Juke Joint Festival | 2013 - 2021 (A Retrospective)

"Half blues festival, half small-town fair and all about the Delta!”

(Festival Co-Founder Roger Stolle)

We have been making the pilgrimage to Clarksdale for Juke Joint Festival every year since 2013 (except in the lost year of 2020 when it was virtual). A few of my favorite shots from those years follow. As you'll see, we've been blessed to cross paths and spend time with many who are no longer with us.

2013

Richard "Rip Lee" Pryor, son of blues legend Snooky Pryor, performed solo and with Lew Jetton. Rip used the color version of this photo for the cover of his album, "Nobody But Me," released on the Electro-Fi Records label in 2014.

Ted Drozdowski of Scissormen and his Les Paul engaged in some other-worldly slide action on the Delta Amusement Cafe back porch stage.

Robert "Wolfman" Belfour (1940 - 2015) on the CatHead Hill Country Blues Stage.

2014

Shannon McNally performed with her own band and an assortment of Burnsides, including DuWayne and Garry.

In addition to being a bluesman, Henry "Gip" Gipson (1920 - 2019) owned and operated Gip's Place, one of the longest running juke joints in the country, in his back yard in Bessemer, Alabama. American Blues Scene used the black and white version of this photo in JD Nash's 10/14/2019 article on Gip's passing.

2015

Carlos Elliot, Jr., Kinny Kimbrough, and DuWayne Burnside share a laugh on the CatHead Hill Country Blues stage. Robin Zimmerman included this photo in her article Clarksdale's Juke Joint Festival Has International Flair for Examiner.com.

Clarksdale's resident bluesman and entertainer, Anthony "Big A" Sherrod. One day I hope to see the photo that Jim Natale (the photographer in the background) took at the same moment.

Carlos Elliot, Jr. - hill country bluesman from Peirera, Colombia, South America.

Dr. Dingo "the Australian Dog," long time MC, DJ, and doorman at Red's Blues Club, nudges Carlos as he strolls through the crowd during a performance in front of Ms. Dell's General Store. Dingo passed the next year.

2016

Lucious Spiller on the Wade Walton Barbershop stage.

Robert "Bilbo" Walker (1937 - 2017) in a relaxed moment before his set.

"Mr. Wonderful" - Ricardo Garcia from Panama City

Robert Lee "Lil Poochie" Watson performing with Hezekiah Early in the old Club 2000 during the release party for their album "Natchez Burning" on Poor & Hungry Records.

2017

Libby Rae Watson, protégé of Sam Chatmon, telling the story of how she met Big Joe Williams.

Terry the Blues Wizard and his suitcase guitar are annual fixtures at the festival.

The back story on 2017: I was so confident my camera batteries were charged I did not check them the night before to make sure. It turned out the spare was not and the one in the camera was down to 1%. So, Libby and Terry were the only folks I photographed that year. Lesson learned. I now carry four charged batteries at all times.

2018

Big George Brock (1932 - 2020) always played on Sunday mornings. This was the first year I got up in time to catch his show.

Red Paden - king of the juke joint runners

2019

Bryan Blue from Santiago, Chile, playing a cigar box diddly bow on the front porch of the Cadillac Shack.

2021

Lightin' Malcolm on the back porch of The Juke Joint Chapel.

Sean "Bad" Apple and Peggy "Lady Trucker" Hemphill, the shiniest pair of musicians in town. If you are interested, you can read and see more about our pilgrimage to the 2021 festival here.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

- Steve