INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the official website of the W.C. Handy Music Festival, an event held annually in the Northwest area of 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”. The Music Preservation Society, Inc. is honored to present the 28th W.C. Handy Music Festival. This years' events...

JOHN AMOS - 2009 Festival Headliner
The Handy Festival in cooperation with the University of North Alabama Summer Theatre Program proudly presents the critically acclaimed "Halley's Comet", written and directed by John Amos himself, which tells the funny, but moving story of an 87-year-old man who shares a lifetime of memories with the comet he had first seen over three quarters of a century before. For this special presentation of Halley’s Comet, Mr. Amos will be joined by very talented musical guests, Eric Kirkman and the Heart & Soul of Handy Choir. Click here to read the full story...