Mike Hammar and The Nails Bring Blues to the Bay Wednesday

Straight from Oklahoma, Mike Hammar has been playing his brand of blues up and down California for over two and a half decades. 

He pulls his influences from greats of years past Lightnin' Hopkins, Gatemouth Brown, T-Bone Walker, and BB King.

Along with his band The Nails, Hammar is set to play the Capitola Bandstand on Wednesday evening as part of the second week of the .

The free show is from 6 - 8 p.m. and seating is first-come-first-served.

The group put out its first album, "Going Home" in 2004, and released a sophomore effort six years later called "Recipe for the Blues." In the meantime, they won the 2009 Monterey Bay Blues Festival's Battle of the Blues Bands.

Other members of The Nails include Allan "B3 Blues" Carroll on Hammond organ, Sparky Gehres on bass guitar, Greg Merino on drums and Jim Pedersen on harmonica.

If you want to check out Mike Hammar and The Nails, now is your best shot, because the rest of their summer dates (July 4 and July 7 in Merced, Aug. 11 in Mariposa) require plenty of driving.

Want a preview of Wednesday's blues show in the Village? Check out the video of the group performing in Monterey in 2009 above.