The blues are much more than a style of music in Mississippi, and that will be on full display when the 20th annual Juke Joint Festival returns this weekend, April 13-16.

The festival will be held in Clarksdale, which was recently described as the “No. 1 American Music City that’s not Nashville” by Fodor’s Travel, and will celebrate not only the genre as a whole but all the Mississippians that made the blues great.

Beginning on Thursday and wrapping up on Sunday, the Juke Joint Festival has been described in previous years by national media outlets as “half blues festival, half small-town fair, and all about the Delta.” Over the course of the weekend, guests will be treated to over 100 performances taking place from “The Birthplace of America’s Music.” Music workshops, arts and crafts, and delicious Southern food will also be available.

“It’s no wonder that it has become Clarksdale and Coahoma County’s biggest blues and business week of the year,” a release from the Clarksdale Downtown Development Association said. “Once again, we anticipate excited attendees from nearly every U.S. state, a majority of Mississippi counties, and some two dozen countries.”

For more information and a full schedule of events for the 2023 Juke Joint Festival, click here.

Judy Smith has been a freelance writer and photographer for several magazines and publications around the South, including Social South Magazine, Our Mississippi Magazine, DeSoto Magazine, Deep South Magazine, Country Roads Magazine, among others. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Paralegal Studies, Master’s of Science in Mass Communications, and PhD in Communications at the University of Southern Mississippi. And Judy Smith is proud to forever be a Mississippi Girl.

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