Music fans in Lauderdale and Colbert counties will join together this and next week to celebrate the legacy of W.C. Handy. The 41st annual W.C. Handy Music Festival continues until Sunday, July 30.
This year’s festival is the largest it has ever been, with more than 200 events in Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals. The ten-day festival kicked off Sunday, July 23 with the Official Handy Sunday Ceremony at the Handy Home in Florence. The event featured the largest number of food vendors in the festival’s history.
The festival culminates in the Handy Headliner in Norton Auditorium at the University of North Alabama on Friday, July 28. The 2023 headliner features three acts, including Bobby Rush, Melvia “Chick” Rodgers and Eric Essix. Rush is a Grammy Award-winning blues musician, who has won a dozen different music awards and has been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame. Rodgers is an R&B singer and actress. Essix is a contemporary jazz artist. The headliner starts at 7 p.m.
Other events at this year’s festival include:
- Jazz it Up With Your Trash events in Sheffield, Florence, Rogersville, Tuscumbia and the Shoals – visitors will bring their own recyclable plastic bottles, cans and other assorted objects to make musical instruments and play in an impromptu band
- Handy Musical Nights – local and out-of-state musicians and bands will take the stage at various locations to perform. These events occur daily at multiple locations
- Handy Happy Hour – bars and restaurants in Lauderdale and Colbert counties will offer exclusive Happy Hour specials. These events occur daily at multiple locations
- Riverside Jamz – many of this year’s local and out-of-state musicians and bands will regroup Saturday, July 29 for an evening concert at McFarland Park in Florence beginning at 5 p.m.
Felice Green is the board president and longest-serving member of Music Preservation Society Inc., which sponsors the music festival. Green said this festival covers multiple locations and features a large number of performers due to the impact music has had on North Alabama.
“We are so widespread to unite persons interested in this pursuit of the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama and to encourage preservation of it,” she said. “This is the largest tourism event in Northwest Alabama. We want it to cultivate [a] love of music for those who, perchance, don’t have an appreciation for music.”
W.C. Handy, or William Christopher Handy, was born in Florence in 1873 as the son of former slaves. He would go on to be called the Father of the Blues. This is because Handy wrote and published the first commercially successful blues song in 1912, and one of his most famous works, “St. Louis Blues,” was published in 1914. Handy died in 1958 and was buried near his home in New York. According to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, many cities in the U.S. try to claim Handy as theirs, including Memphis and St. Louis, but Handy himself was born in Lauderdale County.
Music Preservation Society and other organizations in Lauderdale and Colbert counties decided to honor Handy’s life with an annual, multi-day festival in 1982. Green said this festival is unlike most events in North Alabama because it attracts people from all walks of life.
“Many times when you see festival, it’s going to be a jazz festival or maybe a blues festival, but we are a music festival,” she said. “Instead of trying to have just one genre, we have something for everybody, as opposed to one genre that will attract only one group of people… So, I love it. It’s worthwhile to bring people together of all cultures, and this is the place to come when you have a small budget.”
Green said it is not just the crowds that are diverse; it is the performers too.
“[We bring people] in the thousands, and, besides the people in the United States, we have people who come from other countries to attend,” she said. “We also get inquiries from musicians of other countries about participating in our festival here. It’s far reaching… For the local musicians and musicians from outside the area, they are getting more jobs than they ordinarily would. It’s a good time for them. They will have more opportunities to perform.”
Most events at this year’s festival are free and require no registration. However, the headliner at the University of North Alabama next Friday does require registration. General admission is $30, while VIP seating costs $50.
Online ticketing through Eventbrite is coming soon. Currently, residents can visit several locations to purchase headliner tickets. They include:
- Handy Headquarters at Southall-Moore House – 215 East Tuscaloosa St. in Florence
- Alabama Music Hall of Fame – 617 U.S. Highway 72 West in Tuscumbia
- Coats Clothing Store – 122 North Court St. in Florence
- Counts Brothers Music – 713 Waverly Ave. in Muscle Shoals
- Keepers Korner Rocks and Oddities – 103 Simpson St. in Florence
- WZZA Radio – 1570 Woodmont Dr. in Tuscumbia
The Handy Headquarters also has brochures, t-shirts, signed posters and other Handy items available for sale.
Ultimately, Green said she hopes anyone with an interest in music—whether it is blues, R&B, gospel, jazz, country or rock ‘n’ roll—attends the festival.
“We all have our [own] little spots and places,” she said. “We have our church. You have this denomination, [while] somebody has another denomination. We have our neighborhoods that may just have people like us in them. But this festival brings people together. [People of] all races, cultures, religions, everything. That in itself is a very positive outcome to bring people together who just love music.”
A daily schedule with all of this year’s events and activities can be found on the W.C. Handy Music Festival website. The website also features additional information on the history of the festival, a printable event brochure and purchasable merchandise from prior festivals.
