Among the acts at this year's Pittsburgh Blues Festival is one of the legendary rock bands: the Yardbirds. The band's roots go all the way back to 1963, when a handful of youngsters across the Atlantic - John Mayall, who's closing the festival, was another - started to introduce the American music form of the blues to their country. The rest, as they say, was history.

Granted, the three guitarists for which the Yardbirds are best known - Clapton, Beck and Page - will be nowhere near Hartwood Acres on July 23. But original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty will be ably complemented by some younger musicians who show on the band's latest release, "Birdland," that they can handle the duties of playing in a legendary act.

I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing what the 21st-century version of the Yardbirds has to offer.