Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Irma Thomas, Sonny Landreth, T-Model Ford and many blues greats will perform at the fourth annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, a free event presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.

The festival takes place on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, in New Orleans' Lafayette Square Park, with music on two stages, a crafts fair and the best barbecue in the South.

"It's important that the influence of the blues should be recognized in the birthplace of jazz..."

Judge Ronald J. Sholes
president of the Jazz & Heritage Foundation's Board of Directors

Richie Havens

The Jazz & Heritage Foundation is also presenting two additional events in conjunction with the Blues & BBQ Festival:

On Friday, Oct. 16, folk legend Richie Havens will perform at the Howlin' Wolf (907 S. Peters St.) in a concert to raise funds for the Foundation's free after-school music program, the Don Jamison Heritage School of Music. Tickets are $20 and may be ordered online.

On Monday, Oct. 19, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation will present the latest in its Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series. Charles Keil, an ethnomusicologist and author of the ground-breaking 1966 book "Urban Blues," will speak on the various meanings of the term "blues" through the ages. The lecture is free and open to the public; it starts at 7 p.m. at the Jazz & Heritage Center. More information on this event.

Now in its fourth year, the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is growing into a major attraction on the American blues circuit.

Bobby Rush

"The blues is at the heart of all American music," said Judge Ronald J. Sholes, president of the Jazz & Heritage Foundation's Board of Directors. "It's important that the influence of the blues should be recognized in the birthplace of jazz. We're proud to showcase our home-town artists as the world-class talents that they are while also bringing to town some of the biggest names in blues."

Irma Thomas

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is one of several new, free festivals launched by the Jazz & Heritage Foundation as part of an on-going effort to support the region's artists and cultural economy. Others include the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, Fiesta Latina, the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival and the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival. Check out what else we do.

The winner of the New Orleans Blues Society's "Voodoo Blues Challenge" will be our special guest performer on October 18. The winner will be selected October 10th at the Mid City Lanes Rock 'n' Bowl in the third and final round of this battle-of-the-New-Orleans-blues-bands contest sponsored by the society (also known as the Voodoo Blues Krewe). The winner will perform in January at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

Sonny Landreth

As in years past, the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is being held in conjunction with Walk The Beat, a five-kilometer run/walk sponsored by the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation — a non-profit that raises money to support the New Orleans Police Department. Walk The Beat will be held at 9am on Saturday, Oct. 17, starting from Lafayette Square Park. For registration information, please visit the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation website.

Portions of the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival will be broadcast live on radio station WWOZ (90.7 FM) and wwoz.org. Football fans will be able to see the Oct. 18 game between the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants on a large-screen TV at the festival.

2009 Performance Schedule:

Blues & BBQ Festival Archive:
2010's Line-up and Festival Details
2009's Line-up and Festival Details
2008's Line-up and Festival Details
2007's Line-up and Festival Details

Check out what else we do.