{"id":24069,"date":"2015-04-09T15:57:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T20:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=24069"},"modified":"2015-04-09T15:57:52","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T20:57:52","slug":"12th-annual-world-famous-juke-joint-festival-in-clarksdale-mississippi-on-april-11th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/12th-annual-world-famous-juke-joint-festival-in-clarksdale-mississippi-on-april-11th\/","title":{"rendered":"12th Annual World-Famous Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi on April 11th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crazy old bluesmen, leaky juke joints, paddling pig races, and greasy soul food<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Clarksdale, Miss.\u2014The Juke Joint Festival<\/strong> may only be celebrating its 12th edition, but it is already the stuff of blues legend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c2014 was the biggest Juke Joint Festival yet, and so far, 2015 looks to top it,\u201d according to festival co-organizer Roger Stolle<\/strong>. \u201cOur annual festival now attracts attendees from almost 30 foreign countries, almost 50 states and over 50 Mississippi counties. Still, the most important number here is the number of bluesmen in their 70s, 80s and even 90s who play our fest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s from-the-old-school lineup includes blues legends like Cedell Davis<\/strong>, Big\"Christone<\/a> George Brock<\/strong>, Leo \u201cBud\u201d Welch<\/strong>, Elmo Williams<\/strong>, Hezekiah Early<\/strong>, LC Ulmer<\/strong>, Cadillac John Nolden<\/strong>, Eddie Cusic<\/strong>, YZ Ealey<\/strong>, Robert \u201cBilbo\u201d Walker<\/strong>, and others. The festival doesn\u2019t ignore the upcoming young guns of the blues, of course\u2014players like Clarksdale\u2019s 20-something Omar Gordon<\/strong>, 30-something Anthony \u201cBig A\u201d Sherrod<\/strong>, and 16-year-old internet phenom Christone \u201cKingfish\u201d Ingram<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first acts we book are our region\u2019s older, culturally-connected blues performers,\u201d explained Stolle. \u201cThen, we spread out from there. There is an insane number of blues musicians in town during Juke Fest week! It\u2019s like no other event in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s main event is Saturday, April 11th\u2014all day and late into the night\u2014with related events kicking off Thursday and continuing through Sunday night. The official line-up of events can be found online at www.jukejointfestival.com<\/span>. Saturday\u2019s Juke Joint Festival itself features 100+ blues acts, 12+ daytime stages, 20+ nighttime venue stages, racing pigs, a 5K\/8K run, multiple children\u2019s activities, history bus tours, arts & crafts vendors, Southern food offerings, a student art\/writing contest, and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daytime activities are free<\/strong> thanks in large part to major sponsors. Saturday\u2019s nighttime music requires a wristband. Pre-sale wristbands for the festival\u2019s 20+ Saturday-night \u201cjuke joint\u201d venue stages are available online or in Clarksdale, and are $15 pre-sale, or $20 on the day\/night of the festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

The festival weekend starts early with Thursday, April 9th\u2019s free \u201cMississippi Hill Country\"Juke<\/a> Blues\u201d Juke Joint Festival Kick-off at 5 pm featuring a festival poster signing by artist Cristen Barnard<\/strong> and live lobby blues by Preston Rumbaugh<\/strong>, followed by the annual Miss Sarah Awards<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, at 6:30 pm, the free Kick-off moves onto the Delta Cinema Stage for a special Mississippi Hill Country Blues Tribute to fallen heroes Robert \u201cWolfman\u201d Belfour<\/strong> and Martin \u201cBig Boy\u201d Grant<\/strong>\u2014featuring Sean \u201cBad\u201d Apple<\/strong>, Robert Kimbrough Sr.<\/strong>, Andre Otha Turner<\/strong>, RL Boyce<\/strong>, Little Joe Ayers<\/strong>, Stud<\/strong>, and more. This is followed by a performance featuring Clarksdale\u2019s own Dancing Divas of the Delta<\/strong> with music by bluesman character Watermelon Slim<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, on Friday, April 10th, Clarksdale\u2019s related events include educational activities at the Delta Blues Museum<\/strong> and book signings, live blues and more at other downtown businesses and entities, including the Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art<\/strong> and the Rock & Blues Museum<\/strong>. At night, Clarksdale\u2019s blues clubs and jukes will run till the wee hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s epic day\/night Juke Joint Festival itself, a Sunday of additional related downtown events will cap off the weekend\u2014including the annual free Cat Head Mini Blues Fest<\/strong> and the Second Street Blues Party<\/strong>. The Rock & Blues Museum and Delta Blues Museum will be open as well as several downtown restaurants and businesses. The weekend wraps up with live blues at Red\u2019s Lounge and other venues that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full music line-up, event schedule, pre-sale wristbands, parking info, sponsor list, and much more available online at\u00a0www.jukejointfestival.com<\/span>. Festival hotline (Mon.-Sat., 11 am-4 pm): 662-624-5992.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>#jukejointfestival\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crazy old bluesmen, leaky juke joints, paddling pig races, and greasy soul food \u00a0Clarksdale, Miss.\u2014The Juke Joint Festival<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":24070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[6329,6323,6316,3688,5890,6324,3470,6325,6331,1410,6320,6317,6318,4015,6319,5217,3783,6327,6334,6326,5,6322,3692,6330,3702,6328,5898,6333,2722,5639,6335,4010,6332,6321,6282],"class_list":["post-24069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-localfestivals","tag-andre-otha-turner","tag-anthony-big-a-sherrod","tag-big-george-brock","tag-cat-head-delta-blues-folk-art","tag-cedell-davis","tag-christone-kingfish-ingram","tag-clarksdale","tag-cristen-barnard","tag-dancing-divas-of-the-delta","tag-delta-blues-museum","tag-eddie-cusic","tag-elmo-williams","tag-hezekiah-early","tag-juke-joint-festival","tag-lc-ulmer","tag-leo-bud-welch","tag-little-joe-ayers","tag-martin-big-boy-grant","tag-mini-blues-fest","tag-miss-sarah-awards","tag-mississippi","tag-omar-gordon","tag-preston-rumbaugh","tag-rl-boyce","tag-robert-bilbo-walker","tag-robert-kimbrough-sr","tag-robert-wolfman-belfour","tag-rock-blues-museum","tag-roger-stolle","tag-sean-bad-apple","tag-second-street-blues-party","tag-stud","tag-watermelon-slim","tag-yz-ealey","tag-cadillac-john-nolden"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Juke-JointFEAT.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}