W.C. Handy Music Festival
named Event of the Year for 2007 The W.C. Handy Music
Festival was named Alabama’s 2007 Event of the
Year. The award ceremony took place Tuesday
night, September 18, during the Alabama Governor’s
Conference on Tourism at the Perdido Beach Resort
in Orange Beach, Ala., with approximately 275
state tourism leaders present for the occasion.
Click
here to read the full story...
Homemade
Jamz Blues
Band featured on CBS Sunday Morning Dec 2, 2007
The Homemade Jamz Blues Band plays
at the Riverside Jazz event in McFarland Park,
Florence, Alabama. The story may be viewed on
the CBS
Sunday Morning website. Visit the band's
website by clicking
here.
Click here
for last year's festival photos and musicians.
Introduction
Welcome to the official website of the
W.C. Handy Music Festival. Sponsored by the
Music Preservation Society, this event is held
annually in the Shoals area of Florence, Alabama.
Previous festivals have featured jazz and blues legends
including Jimmy Smith, Ramsey Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie,
Bobby Blue Bland, Diane Schuur, Billy Taylor, Dianne
Reeves and Charlie Byrd.
W.C. Handy, known as the “Father
of the Blues”, was born in a simple log cabin in
Florence, AL on Nov. 16, 1873 and lived there until
he was nineteen years old. Handy composed the famous
tunes “St. Louis Blues,” “Memphis Blues,” “Yellow Dog
Blues,” and “Beale Street Blues”. Click here to read
a biography
of W.C. Handy written by Terry Pace, educator and
Muscle Shoals music historian.
The W.C. Handy Music Festival was selected as
a "Must See" event on the Year of Arts
Destination Roster for 2007.
The Year of Alabama Arts promotion is designed
to highlight arts attractions and festivals across
the state beginning this September and continuing
through all of 2007. State art museums and galleries
have already planned special exhibits highlighting
Alabama art and artists for the year. All areas
of visual and performing arts including painting,
sculpture, music, dance, and theatre will be featured
in The Year of Alabama Arts.
