Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival coming to Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The first-ever Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival is coming to Bowling Green from November 20-22.

Hosted by the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation, the three-day event offers performances, workshops and panel discussions highlighting Black contributions to the blues. The festival is free and open to the public.

The event honors Kentucky artist Porter Parish Grainger, celebrating his legacy as a vaudeville-era blues composer, playwright and publisher while connecting audiences to his influence on Black music and culture. The event will also draw attention to the historic Shake Rag District, a Bowling Green neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places where Grainger lived.

“The blues speaks to the human condition — the lived experiences and resilience of the Black South,” said Lamont Jack Pearley, executive director of the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation. “Kentucky, while a different terrain of the South, is often recognized as part of the Delta states, which deeply influenced blues themes. Events like the Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival highlight Kentucky’s role in the development and preservation of this music, connecting the state to the significance of the broader blues tradition.”

In 2017, festival director Pearley was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Great Blues Historian and TV/Radio Producer, and again in 2018 recognized as a Great Blues Artist. Pearley earned his masters in folk studies from Western Kentucky University and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington.

Highlights of this year’s Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival include:

• Blues practitioners from across the South, with artists traveling to Kentucky for a multi-day public event
• A blues workshop, where event attendees can compose and perform original blues songs alongside master artists
• Narrative stages, artist interviews and live demonstrations led by traditional musicians and folklorists
• Panel discussions on the history and business of blues music, including songwriting, copyright, and publishing
• Closing concert at the Capitol Theater with performances including but not limited to Jontavious Willis, Marjorie “Ms. M” Marshall,
• Michael Gough, John Martin and Ian Lovelace, alongside speakers Michael L. Jones and Dustin Elmore
• Showcases of both emerging and established talent representing diverse blues styles

The Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival is supported by the Kentucky Arts Council, as well as the Kentucky Folklife and Museum, and
the Warren County Public Library.

Learn more about the event and the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation here.