Photo gallery: Clarksdale’s 2026 Juke Joint Festival

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today
April 14, 2026

(CLARKSDALE)  The Juke Joint Festival returned to Clarksdale during the weekend, bringing musicians and visitors to the Mississippi Delta for three days of blues music and related culture.

The annual event is rooted in juke joints, venues central to the development of the Delta blues, and it highlights the region’s influence on American music.

“To play here means a lot to me,” Vicksburg native Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport said. “I’ve seen so many people that I know from all over the world here. When people say the blues brings people together, it really does. When everything in the world is going bad, it’s time to get together.”

Events took place across downtown Clarksdale, with daytime performances and street vendors and nighttime sets in clubs and juke joints. The festival blends live music, food and art while focusing on the music that defines the Delta.

“I’ve been coming to this for about as long as I’ve been alive,” Lindsey Campbell said. “Community and being able to come out and celebrate with everyone is what stands out to me.”

Crowds moved between stages and venues throughout the weekend as the festival underscored Clarksdale’s place in blues history and its ongoing role in preserving the genre. The festival is scheduled to return on April 17, 2027.

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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.