Blues Festival 2026 is here! The festival has opened at the Ramova Theater with a lineup of Chicago blues legends who are alumni of Theresa's Lounge on Chicago's South Side, including blues singer Willie Clayton.. The Mississippi Blues Trail was the topic of a pre-concert talk hosted by Yolanda Clay-Moore, director of communications at Visit Jackson, Mississippi.
The panel for the Mississippi Trail made it clear that the blues are Mississippi's most important export, not cotton. It was the laborers who picked the cotton who wound down from back-breaking work by singing the blues in juke joints and on front porches in the Mississippi Delta. Dr. Edgar Smith, a prominent biochemist and Provost at the University of Massachusetts, was the most interesting speaker. He grew up in the Mississippi Delta across the road from the biggest juke joint in town. He called the blues his lullaby, literally. He told the audience that it was the musicians at that juke joint who helped his grandmother raise him and kept him out of the same juke joint so he could go on to become a prominent scientist. Dr. Smith takes the blues personally and works hard to ensure the artists are cared for through the Benevolent Fund.
The first performance was a tribute to Theresa's Lounge, Theresa Needham's little basement tavern where the house band was led by Junior Wells. Players like Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy (then a tow truck driver by day), Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Howling Wolf, and a constellation of blues players played at the storied spot and this set evoked their massive talent. Singer and guitarist John Primer led the tribute band and was honored with a life-sized mock-up of his marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail on the stage. Joining Primer was Saturday night's headliner, Billy Branch. Theresa's "Queen of the Blues" Mary Lane sang "Bye-Bye Baby", with John Watkins, Carlos Johnson, Willie Buck, Harmonica Hinds, Twist Turner, Bob Stroger, Jeff Brinkman, and Tony Mangiullo. They held the stage with classics like "She's Nineteen Years Old," "Bit by Bit (Little by Little)", and "Bye-Bye Baby". They closed with "Sweet Home Chicago," which was, of course, a sing-along that everyone knew, even if they weren't from Chicago.
Willie Clayton closed the show with a sweet set of contemporary blues. Clayton's voice is a gospel-tinged tenor that calls to mind Al Green and Syl Johnson. His band was dressed in black-and-white suit-and-tie ensembles. It was either a Quentin Tarantino cast call or an homage to The Blues Brothers. Whatever the visuals, they were jamming, and the ladies were swooning. Clayton hit clarion high notes that I have only heard from Al Green. He also did a version of Green's "Simply Beautiful" that gave me the swoons. "Rock Me, Baby" and his own hits "Tell Me What You Gonna Do", and "I Love Me Some You", brought the ladies to the front. "Wiggle" had the women doing the wiggle in the aisles. It felt like what I imagined the High Chaparral or Burning Spear clubs were like back in the day, when I was too underage-looking to sneak in.
It was a fantastic start to the 2026 Chicago Blues Festival. The rest of the concerts will be at Millennium Park with fantastic side stages featuring some favorites from past Blues Festivals, like Melody Angel from the 2024 Blues Festival. She scorches on the guitar. Chicago's high school students will be playing in Wrigley Square. The Pritzker Pavilion features some heavy-hitters on Friday, June 5. Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite are playing together in what promises to be a highlight. C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band will get the park hopping with Zydeco. The evening is capped with a tribute to Chicago's Alligator Records featuring Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Toronzo Cannon, Nick Moss, and Tinsley Ellis. Billy Branch headlines this year on Saturday, June 6, with his Sons of the Blues Band, Kenny Neal, Ronnie Baker Brooks. The festival closes out with the legendary Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band
I will be doing a stage crawl, then heading to the pavilion for the headliners. Watch this space for recaps and highlights. The Chicago Blues Festival is the world's largest free blues festival. It has always been a mellow crowd that just wants to groove and do my Aunt Pete's caftan two-step. Everybody has that one auntie who does the two-step tippy-toe groove. If you don't, get yourself to the Blues Festival to witness it in person. Look for me. No caftans will be harmed.
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