Teddy's Juke Joint

03/20/2026

03/20/2026

Eddie Cotton grew up in the Church of God in Christ in Clinton, Mississippi near Jackson. He heard guitar-playing deacons and preachers. His father was a preacher who bought Eddie his first guitar when he was six with plans for him to play for the congregation. After leading the church band, Eddie w...

03/19/2026

03/19/2026

Friday night, live at Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, Anissa ‘Bigg Sexyy’ Hampton. Music starts at 8:00 PM, cover charge is $15.00. Our doors open at 11:00 AM, kitchen will close at 10:00 PM, & reservations are not required.

03/19/2026

HEY LOCO FANS – Willie King was born on March 18, 1943, in Prairie Point, Mississippi, near the Alabama border, and became one of the most respected rural blues voices of the Deep South. Raised in extreme poverty, King worked as a sharecropper, moonshine maker, and traveling salesman, experiences that deeply shaped his worldview and music. He later became active in the civil rights movement, which inspired him to write socially conscious songs addressing racism, inequality, and rural hardship.

King described his music as “struggling blues,” rooted in lived experience and the ongoing injustices faced by Black communities in the rural South. Though he performed at national and international festivals, he remained closely tied to home, regularly playing local venues such as Bettie’s Juke Joint in Mississippi, immortalized in his song “Betty’s Place.”

In 1983, King founded the Rural Members Association, a nonprofit devoted to preserving traditional rural skills, which he called “survival skills,” and to strengthening community life. In 1997, the organization launched the Freedom Creek Blues Festival, which grew into an internationally recognized event celebrating grassroots blues culture. King began recording relatively late, releasing acclaimed albums such as Freedom Creek and I Am the Blues around 2000, which brought wider attention to his powerful songwriting and raw guitar style.

King’s life and work drew the attention of filmmakers. Dutch documentarians Saskia Rietmeijer and Bart Drolenga devoted the film Down in the Woods to his story. He also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 2003 documentary series The Blues and Shout Factory’s Blues Story, further cementing his place in blues history.

Willie King died on March 14, 2009, from a heart attack near his home in Old Memphis, Alabama, just days before his 66th birthday. He is remembered as a juke-joint legend, community builder, and fearless chronicler of rural Southern life.

03/19/2026

Language school

03/19/2026

There are new openings for JUKE JOINT FESTIVAL weekend at Clarksdale's HAMPTON INN! I recommend calling 662-621-1717 since these are new openings, but you could also try https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ckmnahx-hampton-clarksdale/

Festival info at www.jukejointfestival.com

03/18/2026

11/24/2025

Robert Cray

Photo source (Instagram): songs_80s_movies

11/24/2025

Save the date, because this one is worth crossing state lines for.

The Juke Joint Festival rolls back into Clarksdale April 9-12, 2026, and it isn’t your average music weekend. It’s a four-day dive into the Delta’s bloodstream!

100+ Blues sets tucked into juke joints and street corners, racing pigs, monkeys on dogs, kids running wild on funnel cakes, artists selling the kind of work that still smells like paint, and enough Southern cooking to make you forget whatever diet you promised yourself.

This is the festival the world keeps talking about. It all sounds like hype until you’re standing here, watching a band tear into a twelve-bar riff in the same town where Sinners was based and where Morgan Freeman co-owns a Blues club. That’s when it hits you. There’s nowhere else like this.

If you’re coming, book your room now. Seriously. April fills up fast, and Clarksdale doesn’t wait around. Explore lodging options at visitclarksdale.com.

Wristbands will drop soon. Keep an eye on this page for updates and start planning your trip. The Delta is calling!

11/24/2025

Sinners just swept the Critics Choice Awards below-the-line shortlists — the only film recognized in all 11 craft categories, earning 13 mentions total.

https://blexmedia.com/sinners-leads-critics-choice-awards/