CLARKSDALE – The acclaimed North Mississippi AllStars and celebrity entertainer Bobby Rush will headline the 26th annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in downtown Clarksdale August 9-10-11,  Luther Dickinson, leader of theNorth Mississippi AllStars, performs atan earlier Sunflower Festival according to co-chairman Margaret Jordan-Walker. The free 2013 celebration featuring 40 bands performing three days … Read more

The Sunflower River Blues Association mourns the passing of celebrated blues musician and master teacher Mr. Johnnie Billington of Lambert, who performed at numerous Sunflower Festivals including the second festival at Martin Luther King Park in 1989. Mr. Johnnie died Monday, April 1, following an apparent heart attack. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. The recipient of … Read more

The memory of Melville Charles Tillis, longtime co-chairman of the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, who died Feb. 28, is honored by Clarksdale Mayor Henry Espy and the City Board of Commissioners Monday with a proclamation honoring his contributions to the city and the dedication of Clarksdale’s Blues Museum Stage renamed the Melville Charles … Read more

Among the Sunflower River Blues Association members attending the funeral of long-standing co-chairman Melville Tillis at Haven United Methodist Church Wednesday are Bobby Rush, front center, celebrity entertainer and headliner at multiple Sunflower River Blues Festivals who was an honorary pallbearer and speaker who played harmonica e at the service; (second row) Maie Smith, Yvonne … Read more

Melville Tillis, our longtime Sunflower co-chairman, who co-founded the gospel component of the festival has passed away. Services will be held at 1 p.m.Wednesday, March 6 at Haven United Methodist Church with Delta Burial in charge of arrangements. Melville was the heart and soul of the Sunflower Festival. He also was one of our most … Read more

NEW YORK CITY – Blues harmonica virtuoso and Mississippi native Charlie Musselwhite will perform with Ben Harper on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday, Jan. 22. Musselwhite, a frequent visitor to Clarksdale who has headlined Clarksdale’s Sunflower River Blues Festival several times including its 25th anniversary in 2012, and Harper will preview a song … Read more

Ground Zero Blues Club is packed with music fans Thanksgiving Eve enjoying the Sunflower River Blues Association’s annual preview its August festival featuring talented musicians booked to perform including (from left) Heather Crosse, Josh ‘Razor Blade’ Stewart; Daddy Rich, and Jacqueline Nasser. Talented guitarist/vocalist Jacqueline Nasser performs on stage at the Sunflower Blues Festival’s annual … Read more

CLARKSDALE  – Five blues bands will be performing at the Sunflower River Blues Association’s annual Thanksgiving Eve Blues Party at Ground Zero Blues Club Wednesday, Nov. 21. Kicking off at 9 p.m., the party is a preview of the 2013 Sunflower Festival and will feature Daddy Rich, Bill ‘Howlin’ Madd’ Perry, the All Night Long … Read more

JACKSON – Interviews with rock superstar Robert Plant and actor Morgan Freeman during Clarksdale’s 25th Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival will air on Walt Grayson’s Mississippi Roads program for Mississippi Public Broadcasting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1 Robert Plant Plant headlined the Sunflower’s three-day celebration in downtown Clarksdale, and attracted an audience of 20,000 … Read more

Mary Lee Borgognoni Birdsong (holding guitar and flanked by her young sons: 3-year-old Trace Birdsong and 5-year-old Dominic Birdsong)  is the lucky winner of the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival’s signed John Lee Hooker guitar drawing. Congratulating her following their Wednesday night meeting at the Delta Blues Museum, are Sunflower members including (front row … Read more