National Jug Band Jubilee 2016
www.jugbandjubilee.org
Grammy-winner Dom Flemons headlines 12th National Jug Band Jubilee
LOUISVILLE, KY, (July 30, 2016) – The National Jug Band Jubilee is excited to announce that Grammy Award-winning artist Dom Flemons will headline its 2016 festival. Flemons is the “American Songster,” pulling from various traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having performed music professionally since 2005, he has played live for over one million people just within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry.
The 2016 National Jug Band Jubilee takes place at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater on Saturday, September 17. Festivities start at Noon. This is the festival’s 12th anniversary and the organizers have a few special treats for fans this year. In addition to hosting some of the greatest jug bands from around the world, the 2016 Jubilee will include an expanded vendor’s area featuring more local artists, there will be several children’s workshops between bands, and much more family-friendly fun.
Headlining the 2016 National Jug Band Jubilee will be a return engagement for Flemons since the Carolina Chocolate Drops performed at one of the first incarnations of the festival. The National Jug Band Jubilee was created to celebrate the legacy of jug band music in the River City. Louisville is the acknowledged home of jug band music, a pre-war jazz style that features traditional and homemade instruments. In the late 19th century, African American musicians walked the streets of the River City playing tunes on improvised instruments like empty liquor jugs (“the poor man’s tuba”), kazoos and washboards. By the time the sound reached its peak in the 1930s, it had infiltrated towns up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, especially Memphis and New Orleans.