POMEROY - As Nora Jean Bruso belted out her first blues song of the evening in Pomeroy's riverfront amphitheater Friday night, the audience burst into applause and the boaters watching at a distance moved their boats in a little closer.

It was apparent that the audience, relaxing in lawn chairs or using pillows to make the concrete seating of the amphitheater a little more comfortable, was filled with avid blues fans.

Bruso, who hails from the Delta of Mississippi but got her start singing professionally in Chicago, came to town to kick off the annual Friday night Rhythm on the River concert series, a part of the Pomeroy Blues and Jazz Society's summer program which concludes on July 29 and 30 with the Big Bend Blues Bash.

Next Friday night's concert will feature legendary pianist, Bob Thompson whose career has spanned more than 30 years and taken him around the world. His music has been described as “warm and inviting as a cup of cocoa on a winter day.”

Thompson is the house pianist for Mountain Stage, an electic Charleston-based weekly music broadcast on Public Radio International.

Concerts are free and start at 8 p.m. But prior to that beginning at 6 p.m. there is a “party in the park” in the Court Street mini-park every Friday night. There food and beverages can be enjoyed while listening to entertainers. Friday night's musicians were Duo Glide - Dale Kulhar and Chad Dodson, a smooth Blues and Jazz Duet combining guitar, saxophone and vocals. Before Thompson's concert Friday night, Todd Burge, Wet Virginia's premier singer/songwriter, will perform in the park.