When I was growing up in the Mississippi Delta, the go-to big city was Memphis, a city that in the 1950s was starkly divided along black/white, rich/poor lines. So how was it that a statue of a ...

It’s one of the most familiar creation myths in the American imagination: a lonely crossroads in the Mississippi Delta; a down-at-the-heels musician and Satan himself, come to bestow fretboard mojo in ...

FLORENCE, Ala. (WAFF) - W.C. Handy Music Festival officially kicked off Wednesday and will last for the next two weeks. 14 days of music, good food and fun, that’s what locals say W.C. Handy Music ...

When she moved to Florence, Ala., from her native Illinois in 1996, Algene Norwood didn’t know a soul. She decided that she “had to get out and get active and meet people.” She did that by ...

An area known year round for its music kicks it up a notch for the rest of the month at the W.C. Handy Festival. In its 41st year, the festival features some 250 events in restaurants and other venues ...

A view of Mr. Handy : one afternoon in Memphis, 1918 -- Slavery, the AME Church, and emancipation : the Handy family of Alabama, 1811-1873 -- W.C. Handy and the music of black and white America, ...

It’s one of the most familiar creation myths in the American imagination: a lonely crossroads in the Mississippi Delta; a down-at-the-heels musician and Satan himself, come to bestow fretboard mojo in ...

For the 34th time, the granddaddy of Henderson’s “Rootin’ Tootin’ Songs of Summer” music series — the W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival — is coming on June 11-14. The volunteer-run music festival ...

HENDERSON, Ky. — Henderson's W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival is back for its 31st year with some returning favorites and several newcomers among the featured performers. Abby Dixon, executive ...

W.C. Handy (front, left), composer of "St. Louis Blues," visits Old Rock House Saloon in this circa 1935 photo in "Scenes of Historic Wonder: St. Louis." Photo by St. Louis Globe-Democrat, courtesy of ...