(CLARKSDALE, MS) – The 17th annual Juke Joint Festival in historic Clarksdale, Mississippi is one of the most authentic blues festivals in the world. Hotel rooms book up fast, so don’t wait. Main event is Saturday, April 18, 2020 with dozens of related events that run Thurs-Sun, April 16-19. The main event itself is all day/night Saturday — with 13 daytime music stages, 20+ nighttime venues, 100 blues acts, 100 street vendors (food, arts & crafts, etc.), petting zoo, rock wall, history bus tours, educational events and more. This epic 17th annual festival is dedicated to all of the late, great Delta blues players, juke joint owners and supporters who have passed away during the past year.
The Juke Joint Festival is “half blues festival, half small-town fair and all about the Delta.” It celebrates our past and living history by presenting over 100 blues acts — including many Mississippi and Southern greats in their 60s, 70s, 80s or even 90s! This is the real-deal Mississippi blues festival that you’ve read about in the New York Times and seen on PBS NewsHour. It is like no other event in the world. Think we’re exaggerating? What other fest has blues veterans, juke joints, monkeys riding dogs, racing pigs and… a marker dedicated to “The Crossroads”?
During the daytime on Saturday, April 18, 2020, you can expect at least 13 intimate FREE stages of authentic blues and roots music. Events that day kick off at 8am with our 5K with most of our daytime music stages and street vendors operating between 10am and 6pm.
Buy your wristbands now, y’all! For nighttime on Saturday, you can check out all of our surviving juke joints and blues clubs as well as our new downtown restaurants and venues — 22 wristband venues with 24 stages and 35 acts in all. Our nighttime venues feature slightly staggered start times but basically start around 7 pm and end as late as 1 am. Daytime is FREE; nighttime is a low-cost wristband (pre-sale wristbands available now under the “WRISTBANDS” menu linked above).
While Saturday is the main event, definitely plan to come in on Thursday to enjoy our FREE Juke Joint Festival Kickoff event — featuring Christone “KINGFISH” Ingram for April 16, 2020 — at the historic New Roxy (5pm). Then, Friday, check out our educational and musical happenings by day. Clarksdale already has live blues 7 nights a week, of course, but during festival time it is especially off the hook with evening music at every possible venue around town!
Sunday, JJF weekend rocks on with a series of related events around town — including the FREE Cat Head Mini Blues Fest (10am-5pm), Bluesberry Cafe Blues Breakfast (10am), Ground Zero Blues Brunch (11am), Levon’s Sunday Ramble (3:30pm), Hooker Grocer music (5pm) Red’s Juke Joint Jam (7pm) and much more. It’s no wonder that our visiting blues fans usually stay in Clarksdale from Thursday through Sunday nights for Juke Joint Festival & Related Events.
Rain or Shine!
• Folding chairs and blankets welcome, but not attendee tents.
• Friendly dogs on leash ok, but please pick up after Fido.
• Sorry, but no coolers or outside beverages; please support our local businesses and festival vendors.
