Unless you will be away on a world tour, you can find at least one day to go to The Shoals area. It will become the blues capital of the world from July 16 to 29 during its W.C. Handy Musical Festival.
Professional groups and locals. Solos and quartets. Singers and instrumentalists. Choirs and jam sessions.167 musical events for your selection.
The venues are multiple locations across the Shoals area. Here are the locations, dates, times and descriptions of all performances: https://www.wchandymusicfestival.com/events/
It will take you a while just to go through the list of musical events and details.
The festival opens with Handy Musical Night on Wednesday, July 16, at Kingpin's in Tuscumbia.
It ends with the Shoals Community Concert Band on Tuesday, July 29, at Magnolia Church of Christ.
In between are over 160 music events.
The W.C. Handy Music Festival is an annual celebration held in the Florence area for 43 years. It honors W.C. Handy, known as the "Father of the Blues". The festival, first held in 1982, has grown from a weekend event to a 13-day festival featuring 167 events.
The festival features live music performances (including jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, country, rock & roll, hip-hop, and more), street parties, art exhibits, parades, songwriter showcases, a car and truck show, and a three-state bike ride.
Events occur at various locations throughout Florence and the surrounding Shoals area, such as parks, restaurants, libraries, museums, sidewalks, and lawns.
The festival's official website is http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/
The festival can also be contacted by phone at 256-766-7642 or via email at [email protected].
W.C. Handy lived from 1873 to 1958. He was born in a log cabin in Florence, where his father, a pastor, did not believe in musical instruments. He thought they were tools of the devil. The log cabin of Handy's birth has been preserved near downtown Florence.
His early adult years were as a traveling troubadour over the southern and eastern United States, catching jobs, musical groups and gigs as he could. He had plenty of chances to give up on a musical career. He did not.
His big breakthrough was in Memphis, a hub of early blues music. In 1909, Handy wrote "The Memphis Blues," the campaign song for Edward Crump, the successful candidate for Mayor who quickly became "Boss Crump." The song also quickly became known and has endured.
Handy either invented or popularized the 12-bar blues style and its accompanying dance, the Foxtrot.
Handy began to turn out blues hits:
St. Louis Blues
Beale Street Blues
Yellow Dog Blues
Dozens of others.
Florence has a lot of competition trying to claim its native son. Memphis claims him, as does Harlem.
William Christopher Handy died in 1958 in New York City at age 84. His music lives on. You will hear a lot of it – maybe all of it – at the 2025 W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence.
Jim' Zig' Zeigler's beat is the colorful and positive about Alabama -- her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
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