W. C. Handy Festival:
Celebrating the Gift of the Father of the Blues

W. C. Handy’s father said he would rather follow his son’s hearse than see him become a musician.

Sorry, Rev. Handy. Your son chose to follow his music instead of the family tradition of Methodist ministry, and – at the risk of sounding blasphemous – Praise the Lord he did so!

William Christopher Handy took the sacred hymns, Negro spirituals, songs he heard from laborers working on the Muscle Shoals canal, riffs from well-worn instruments, and emotions from the soul, and molded them into a new musical form – the blues.

Each summer, The Shoals celebrates the legacy of The Father of the Blues with the W.C. Handy Music Festival. From August 1-7, 1999, every street corner, park, restaurant, civic building, shopping mall, theater, and public place in the area sings and sighs with the Blues, jazz, gospel, swing, soloists, groups, instrumentalists – even a restored player piano. If you define musical perfection as Bach’s Water Music or Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungen, close your windows and dive under a pillow. This is the living music that springs from the American south like the cotton in the brick-red fields of north Alabama.

Even running for a full week, the schedule is crammed. With over 150 separate musical events scheduled, ears will grow tired and feet will have a bumper crop of calluses from all the toe-tapping. There will be more arrangements played of Handy’s most famous work, "St. Louis Blues" than there are bass boats on the Tennessee River.

The music starts each day about the time most people are finishing breakfast and goes on until Jay Leno’s gone to bed. It’s impossible to hear it all, since so many performances are going on at the same time. But maybe with a little planning… lessee – at 10am there’s a choice of a swing band at the Senior Center or the children’s jazz concert at the music academy. Then there’s the coffee break concert at 11. But that’s just for an hour. The longer concert runs from 11 until 1 and that’s at the pizza place. Or is the program at the barbeque restaurant better? The other option is to skip all of the concerts at lunch and go to the screening of "The St. Louis Blues" at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. That’s over about mid-afternoon, so it’s back to town for the Southern Fried Gospel and Catfish Dinner. Work through Florence and Sheffield’s cafes and clubs until after midnight. Then head back to the room for a little sleep and start all over in the morning. Unless, of course, some of the musicians decide to get together informally after their sets and jam until dawn. If they gather outside on a hot, summer night, the crickets provide a counter-melody to the blues guitars and sultry sax along the riverfront.

The improvisations may be the most fitting tribute to Handy. While he was the first composer to pen jazz music, he knew it was born from life. "The blues don’t come from books," he said once. "The blues were conceived of aching hearts."

While he might have disapproved of the jazz and blues, Handy’s father couldn’t object to hymns sung in his church. One of the most popular events is held there. Music at the Black Church features traditional, heartfelt, rafter-shaking, spirit-moving gospel singing performed at the church where Handy’s father was pastor. It’s so popular that back-to-back performances are the only way to accommodate the standing-room only crowds.

There’s more to the festival than just music. The Street Strut is to Florence what the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is to Manhattan. Everybody shows up, planning to be seen and to see. Folks carrying gaily-decorated parasols and sporting every style of clothing in colors that would make a parrot look pale gather in Wilson Park. Led by the Whoopeedoo – the honorary leader of the parade – they strut their stuff down Court Street while a band plays "When the Saints Come Marchin’ In."

Golfers march across greens, tennis players dash across courts, runners pace themselves along race routes, and bikers pedal along the roads at the planned tournaments, races, and rides. Local art galleries stage special exhibits, many of them using the festival and the blues as themes and inspiration.

Of course, a pilgrimage to Handy’s birthplace is almost a requirement. This small, modest log cabin holds a treasure of Handy memorabilia, including his trumpet, original sheet music, photos and awards, and personal notes from other musical greats. The piano on which Handy composed so much of his music rests against one wall, where visitors casually lean against it while listening to docents tell stories about Handy’s life.

Some people show up planning to spend the week; others arriving thinking that they’ll hear enough in one day to be satisfied, then find that the music and excitement have captured them, and they can’t leave. Accommodations fill quickly, so reservations are a smart idea, and rates are surprisingly reasonable, running between $40-$70 for hotels and motels; around $80 at B&Bs. The program, which lists all of the events, accommodations, exhibits, concerts, and other helpful information is available by calling 1-800-47BLUES. The website is www.wchandyfest.com.

W.C. Handy’s decisions to create a new musical art form was a loss to the ministry, perhaps. But it was a blessing for the rest of us.

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