Discover Your Nature

2023 W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival Lineup

W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival, presented by Field & Main Bank, announces 2023 schedule

It’s here, it’s here! The Henderson Music Preservation Society has officially announced the lineup for another year of the W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival and it’s shaping up to be the best yet! Artists will perform on stage in Audubon Mill Park on the Henderson riverfront on June 14-17. The Handy Happy Hours and Lunch Breaks in downtown Henderson will start Monday, June 12 and last throughout the week. The popular Zydeco Night Red Beans and Rice Dinner will take place on Thursday, June 15. And now for the main event: the music!

2023 W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival Lineup

Wednesday, June 14

5:00 p.m. – End of the Line
7:00 p.m. – Ally Venable
9:00 p.m. – Southern Avenue

Thursday, June 15

5:30 p.m. – Dwayne Dopsie
8:00 p.m. – Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band

Friday, June 16

12:00 p.m. – Blues4U
1:30 p.m. – Tinsley Ellis – Acoustic Songs & Stories
3:00 p.m. – Al Green & The Hard Times
5:00 p.m. – King Solomon Hicks
7:00 p.m. – Bywater Call
9:00 p.m. – Tommy Castro & The Painkillers w/ Special Guest Tinsley Ellis

Saturday, June 17

12:00 p.m. – David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach
1:30 p.m. – Ghalia Volt
3:00 p.m. – JD Simo
5:00 p.m. – Matt Schofield
7:00 p.m. – Shemekia Copeland
9:00 p.m. – The War & Treaty

The W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival has consistently been named a Top 20 Event of the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society (STS). The festival also won Kentucky Living Magazine’s “Best Music Festival in Kentucky” for the past four years. The festival is one of the longest running free blues music festivals in the nation, featuring top blues acts, delicious food, a picturesque venue, and our famous Henderson hospitality.

The W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival is free to the public, planned by the Henderson Music Preservation Society, and supported entirely by donors and volunteers. For more information on the festival and how you can support it, visit www.handyblues.org.