Once again, a caravan of winter-weary Chicagoans made the trek down to the Crossroads to attend the 23rd Annual Juke Joint Festival, which was held from April 8th through April 12th. And after yet another fantastic fest with some stellar Delta weather, the wheels are already in motion to make it back for the 2027 edition, the weekend of April 17th in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Because this festival is an experience like no other and return trips are the rule of thumb.
It’s been described as “Half Blues Festival, Half Small-Town Fair, and All About the Delta” but this festival resonates on so many different levels. For starters, there are over 100 talented performers playing at old barber shops, on flat-bed trucks, by the iconic Crossroads marker and inside true-blues juke joints, which is just about as real as it gets.
Then there are the juke joint parties that pop up in the shacks amid the cotton fields. In “Shacksdale” Libby Ray Watson and friends hosted their annual Sunday potluck style picnic with musical jams on the menu. Later that evening, in the spirit of international cooperation, Chicagoans introduced an Italian contingent to the bitter taste of Malort while Texas-based Janky and his crew played some sweet juke joint blues.
Friendships are forged as people from every corner of the world come to reset, kick back and enjoy the old Mississippi mojo magic.
Legendary blues man John Primer was one who was feeling his Mississippi roots. Hailing from nearby Camden, this energetic octogenarian kicked off the Thursday night festivities at Red Panther Brewing with many of the Magnolia-state based musicians who joined him on his recent Grown in Mississippi release. This list of luminaries included Lightnin’ Malcom, Steve Bell, Quicksand, Deak Harp, Watermelon Slim, and others. His Chicago contingent included Downtown Charlie Brown.
It bears noting that Clarksdale native and young guitar sensation, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram kicked off the festival with a Wednesday night show, which according to reports was off the hook. This also demonstrates how this all-inclusive festival is doing its part to incorporate both old and new torchbearers of the blues. And, with the recent run of awards for the movie Sinners, Clarksdale is riding the crest of its success with greater visibility on the world’s stage.
But, while Sinners might have given Clarksdale more exposure, much of Clarksdale’s resurgence can be attributed to the burgeoning popularity of the Juke Joint Festival, where there are the musicians who have been performing every April long before the film was released. It’s these “regulars” that have developed devoted fan bases among the annual Juke Joint attendees who follow the musician’s successes and subsequent tour appearances well beyond the Clarksdale city limits.
Whether it’s seeing Ghalia Volt open for Devon Allman’s Blues Summit, checking out Reverend Payton and his Damn Band when they perform in Chicago, cheering on Lightnin Malcom’s many accomplishments or following Carlos Elliot’s exploits when he delivers “soul blues” in his native Colombia, this long list of outside interactions are deeply rooted in these talented artists’ yearly appearances at the Juke Joint Festival where fans have the chance to see them put on inspired performances at the birthplace of the blues.
Clarksdale’s blues roots were also recently acknowledged by the Black Keys, who debuted their new album Peaches at Red’s iconic Juke Joint, where they were joined by festival favorite, Kenny Brown. Brown played behind R.L Burnside and Junior Kimbrough and earned a Grammy nod in 2022 on the Black Keys’ Delta Creem with Eric Deaton. Brown also appeared in Samuel L. Jackson’s Black Snake Moan. But, despite all these lofty accolades, Brown is easily accessible at the Juke Joint Festival, where you’ll find him everywhere from Cat Head Records to his regular Saturday night residency at the Shack Up Inn.
The names Burnside and Kimbrough still loom large in Clarksdale with both Robert Kimbrough Senior and Duwayne Burnside performing everywhere from the Bluesberry Café and Red’s to Kimbrough’s well-received turn on the Jesse Cotton Stone Stage. Kimbrough has also served as a mentor to new festival favorites Spit Cup and the Jukes, who are based out of San Antonio, Texas. In one of those full-circle Mississippi moments, Spit Cup’s frontman, Ryan Washington, said he took up lessons from Kimbrough while he was between attending his son’s baseball games at Mississippi Valley State University.
Washington said, after hearing Robert Kimbrough Senior play, he wanted to emulate the elusive Junior Kimbrough sound. He tried to pick it up through You Tube videos until he realized that he could go directly to the source of the “Cotton Patch Blues Sound” via Kimbrough’s son. Washington reached out to Kimbrough through Facebook and soon was shuttling up for lessons on Kimbrough’s couch between games.
Spit Cup and the Jukes played at Cathead and in front of Deak Harp’s Harmonica Shop in 2025 but became Juke Joint official in 2026 with a reconfigured lineup. Spit Cup and the Jukes’ recent album, Spit Cup’s Juke Joint, was produced by fellow Texan Scott Lindsay (aka “Janky”). Washington met Lindsay at the Kimbrough’s Cotton Patch Soul Blues Festival, because that’s how they do it in Mississippi.
Another relatively new band who has been making waves at the Juke Joint Festival is Cash’s Juke Joint, hailing from Macon, Georgia. This high-energy band has fast become a crowd favorite ever since their inception in 2020.
It’s this blend of both old and new talent that helps make the Juke Joint Festival so successful. This year alone featured 92-year-old icon Bobby Rush at the Thacker Mountain Radio Hour and the legendary Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, who is still going strong at 78. Then, you have the torchbearers of old-school traditional blues that included everyone from 19-year-old Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport to 65-year-old Terry “Harmonica” Bean.
There are some who have put down roots in Clarksdale and who combine their love of making music with forging a living in their newly adopted hometown. Sean Apple might hail from upstate Pennsylvania but now considers himself a full-fledged Mississippian whose “Bad Apple Blues Club” is one of the clubs that is a hub for visitors. Deak Harp grew up in New Jersey but was heavily influenced by James Cotton and eventually got the job of driving a van for the man himself. Harp also fell under the spell of Clarksdale, and his Deak Harp’s Harmonica Shop is now a must-stop for many traveling musicians of note.
Of course, one of the main drivers of Clarksdale’s turnaround is Roger Stolle, who left his job in corporate America to come to the Crossroads, where he opened Cat Head Records and co-founded the Juke Joint Festival. Stolle’s Cat Head Blues Festival on Sunday always seems to lessen the sting of another Juke Joint coming to an end. Here, you can see everyone from the always-electric Reverend Payton’s Big Band and John Primer to “Bad Apple” and many others. The Bluesberry Outdoor Café is also bursting with sweet sounds as Sunday morning winds down.
So, yes, it was yet another wonderful, whirlwind weekend down in the Delta. But, once again, it feels like we only scratched the surface of seeing all the remarkable artists that perform there. But, while there are always some misses while down in Mississippi, the power of musical connections is consistently strong as people from all walks of life come together to celebrate the enduring power of the blues mixed in with a hearty dose of southern hospitality from the fine folks in Clarksdale.
