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The National Jug Band Jubilee to return in 2026

jugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:51:29+00:00

NEWS FROM:

National Jug Band Jubilee
www.jugbandjubilee.org

For Immediate Relief *
* Jug band music relieves tension

Contact:
Heather Leoncini
(502) 417-1107
juggernautpr@yahoo.com

The National Jug Band Jubilee to return in 2026
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LOUISVILLE, KY, (September 15, 2025) – The National Jug Band Jubilee will kick off its 2026 capital campaign by paying tribute to legendary Kentucky fiddler Bill Livers (1911–1988) on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2026, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Spring Street Bar & Grill, 300 S. Spring St., in Louisville.

Livers, a tenant farmer from Owenton, KY, was steeped in a vibrant Black music community. Influenced by his grandfather Virgil Livers and fellow musicians such as Hood Livers, Chester Morton, and jug blower Navy Pitts, Bill Livers performed with regional string bands and left a lasting mark on American
folk traditions in the state.

The tribute concert will feature the Catherine McBride Trio and the Bill Livers String Ensemble, led by fiddle historian John Harrod. Harrod, who recorded and performed with Livers, recently released “Recordings from the Collection of John Harrod” on the Field Recorders’ Collective label. Copies will be available for purchase at the event.

“The group that formed a band around Bill Livers started as the Progress Red Hot String Band, named after the drum stoves most of us heated with, and after a time we changed the name to the Bill Livers String Ensemble. It was a continuing education for us as we got to know Bill, learn his music, and share
his experience,” Harrod remembered.

“The recordings we have of Bill were made under less-than-ideal conditions. We were young and wild and more interested in the moment than in posterity. The settings ranged from festivals to bars to barns, and nearly all of it was recorded on cassette, but we think Bill himself comes through as he truly was.”

Founded in 2005, the National Jug Band Jubilee preserves the pre–World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville between 1890 and 1930. After pausing its annual Waterfront Park festival following 2022, the Jubilee continued hosting performances and educational programs in partnership with the Louisville Folk School and Louisville Metro Government. The organization plans to relaunch its full festival format in fall 2026, with hopes of returning to Waterfront Park.

Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee board, said the organization needed time to reorganize after losing board members and volunteers during the Covid layoff.

“We took the time to discern the best, most sustainable path forward for the organization. In order to keep jug band music on stages in Louisville, we started partnering with other organizations on events. This helped us to broaden our focus beyond one weekend to promoting jug bands year-round.”

The Sept. 18 tribute during Give for Good Louisville, the region’s largest day of online nonprofit giving.

For more information on the National Jug Band Jubilee Benefit, contact Heather Leoncini at (502) 417-1107 or juggernautpr@yahoo.com.

The National Jug Band Jubilee to return in 2026jugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:51:29+00:00

The Louisville Folk School and National Jug Band Jubilee present the Summer Swing

jugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:28:45+00:00

NEWS FROM:

National Jug Band Jubilee
www.jugbandjubilee.org

For Immediate Relief *
* Jug band music relieves tension

Contact:
Heather Leoncini
(502) 417-1107
juggernautpr@yahoo.com

The Louisville Folk School and National Jug Band Jubilee present the Summer Swing
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LOUISVILLE, KY, (June 3, 2024) – The National Jug Band Jubilee is back! The nonprofit is partnering with the Louisville Folk School to put on the “Summer Swing,” a free, family-friendly outdoor festival taking place in Douglass Park, outside the Douglass Community Center, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 22.

The “Summer Swing” will feature music, kids’ activities from the Jubilee and the Steam Exchange, and food and drinks, including a beer booth from West Sixth Brewing Co. The festival will feature performances from Hubby Jenkins (former member of the Grammy Award winning Carolina Chocolate Drops), The Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo, the Juggernaut Jug Band, and Tin Can Caravan featuring Thomas Deakin and Stephanie Nilles.

The National Jug Band Jubilee was founded in 2005 to preserve the legacy of a pre-World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville between 1890 and 1930. For about 15 years, the organization held a free, all-day festivals every September in Louisville’s Waterfront Park. But the event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Jubilee board decided to push pause on the festival after the 2022 National Jug Band Jubilee because of increased costs and competition from a spate of other September festivals for sponsors and vendors.

“We took the time to discern the best, most sustainable path forward for the organization,” explained Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee board. “In order to keep jug band music on stages in Louisville, we started partnering with other organizations on events. This helped us to broaden our focus beyond one weekend to promoting jug bands year-round.”

The Jubilee sponsored a show featuring the Birmingham, Alabama-based Steel City Jug Slammers and Louisville bluesman Tyrone Cotton at the 2023 World Fest. The organization also took part in the city’s Fourth of July celebration on Waterfront Park, which featured the Derby City Dandies.

Leoncini said the collaboration with the Louisville Folk School is another step in the Jubilee’s evolution because of the folk school’s mission to preserve the state’s music traditions through education and performance.

The Summer Swing festival received additional support from Louisville Metro Government, the Fund for the Arts, and HeARTS: Healing Through the Arts, an initiative that supports arts programs in community centers across the county. HeARTS has been instrumental in bringing arts programming to diverse communities, but it is currently facing an 80% reduction in funding in the mayor’s budget proposal. Maintaining this support is crucial for the continuation of impactful community arts programs that enrich our city.

Dave Howard, executive director of the Louisville Folk School, said the collaboration with the Jubilee on Summer Swing is a natural extension of his organization’s mission.

“The Louisville Folk School has long admired the National Jug Band Jubilee’s dedication to this vibrant musical tradition, a tradition we proudly celebrate through our adult group class program, which regularly features jug band ensemble classes,” Howard added. “We are honored to collaborate with them on the upcoming Summer Swing festival. This festival not only promises an afternoon of captivating jug band music but also serves as the culminating celebration for our successful participation in the HeArts program, which has enabled us to offer a variety of engaging classes.”

In addition to the Summer Swing, the Jubilee is partnering with Hill House, a private venue in South Louisville, to bring Grammy nominated folk artist Dom Flemons to Louisville on July 6. Tickets for the Flemons concert will be raffled off during the Summer Swing concert.

For more information on the Summer Swing, contact Heather Leoncini at juggernautpr@yahoo.com.

The Louisville Folk School and National Jug Band Jubilee present the Summer Swingjugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:28:45+00:00

National Jug Band Jubilee adds more events leading up to the all-day festival

jugbandjubilee2022-09-19T18:35:11+00:00

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LOUISVILLE, KY, (September 15, 2022) – Time is fast-approaching for the 2022 National Jug Band Jubilee. The free, all-day festival had a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it will be back on Saturday, September 24 at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park, from Noon to 9 p.m. This week the festival’s organizers announced a few more opportunities for local students and music fans to enjoy the jug band love. Education has always been an important component of the Jubilee’s mission, and the festival has sent Jug Bands to area schools on the day prior to the concert for several years.

On Friday, September 23rd, the How Long Jug Band (Portland, OR) will play at Frayser Elementary. The Busted Jug Band (Boston, MA) are playing at Greathouse/Shyrock Elementary School, and the Slick Skillet Serenaders (New Orleans, LA) are playing at Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School (LPAS).“Our students are always so delighted to see performances from the Jug Band Jubilee every year. The music is fun, accessible, and historically informative,” said Amos Hopkins, Arts Magnet Coordinator at LPAS.

Also on Friday night, the Jubilee presents a Jug Band Jam Session at West Sixth Brewery in the Nulu Marketplace from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Both professional and amateur jug band musicians will be sharing songs and stories in a night of celebration. Very low-key and welcoming, come join or watch and enjoy a beer! The Slick Skillet Serenaders are also playing a the Nachbar in Germantown that night from 7-11pm Keep an eye on our Facebook page for all of the latest details https://www.facebook.com/JugBandJubilee.

All these events lead up to the big day on Saturday when the festival will be headlined by GRAMMY-nominated blues artist Jontavious Willis. Perennial favorites the Juggernaut Jug Band and the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs are also set to perform. He is the schedule for the day:

• Noon – Cincinnati Dancing Pigs, Cincinnati, OH
• 1pm – How Long Jug Band – Portland, OR
• 2pm – The Busted Jug Band – Boston, MA
• 3pm – Ever-Lovin Jug Band – Waterloo, ON, CA
• 4pm – Jug Band Workshops!
• 5pm – Juggernaut Jug Band – Louisville, KY
• 6pm – M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio – Hampton, VA
• 7pm – The Slick Skillet Serenaders – New Orleans, LA
• 8pm – Jontavious Willis – Greenville, GA

In addition to the music, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. The National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for several workshops. Learn to blow a jug, play a washboard, washtub bass, kazoo and more! There is also great local vending, food, beer, and wine.

The National Jug Band Jubilee was founded in 2005 to preserve the legacy of jug band music through music and education. Jug band music is a pre-World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville between 1890 and 1930. The River City is considered to be the home of the genre because it produced the first two jug bands to record – Sara Martin’s Jug Band (OKeh Record, 1924) and Whistler’s Jug Band (Gennett, 1924). These recording started a national craze that lasted until the Great Depression.

The 2022 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 24, 2022, at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The music at begins at Noon and ends at 9 p.m.

For more information contact Heather Leoncini at (502) 417-1107 or
juggernautpr@yahoo.com.

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National Jug Band Jubilee adds more events leading up to the all-day festivaljugbandjubilee2022-09-19T18:35:11+00:00

National Jug Band Jubilee returns to Waterfront Park in September

jugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:28:57+00:00

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National Jug Band Jubilee returns to Waterfront Park in September

LOUISVILLE, KY, (August 4, 2022) – It’s been a while since fans of the National Jug Band Jubilee got to dance to the rhythm of jug band music on the banks of the Ohio River. The free, all-day festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the festival that celebrates all things jug band is coming back for 2022!

– Jontavious Willis (Greenville, GA)
– The Slick Skillet Serenaders (New Orleans, LA)
– M.S.G Acoustic Blues Trio (Hampton, VA)
– Juggernaut Jug Band (Louisville, KY)
– The Busted Jug Band (Boston, MA)
– Cincinnati Dancing Pigs (Cincinnati, OH)
– Ever-Lovin Jug Band (Ontario, Canada)
– How Long Jug Band (Portland, OR)Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee, said the Jubilee board is excited to bring everyone back together again to celebrate the history of Jug Band music.“After taking a couple of years off, this year’s Jubilee feels extra special for everyone,” Leoncini said. “People from all over the United States, and even some from other countries, come to Louisville specifically for this festival. I expect to see a lot of dancing when the bands start playing.”In addition to the music, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. The National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for several workshops. Learn to blow a jug, play a washboard, washtub bass, kazoo and more! There is also great local vending, food, beer and wine.The Jubilee also offers a lot of activities for children, including a booth from the Little Loomhouse.

“We’ve had a booth at the Jubilee since 2015, and it has become one of my favorite festivals. I love doing weaving projects with the families while getting to hear the great music. It is something our staff and volunteers look forward to,” said Michelle Amos, executive director of the Little Loomhouse.

The National Jug Band Jubilee was founded in 2005 to preserve the legacy of jug band music through music and education. Jug band music is a pre-World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville between 1890 and 1930. The River City is considered to be the home of the genre because it produced the first two jug bands to record – Sara Martin’s Jug Band (OKeh Record, 1924) and Whistler’s Jug Band (Gennett, 1924). These recordings started a national craze that lasted until the Great Depression.

In addition to putting on a free, all-day festival, the National Jug Band Jubilee sends jug bands to perform at local elementary schools on Friday, the day before the Jubilee. On Friday night, there are also fun Jubilee events happening around town, including an open Jug Band jam session. Details for the Friday night events will be announced soon.

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National Jug Band Jubilee returns to Waterfront Park in Septemberjugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:28:57+00:00

National Jug Band Jubilee returns to Waterfront Park in September

jugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:29:06+00:00

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE PDF

LOUISVILLE, KY, (July 25, 2022) – It’s been a while since fans of the National Jug Band Jubilee got to dance to rhythm of jug band music on the banks of the Ohio River. The free, all-day festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the festival that celebrates all things jug band is coming back for 2022!

The 2022 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 24 at the Brown- Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park, from Noon to 9 p.m. GRAMMY-nominated blues artist Jontavious Willis is the festival headliner. Perennial favorites the Juggernaut Jug Band and the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs are also set to perform. The rest of the day’s lineup will feature some of the bands that didn’t get to play in the two cancelled festivals. The complete lineup will be available soon at the festival’s website, www.jugbandjubilee.com.

Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee, said the Jubilee board is excited to bring everyone back together again to celebrate the history of jug band.

“After taking a couple of years off, this year’s Jubilee feels is extra special for everyone,” Leoncini said. “People from all over the United States, and even some from other countries, come to Louisville specifically for this festival. I expect to see a lot of dancing when the bands start playing.”

The Jubilee also offers a lot of activities for children, including a booth from the Little Loomhouse.

The National Jug Band Jubilee’s was founded in 2004 to preserve the legacy of jug band music through music and education. Jug band music is a pre-World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville between 1890 and 1930. The River City is considered to be the home of the genre because it produced

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the first two jug bands to record – Sara Martin’s Jug Band (OKeh Record, 1924) and Whistler’s Jug Band (Gennett, 1924). These recording started a national craze that lasted until the Great Depression.

In addition to putting on a free, all-day festival, the National Jug Band Jubilee sends jug bands to perform at local elementary schools and hosts an educational panel discussion on the day prior to the festival. Prior workshops have dealt with the topic of race in traditional music and the role of river culture in the development of jug band music. The details of this year’s panel discussion will be released soon.

The 2022 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The music at begins at Noon and ends at 9 p.m. For more information contact Heather Leoncini at (502) 417-1107 or juggernautpr@yahoo.com.

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National Jug Band Jubilee returns to Waterfront Park in Septemberjugbandjubilee2025-09-18T15:29:06+00:00

National Jug Band Jubilee is back on September 18, 2021

jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:08:35+00:00

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LOUISVILLE, KY, (July 29, 2021) – The National Jug Band Jubilee returns to the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park on Saturday, September 18, 2021. This will be the 16^th festival for the non-profit organization. This year’s headlining performer will be acoustic blues talent Jontavious Willis, a 25-year-old multi-instrumentalist who was nominated for a Grammy in 2020 thanks to his latest album, Spectacular Class. The complete line-up for the 2021 National Jug Band Jubilee will be announced very soon!

Willis hails from Greenville, Georgia. He grew up singing gospel music at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather. Willis was drawn to blues music after watching a video of Muddy Waters performing “Hoochie Coochie Man.” He was later mentored by legendary bluesman Taj Mahal who has said, “That’s my Wonderboy, the Wunderkind. Jontavious is a great new voice of the 21st century in the acoustic blues.”

Part of the National Jug Band Jubilee’s mission is to preserve Louisville’s jug band legacy through education as well as music. The Jubilee board has joined forces with the Louisville Historical Society to present “Lost Sounds: Rediscovering Black Fiddlers” on Friday, September 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Roots 101 African American Museum, 124 N. 1^st St. This panel discussion on Black fiddlers will explore the contributions of Kentuckiana musicians like bandleader Henry Hart, Clifford Hayes of the Louisville Jug Band, the Booker Family Orchestra, and Jess Ferguson of Whistler’s Jug Band. The event will also feature live music and a cash bar. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $10 to benefit Roots 101.

The National Jug Band Jubilee is excited to be back on the banks of the Ohio River, celebrating this unique form of river music – as it should be. 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. Louisville Jug Bands were the first to record, with Sara Martin recording “Blue Devil Blues” with the Dixieland Jug Blowers in 1924.

The 2021 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 18, 2021 at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The music at begins at 1pm and ends at 10 p.m. In addition to the bands, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. There is also great local vending, food, beer and wine. Lots of kid’s activities. And as always, the National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for several workshops. Learn to blow a jug, play a washboard, washtub bass, kazoo and more! The Jubilee is a free event.

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National Jug Band Jubilee is back on September 18, 2021jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:08:35+00:00

National Jug Band Jubilee celebrates 15th anniversary with Kweskin

jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:08:51+00:00

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LOUISVILLE, KY, (July 30, 2019) – Jug band music is a pre-World War II jazz style that thrived in Louisville from 1890 to 1930. A former public relations executive named Rod Wenz organized the first National Jug Band Jubilee 15-years ago to celebrate that legacy. The Juggernaut Jug Band and the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs entertained 400 people onboard the Belle of Louisville. Since then the Jubilee has grown into a free, all-day festival that attracts thousands of people to each year to see the best jug band talent in the world.

American folk revival pioneer Jim Kweskin (Boston, MA) will return to Louisville to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the festival. Kweskin founded the legendary Jim Kweskin Jug Band in the 1960s and helped to popular some of the Louisville jug band standards. His group influenced the Grateful Dead, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the Lovin’ Spoonful.

Other performers at the 2019 National Jug Band Jubilee include: Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton (New York, NY); the Steel City Jug Slammers (Birmingham, AL); Miss Maybelle & “Ragtime” Charlie Judkins (New York, NY); the Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band (New Orleans, LA); the Jake Leg Stompers (Bucksnort, TN); the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs (Cincinnati, OH); and Louisville’s own Juggernaut Jug Band.

The National Jug Band Jubilee’s mission is to preserve Louisville’s legacy through education as well as music. The organization will host a panel discussion at the Frazier History Museum on Friday, September 13th, the night before the Jubilee, at 7 p.m. “All in the Family: Examining Jug Band Music’s relationship with American Popular Music” will feature Jug Band legend Jim Kweskin, fiddle historian John Harrod, musician Bill Steber and author Michael L. Jones examining jug band music’s connections to other musical genres. The event will include a performance by the Juggernaut Jug Band. The Friday night event at the Frazier is free for members and $15 for non-members and celebrates the opening of a new exhibit at the Frazier, “Celebrating the Sounds of Kentucky”.

The 2019 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The music at begins at 1pm and ends at 11 p.m. In addition to the bands, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. There is also great local vending, food, beer and wine. And as always, the National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for several workshops. Learn to blow a jug, play a washboard, washtub bass, kazoo and more!

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National Jug Band Jubilee celebrates 15th anniversary with Kweskinjugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:08:51+00:00

Panel discussion, pre-festivals shows lead up to 14th National Jug Band Jubilee

jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:09:00+00:00

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LOUISVILLE, KY, (August 23, 2018) – The National Jug Band Jubilee’s mission is to preserve Louisville’s legacy as the home of jug band music through music and education. In addition to putting on a free, all-day festival, the organization sends jug bands to perform at elementary schools every year on the day prior to the Jubilee and offers workshops during the festival itself. In 2018, its 14^thyear, the National Jug Band Jubilee will expand its educational offerings with a panel discussion titled “The Color of Jug Band Music: Examining the Complex Racial History of the Genre.” The talk will take place at the Highlands Community Campus. 1228 E Breckinridge Street, on Friday, September 14 at 7 p.m.

Jug band music was pioneered in the late 19th century by African American musicians walked the streets of the River City playing novelty 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. It was also black musicians who produced the first jug band recordings. However, when the genre is depicted in contemporary media, the jug bands are usually groups of white musicians in a rural setting.

“The Color of Jug Band Music” will explore the role race, power, and mass media has played in obscuring the origins of jug band music and erasing many of the genre’s pioneers from the narrative of American popular music. The panelists will include: Heather Leoncini, President of the National Jug Band Jubilee; Jubilee board member Michael L. Jones, author of “Louisville Jug Music: From Earl McDonald to the National Jubilee”; educators and music duo Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons; and fiddle historian John Harrod. The moderator will be Nathan Salsburg, curator of the Alan Lomax Archive.

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, is part of an expanded Friday night line-up of events that has turned the National Jug Band Jubilee into a multi-day celebration. “The Color of Jug Band Music” will be followed, in the same space, by a swing dance event with music by New Orleans’ Frog & Henry and dance lessons with LindyHop Louisville. Admission is $10 and includes a free dance lesson. The show starts at 8:30 p.m., following the discussion. There will be a cash bar and chairs for non-dancers who just want to enjoy the music.

Also, on Friday, there will be a free National Jug Band Jubilee Jam Session at the Goodwood Tap Room. 636 E Main St, Louisville, from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Asheville, N.C.-band Vaden Landers & The Do Rights will also play a free show at the Nachbar, 969 Charles Street, from 9 p.m. to Midnight.

The 2018 National Jug Band Jubilee will take place on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at the Brown-Foreman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The music at begins at Noon and ends at 11 p.m. In addition to the bands, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. Volunteers from Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana will make and decorate instruments with kids from Noon to 6 p.m. The South Louisville-based Little Loomhouse will have several of its namesake small looms on hand so festival-goers can weave their own mug rugs and other small items from Noon to 6 p.m. The Steam Exchange, a community arts organization based in Smoketown, will be doing jug band screen printing activities for kids from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. And as always, the National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for several workshops of its own.

Here is the schedule:

1:00 – Derby City Dandies (Louisville, KY)
2:00 – Vaden Landers & The Do Rights (Asheville, NC)
3:00 – Cincinnati Dancing Pigs (Cincinnati, OH)
4:00 – Workshops: Jug, Washboard, Kazoo, Washtub, Saw, Spoons and dance!
5:00 – Juggernaut Jug Band (Louisville, KY)
6:00 – Chris Rodrigues and Abby the Spoon Lady (Asheville, NC)
7:00 – Hubby Jenkins (New York, NY)
8:15 – Frog & Henry (New Orleans, LA)
9:30 – Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons (Seattle, WA)

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Panel discussion, pre-festivals shows lead up to 14th National Jug Band Jubileejugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:09:00+00:00

jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:09:29+00:00

A Gathering for Jug Heads – Wall Street Journal

Many associate the sound and feel of jug band music with the 1960s bands that took versions of it into pop: the Rooftop Singers with ”Walk Right In”; the Lovin’ Spoonful with “Jug Band Music.” Others recall that era’s folk-revival outfits, such as the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, that celebrated and brought back the hot, freeand-easy street music of the early 20th century. First played by pick-up “spasm bands” that brandished homemade instruments, it had been, in effect, raucous folk jazz, functioning for the frisky young much as neighborhood doo-wop, garage rock and hip-hop would for later generations.

And as with those later genres, some talents who worked the style in the 1920s and ’30s, particularly in the river towns where the music thrived, became recording stars-the Memphis Jug Band and Cannon’s Jug Stompers from Memphis; Earl McDonald, Clifford Hayes and Whistler’s Jug Band from Louisville. African-American music to begin with, it was quickly taken up by white country bands, too-washtubbass-wielding hillbilly outfits.

Louisville, whose stars were among the first recorded, had an abundance of the jugs that became the music’s defining bass instrument, as the bourbon producing center it remains. It serves today as the home of the National Jug Band Jubilee, an annual free festival held in the Brown-Forman Amphitheater on the banks of the Ohio that attracts practitioners from around the U.S. and beyond. From its founding in 2005, featured Jubilee acts have included Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur and Maria Muldaur from the ’60s revival era, and such latter-day stars as the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Pokey LaFarge.

This year’s consistently pleasurable edition, staged Saturday, brought together eight practiced, audiencegrabbing groups-from Waterloo, Ontario’s Ever· Lovin’ Jug Band and San Diego’s G Burns Jug Band to Louisville’s own veteran Juggernaut Jug Band. Topping the bill was a tremendously promising, versatile new act, the Dom Flemons Trio, recently put together by that Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founder with fiddler-bassist Brian Far· row and percussionist Dante Pope. They wended their way through everything from close 19th-century harmony singing and vaudeville to, naturally, jug band standards such as Gus Cannon’s “Going to German,” Mr. Flemons’ inspired banjo work stunning those assembled. The trio is a thus-far rare example of young African-American talents bringing new life to this music.

Revitalizing and carrying forward the music is a hallmark of the Jubilee’s shows and mission. An hour was set aside on show day for work· shops offering tips for newcomers on playing the jug, bones and kazoos, bowing a saw and (with tots included) slamming on washboards. The previous afternoon, I caught the skillful G Burns Jug Band (named for a 1920s medicine show tune) playing banjo, jug and fiddle numbers for hundreds of enthusiastic Louisville school kids at Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School, a regular educational adjunct of the festival. Friday evening, members of the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs band, among others, were jamming at the local Goodwood Brewing Company tap room.

The Jubilee itself-a nonprofit funded by individual and corporate donations-has been around long enough now to celebrate positive fallout from previous shows. Clint Davis, front man of the G Burns outfit, had grown up near Louisville, been inspired by the Juggernaut Jug Band, and later founded the San Diego group. High-powered Kentucky publicist Rodney Wenz, who died in 2008, had been inspired to found the Jubilee after seeing that same veteran local band and coming to a new realization of the music’s role in Louisville history, and of Louisville in the music’s story. (That story is tracked in historian Michael L. Jones’s book “Louisville Jug Music”; the author is among the current festival’s directors.) Rest assured, though; there’s nothing over- bearingly educational in experiencing the National Jug Band Jubilee. It delivers the good time the music promises.

BY: Mr. Mazor, based in Nashville, reviews country and roots music for the Journal.

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New programs and more great bands are coming to 14th National Jug Band Jubilee

jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:09:14+00:00

New programs and more great bands are coming to 14^thNational Jug Band Jubilee

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LOUISVILLE, KY, (July 25, 2018) – It is hard to believe in the midst of the summer heat, but fall is fast approaching and with it the 2018 National Jug Band Jubilee. The free, all-day festival will take place on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park. The 14^thyear of the Jubilee will feature a few additions, among them a panel discussion on Friday, September 14 dealing with racial issues within the history of jug band music.

What will never change at the Jubilee is the quality of the music. This year the festival will offer another top-notch lineup of early jazz, jug band, and string band performers. The duo of Chris Rodriguez and Abby the Spoon Lady is the act that has drawn the most attention thus far. The Asheville, N.C.-based musicians are Youtube sensations thanks to their videos showcasing Abby’s percussion skills and Rodriguez’s unique blues-Appalachian style guitar and vocals. Another highlight of this year’s festival is Hubby Jenkins, a talented multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn who is also a member of the Grammy-award winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Academics and Seattle songsters Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons will take part in the Friday night panel discussion. The Jubilee will release more details on that at a later date, but we can tell you that Hunter and Seamons will dazzle the audience at the festival with their combination of banjo and fiddle breakdowns, a cappella field hollers, and gospel tunes.

New Orleans supergroup Frog & Henry is coming to the Jubilee to perform dance hits and early jazz music from the 1900s on brass and string instruments. Another Asheville group, Vanden Landers and the Do Rights, will complement Frog & Henry with a blend of blues, ragtime, jazz, western swing, country and old-time Appalachian music.

The rest of the Jubilee line-up consists of some old friends. Louisville’s own Juggernaut Jug Band and the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs have appeared at every Jubilee since the beginning of the festival. The groups return this year to perform their collective repertoireof novelty tunes and jug band classics. Louisville’s Derby City Dandies will also make a return engagement to the 2018 National Jug Band Jubilee. The Dandy’s perform Prohibition-era standards.

The music at the Jubilee begins at Noon on Saturday and ends at 11 p.m. In addition to the bands, the Jubilee features other fun activities for kids ages 2 to 82. Volunteers from Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana will make and decorate instruments with kids from Noon to 6 p.m. The South Louisville-based Little Loomhouse will have several of its namesake small looms on hand so festival-goers can weave their own mug rugs and other small items from Noon to 6 p.m. The Steam Exchange, a community arts organization based in Smoketown, will be doing jug band screen printing activities for kids from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. And as always, the National Jug Band Jubilee will take a break from the music at 4 p.m. for a number of workshops of its own.

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.

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For Immediate Relief *
* Jug band music relieves tension

FROM:
National Jug Band Jubilee
www.jugbandjubilee.org

Contact:
Heather Leoncini
(502) 417-1107
juggernautpr@yahoo.com

New programs and more great bands are coming to 14th National Jug Band Jubilee jugbandjubilee2022-04-16T20:09:14+00:00