It started Thursday night with a meal of grits, greens and barbecue, ends up Sunday with Gospel music at the City Auditorium and there is a lot of blues music in between.
The 36th Annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival began at 7 p.m. on the lawn of the Delta Blues Museum in downtown Clarksdale and then features a Friday and Saturday full of blues musician and their world famous music.
“We’re looking for the weather to be a little cooler, so it should be great,” said Festival spokesman Panny Mayfield. “We’ve got volunteers who have been doing this for years and love it. There are so many details, but it always seems to come off rather smooth.”
But Mayfield said the first Sunflower Festival was not like that.
“This was the first blues festival hosted by Clarksdale and we didn’t have a clue,” said Mayfield. “We just decided to have a blues festival and did it.”
She talked of the traffic jam at the old Cat Cave on Madison Avenue, she said truck trailers served as stages and people just wandered around, left and went to get something to eat and came back.
“Jim O’Neal and Patty Johnson were the ones who made it happen,” said Mayfield. “We developed a following the first year and it really helped put Clarksdale on the map as the home of the blues. The musicians said they loved it and not to change a thing.”
And true to its roots, the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival has promoted Clarksdale bluesmen and young local talent, it has stayed focused on downtown and the Delta Blues Museum and it has remained free and open to the public.
And Mayfield also pointed to sponsors who have remained faithful to the festival: HPI, Visit Clarksdale Coahoma County Tourism Commission, Hyde Brother/True Value Hardware, Clarksdale Public Utilities, Iowa Brothers Three, Southern Bancorp Bank, Energy Missouri West, First National Bank of Clarksdale, Delta Blues Museum, Southern Duplicating of Clarksdale, The City of Clarksdale and The Clarksdale Press Register.
Music starts downtown at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, at 10 a.m. Saturday and finishes up at 9:45 p.m. Sunday at the City Auditorium.
Sunflower Festival Lineup
(Artist and times are tentative)
Thursday, August 8, 2024 Grit, Greens and BBQ VIP Party
7:00pm-7:45pm Sean “Bad” Apple
8:00pm-8:45pm Stan Street & The Hokum Cat
9:00pm-9:45pm Terry “Big T” Williams
Friday, August 9, 2024 Main Stage
7:00pm-7:45pm Delta Blues Museum Band
8:00pm-8:45pm Healthe Crosse-Heavy Suga & the Sweet Tones
9:00pm-9:45pm David Dunavant
10:00pm-11:00pm James “Super Chikan Johnson
11:15pm-12:00am Lucious Spiller
Saturday, August 10, 2024 Acoustic Stage
10:00am-10:45am Pat Thomas
11:00am–11:45am Kenny Brown
12:00noon-12:45pm Jimmy “Duck” Holmes
1:00pm-1:45pm Libby Rae Watson
2:00pm-2:45pm Heath Sitton
3:00pm-4:00pm Terry “Harmonica”Bean
Saturday, August 10, 2024 Off Site Acoustic Stage @ Ground Zero Blues Club
11:00am-11:45am Mississippi Marshall
12:00pm-12:45pm Bill Abel
1:00pm-1:45pm Little Willie Farmer
Saturday, August 10, 2024 Main Stage
6:00pm-6:45pm Space CowBoy
7:00pm-7:45pm Terry “Big T” Williams & The Family Band
8:00pm-8:45pm Mark Mule Man Massey
8:45pm-9:00pm Awards
9:00pm-10:00pm Anthony “BIG A” Sherrod and The All Stats
10:15pm-11:30pm Jaye Hammer
Sunday, August 11, 2024 Gospel Stage @ Civil Auditorium
3:30pm-4:00pm G-Hope
4:15pm-4:45pm Union Grove
5:00pm-5:30pm BJ’s Generation
5:45pm-6:15pm John Howard
6:30pm-7:00pm One Ministry
7:15pm-7:45pm Sons of Wonder
8:00pm-8:30pm Josh Myler
8:45pm-9:45pm Derrel Pettis & Take Two
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