blues festival, if we want arts and culture, we have to step up and support it. So I'm grateful to our partners that have continued to support California's longest-running blues festival. We're really proud of it, and we want to keep the legacy going."

Learn more about the 2026 Fountain Blues and Brews Festival.