Page 51 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2025 Digital Edition

10 anniversary in 2026 on February 27-March 1). Located
th
in multiple indoor venues within three blocks of downtown
Lancaster – including The Village Nightclub, Tellus 360,
Zoetropolis, Marion Court Room, The Grand Ballroom at
the Holiday Inn, the Lancaster Elk’s Lodge and more – the
festival takes over the town! Attendees are able to move
freely from stage to stage, enjoying their pick of 80+ concerts
offered over the three-day festival, featuring a variety of blues
and other genres from national, regional and local artists.
LancasterRootsandBlues.com
MARCH
The annual Walla Walla Guitar Festival each March
in Walla Walla, WA, offers three days, 30 acts and 12
venues. This year, they featured Chris Cain, Albert Castiglia,
Lionel Young and more. Whether you’re a local or a visiting Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band plays at Clarksdale’s Juke Joint Festival.
Photo courtesy of Juke Joint Festival
live music fan, the venues are going to wow you, too. This
year’s venues included The Marcus Whitman, VFW Post trade its fishing gear for guitars, bass and drums, as soulful
992, Walla Walla Eagles Club, AK’s Mercado, Grandma’s riffs echo through the historic streets of downtown. Venues
Kitchen, Marcy’s Bar & Lounge, House of Smith, Walla Walla include a brewery, a town hall, a community center and The
Beer Parlor, Henry Earl Estates, Plumb Cellars and The T-Post Weller House – a boutique hotel serving as a reminder of
Tavern – ranging from small and intimate venues to “kick off both the pioneering spirit and decadent luxury of the coastal
your shoes and dance” size. The Walla Walla Guitar Festival past. Be part of history in the making at this inaugural festival
is the perfect way to shake off your winter blues and have, celebrating the blues! FortBraggBlues.com
as the festival organizers so fittingly put it, a LARGE time!
Facebook.com/WWGuitarFest JUNE
Visit the Diggle Blues Festival in the village of
APRIL Diggle, England, “where the blues meets the greenery.”
Talk about taking over the town! Each year in April, the Offering a free blues music festival every June, this year’s
Juke Joint Festival (JJF) takes over downtown Clarksdale, festival runs June 19-22, and features bands from all over
MS. Over 100 blues acts can be seen throughout the weekend, the region, as well as local talent. Uniquely, this festival
plus the festival offers educational and award presentations, features a timetable for the weekend – the times of the acts
this year a CD release party starring John Primer and his all-star are planned so attendees can watch the first act at the first
band, a student art/writing contest, a rock wall, kids’ zone, venue, have half an hour to walk to the next venue and buy
pig racing, arts/crafts vendors, tasty Southern food, a car a drink, find a seat and watch the second act, and so on.
show and more lining eight blocks of downtown, and unlimited The timetable takes festival-goers on a tour of five venues in
rides on the JJF bus shuttles, too! On Saturday alone, there are Diggle – the Diggle Hotel, the Gate Inn, Wizards Hollow,
17 free daytime stages and 26 nighttime venues (hosting 54 Diggle Band Club and Kilngreen Hall – enabling them to see
acts, wristbands required)! The venues (too many to list here) all 11 acts over the weekend. DiggleBluesFestival.co.uk
include a variety of juke joints, cafés, grills, restaurants, bars
and even grocery stores. Event Producer Roger Stolle says, JULY
“Last year’s JJF weekend attracted attendees from all 50 U.S. Venture to southern Switzerland this summer to enjoy
states, at least 26 international countries and the majority of Vallemaggia Magic Blues – ten evenings of great
Mississippi counties.” Co-Organizer Nan Hughes adds, “JJF is music over five weeks – 2025’s dates are July 11-August 7.
half blues festival, half small-town fair, and all about the Delta. Vallemaggia Magic Blues welcomes performers of blues and
There will be tons of official and related events all weekend blues-rock to the beautiful village squares in the municipalities
long for both families and music fans. You literally cannot do, of Brontallo, Giumaglio, Cevio, Avegno and Maggia – filling
see and hear everything.” JukeJointFestival.com these villages with music lovers from all over. The 2025
festival will follow its traditional format of mid-week concerts,
MAY featuring major international stars to rising blues talents to
The beautiful town of Fort Bragg, CA, on the northern local musicians, with a touch of classic rock now firmly part
California coast, proudly presents its first-ever Fort Bragg of the festival’s DNA. Despite retaining the title “The Smallest
Blues Festival on May 2-4, 2025. This three-day event will Big Blues Festival of Switzerland,” the festival has become
bring both notable and up-and-coming blues musicians to a major event in Switzerland’s vibrant summer music scene
the heart of downtown Fort Bragg, promising a weekend of over the last 23 years. As their 2025 motto promises, it’ll be
soulful tunes, delicious food and coastal charm. The town will “Naturally Magic!” MagicBlues.ch

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