2023 Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

NEW ORLEANS (June 22, 2023) – The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival returns to Lafayette Square Park (602 St. Charles Ave.) in New Orleans for its 16th edition on October 13-15, 2023. 

Samantha Fish, Tab Benoit, and Shemekia Copeland will top the bill at the festival, which is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit that owns Jazz Fest. Admission to the festival is free and open to the public.

​​The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is an award-winning event, featuring two stages of music, a large selection of the best barbecue vendors in the region and a local arts market.

The festival will be held on Friday, October 13 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, and Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15 from 11:00am to 8:30pm.

Performers at the 2023 edition include Samantha Fish, Tab Benoit, Shemekia Copeland, Little Freddie King, Selwyn Birchwood, Johnny Sansone, The Roadmasters, Trudy Lynn, Ghalia Volt, John Mooney & Bluesiana, and D.K. Harrell. 

More performers will be announced soon, along with daily schedules. 

For more information, visit crescentcitybluesfest.com

The festival is free, but VIP Experience Passes are available to those looking for a premium festival experience, which includes seating, two complimentary bars, and air conditioning. Those are good for the entire weekend and available here.

Media outlets and journalists interested in covering the 2023 Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival may fill out the media request form here.

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is a presentation of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Jazz & Heritage Community radio station WWOZ New Orleans 90.7 FM will broadcast the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival live from Lafayette Square – over the air and live-streaming video at www.wwoz.org and on the Foundation’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation gratefully acknowledges the 2023 Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival sponsors:

Cathead Vodka, Urban South Brewery, National Endowment for the Arts, Evamor Water, Luzianne Tea, Chillzone, and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development.

ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation invests proceeds from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell and additional funds that we raise for year-round programming in education, economic development and cultural enrichment.   Education programs include the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, the Tom Dent Congo Square Lectures, the Class Got Brass competition for school brass bands, a youth audio workshop program, youth vocal workshops, and more! Economic Development initiatives include the Community Partnership Grants, the Catapult Fund accelerator program and Sync Up entertainment industry workshops. Cultural enrichment programs include the Jazz & Heritage Concert Series and annual Foundation Festivals: the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival and the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival.  Importantly, these are free programs that the Jazz and Heritage Foundation has developed over many years to ensure that we give back to Louisiana. The Jazz & Heritage Foundation also owns radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM and the Jazz & Heritage Archive.  In late 2014, the Foundation opened the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center – an education and community facility named for the late Jazz Fest founder George Wein and his wife Joyce.  In March of 2020, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation established the Jazz & Heritage Music Relief Fund – a statewide relief fund to support Louisiana musicians who were affected by the pandemic. In the last two years the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has been able to provide relief funds of more than $2 million dollars supporting musicians, music industry gig workers, Black Masking Indians and other indigenous cultural practitioners. To learn more about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, please visit us online at www.jazzandheritage.org