W.C. Handy Music Festival

The W.C. Handy Music Festival is a multi-day series of music events across the Shoals area of northwest Alabama, honouring W.C. Handy, the Florence-born composer known as the Father of the Blues. The 2027 festival runs July 21 to August 1. The first festival was held in 1982, and it is presented by the nonprofit Music Preservation Society. Instead of one site, bands play in restaurants, clubs, parks, churches and shops in Florence, Muscle Shoals and Tuscumbia, alongside educational events in libraries and museums. Past headliners named by the organizer include Dizzy Gillespie, Roberta Flack, Booker T. Jones and Percy Sledge.

There is no single festival ground. Live bands play at lunches, dinners and late nights in partner restaurants, clubs, parks, churches and stores around the Shoals, and educational events such as ABC's of Jazz, Blues, and Beyond run in local libraries and museums. Each partner venue books its own bands and has final approval. The organizer publishes an online schedule and a PDF brochure for each year's events, and a headliner concert is part of the program in some years.

It suits blues and jazz fans who like to roam from venue to venue rather than sit at one stage, and families, since the organizer schedules the festival in summer so children can attend and lists events built for them, including Kidz Jamm and events at the Children's Museum. Most performers are local or regional acts.