The annual Grassroots Blues Festival will be held in Duck Hill on July 13 through 14. The festival has taken place on the second weekend in July for 16 years.
According to Duck Hill’s tourism website, the festival originated in 2003 as part of Project CAM, an intergenerational effort to encourage cultural arts and multimedia. The festival acts as an “effort to help implement [Project CAM’s] program of work in the community and at the same time to provide a platform for traditional blues artists and obscure blues artists, to cultivate and celebrate a musical art form that is unique to our Mississippi Heritage.”
One of the headliners this year will be Duck Hill’s own Little Willie Farmer, who recently signed a contract with Music Maker Productions. He will perform at 8 p.m. on the first night on the festival.
Other artists performing through the weekend include Louis Gearshift Youngblood, Willie Cobbs, Pine Blakely, Lewis Johnson and the No Name Band, and many more. Many of the performances will be group performances and will be accompanied by full bands. Hi Rhythm, who recorded for Al Green, will also be performing.
Festival organizer Al White said that he was “looking forward to a great show.”
There will be food vendors and plenty of feel-good music, he said.
White said one of the reasons he loves being a part of the Grassroots Blues Festival every year is because it “provides a platform for blues artists to really develop their artistic skills.” He further explained that the organizing team was “excited because we’re helping to preserve the legacy of blues, given that it’s a Mississippi product.”
The festival will be held at Hwy. 404 West at Wood Lane in Duck Hill. No glass containers will be allowed on the premises.
