Oxford Blues Fest Rocks the Grove Saturday

The Sixth Annual Blues Festival to take place on July 18.

Headliners including Blind Mississippi Morris and The Jeff Jensen Band, will play the Oxford Blues Fest on the University of Mississippi campus this Saturday (July 18).

Darryl Parker, producer and founder of Oxford Blues Fest, is excited about this year’s festival and expects this one to be the best one yet.

“Blues is America’s music,” he said, adding the festival will kick off with a panel discussion on several topics related to blues music.

The festival begins at 11 a.m. at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics with a panel discussion on “Claiming the Land: Cemeteries and the Blues.” Steve Salter and Aaron Pritchard, of the Killer Blues Headstone Project, and Skip Henderson, founder of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, will be included in the panel hosted by T. DeWayne Moore. Moore also will host a conversation with bluesmen Bobby Ray Watson and R.L. Boyce from 12:30 p.m. until 1:45 p.m. at the Overby Center.

After the panel discussions, the music begins on the Grove stage. Organizers encourage everyone to bring a lawn chair, and they promise the show will go on, rain or shine.

The music lineup for the festival is as follows:

• 1:45 – 2:30 p.m.: The TIP Band
• 2:45 – 3:30 p.m.: The Zediker Brothers 
  
• 3:45 – 4:30 p.m.: Bobby Ray Watson
• 4:45 – 5:30 p.m.: Cadillac Funk
• 5:45 – 6:30 p.m.: R.L. Boyce
• 6:45 – 7:45 p.m.: Blind Mississippi Morris 
  
• 8 – 8:20 p.m.: The Como Mamas
• 8:30 – 9:50 p.m.: The Jeff Jensen Band

Admission for the panel discussions and the music is free, but VIP day passes, which can only be purchased online in advance, are available for $75. Food, drinks and merchandise will also be available for purchase at the festival.

Courtesy of Claire Smith and the Ole Miss News Desk