April Roadtrip, Day 12, Juke Joint Festival, Day 3

 Day 12

Sunday, April 12, 2026

   Hooray, my last night in West Helena.  Most people leave the festival Sunday morning.  This frees up a lot of motel rooms.  So, I gladly packed up the room and left.

     But first, sunrise from the motel.

     The first time I came to the Juke Joint Festival, I heard about breakfast at a place called Our Grandma's House of Pancakes. It's become a Sunday tradition of mine ever since.  I tried on a Saturday, but the place is packed. This morning, just a great breakfast.

    Most of the extra stages are gone by Sunday morning.  Not the back porch at the Bluesberry Cafe.  This morning Robert Kimbrough, Sr. was playing.  Outstanding as always.

   And that bass groove Wayne Burnside was laying down...

    Another Juke Joint tradition is Rev. Peyton and his Big Damn Band.  Every year I've come to the festival they've played Sunday morning at the Cathead stage.

    Some guys refer to their guitar as an ax.  Rev. Peyton actually plays one.

   Lala Craig, always the crowd pleaser.  To call her style chaotic seems fitting.  I've heard a few people compare her to Jerry Lee Lewis.  I can see that.

   Back at the Bluesberry Cafe patio, Angel "Cash" Ocasio was performing with his band Cash's Juke Joint.  Sitting in with the band, Roger Wilson.  They even convinced Lucious Spiller to sing a few songs.  Just amazing.

     It felt good to check into the local America's Best. It's nothing fancy, but always clean.  No more thirty mile drive to West Helena. 

      Back at the Bluesberry Patio, Captain Dirk and Bonesman were deep in their set.

    Downtown Charlie Brown came on with a mix of old spirituals and blues.  Like so many, he got his start playing in church before turning to the blues.  He still plays spirituals because of something his mother told him.  The blues are fine, just don't forget God.

    He grew up in Morristown, NJ before moving to Chicago and even wrote a song about it.  A bit surprising to hear Morristown name dropped in a blues song.  You can see him perform there by clicking here:   

   Watermelon Slim owns the Bluesberry Cafe and closes the festival.  

     As he wrapped up his set, it was time to go.

     My grandmother used to say, "There's nothing quite so over as Christmas."   An all but empty Clarksdale,it feels the same way.  

    Sunday night could only mean one thing... the after-party at Red's Tavern.

    As always, the house band comes out and warms up the crowd.

      When you show up early for a good seat, only to be thwarted by middle aged drunk people who decide they needed to awkwardly dance.

      Some just stood there in front of the performers blocking the view.  I had to shoot these with my arms fully extended above my head.

     Eventually, the dancers got tired and some of the drunk guys decided it best to sit for a while.

    In the end, I almost made it to 11P.  Still not too bad.

    So nice to have a drive less than a mile to the motel.