W.C. Handy Headline
Concerts Saturday, July 26. Roy Ayers will
bring his talent to the Shoals, performing at the 2008 W.C. Handy Music Festival
headlining concert. The performance will start at 8pm, following the Harlem Blues
and Jazz Band, truly a living ‘National Treasure‘. The headline concerts begin
at 6pm in Norton Auditorium on the campus of the University of North Alabama.
Click here to view the musicians'
full biographies. Tickets prices are $20 for an individual concert and
only $35 for the two-concert package. Tickets may be purchased at the Festival
Headquarters located in the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, 217 East Tuscaloosa
Street, Florence AL 35630 Phone: (256) 766-7642.
Bubba’S
Marine Construction & Tracker Boat Center's Concert on Shoal Creek Saturday,
July 19, 3:30pm to7:30pm. Boat access only. Music by Crossroads Blues
Band/The Decoys. For more information, contact John Aikin (256) 272-8392 or Fred
Cabler (256) 757-0908. Click here
to download a brochure.
W.C.
Handy Court 'N the Blues Parade Friday, July
18. Big River Broadcasting and Florence Main Street announce the inaugural
W.C. Handy Festival Kick Off Parade. 2008 will be the first year the W.C. Handy
Festival has included a Kick Off Parade in its diverse lineup of entertainment
for the week. Court ‘N the Blues W.C. Handy Festival Kick off Parade will be begin
at 6 pm on Friday in coordination with a special First
Fridays in Florence arts event (5-8pm). On this special evening of the year,
bands, floats, decorated cars and trucks, plus hundreds of children are expected
to travel through the main shopping district to the sound of Handy’s love, jazz
and blues. Click here to
read the full story...
W.C. Handy Music Camp Monday,
July 7 through Thursday, July10. The Music Preservation Society,
Inc. sponsors the annual W. C. Handy Music Festival every year. We are pleased
to join with the University of North Alabama Music Department to offer his learning
experience to a new generation of musicians. This project is made possible in
part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment
for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information, call the Music Preservation
Society (256) 766-7642 or Lloyd Jones, Camp Director (256) 765-4362, e-mail: lejones@una.edu. Click
here to download the W.C.
Handy Music Camp schedule. Click here to download the W.C.
Handy Music Camp application and brochure.
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.
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.
