♪ ♪ - Folk music is where music all began, the DNA of modern music.

From cigar box guitars and harmonicas to blues, gospel, and country sounds, These musical traditions were passed down by ear, carrying stories and experiences from one generation to the next.

Their influence can still be heard in the music that we enjoy today.

That spirit is at the heart of the National Folk Festival, a free, traveling festival that has celebrated folk artistry for more than 80 years.

After stops in cities like Dayton, Bangor, Nashville and Greensboro.

The festival is calling downtown Jackson, Mississippi home from 2025 to 2027.

The National Folk Festival brings together music, culture and community with hundreds of artists, multiple stages, dancing, storytelling, parades, crafts and traditional foods from around the world.

More than 30,000 participants attended last year and even more expected this year.

To begin our celebration, we're featuring one of the great architects of the Chicago blues sound.

Mississippi-born John Primer took his talents to Chicago in the 1960s, where he performed alongside legends such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.

Here's John Primer in the Real Deal Blues Band with Muddy Waters' classic, "Manish Boy."

♪ Everything gonna be alright this morning.

Oh yeah.

This is the blues, y'all.

Now when I was a young boy 'Bout the age of five My mama said I was gonna be ♪ The greatest man alive.

But now I'm a man, done passed 21.

You better believe me, honey.

We can have a whole lots of fun.

I'm a man.

I'm a full grown man.

I'm a man.

I'm a hoochie-coochie man.

I'm a man.

I'm a rolling stone.

I'm a-sittin' on the outside Just me and my baby I made the moon come up Two hours late Ain't that a man I'm a man, I spell M-A child-N, that represent man.

I'm a man, I spell M-A child-N, that represent man.

A no B, O child.

Y, that represent Manish Boy.

Think I'll go down to old Kansas too.

Bring back a second cousin, Johnny Conquerroot.

And all you girls standing out there in line, making love to all them single women.

And I ain't lying.

I'm a man, I'm a man.

I'm a full grown man.

Hurry.

Hurry.

Don't hurt me, don't hurt me, baby.

Don't hurt me, don't hurt me, darling.

It was the 3rd of September, the day that I always remember.

Remember the day that my daddy died.

I said, Mama, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth.

Mama just hung her head and cried.

She said my papa was a rolling stone.

Wherever he laid his hat, was his home.

And when he died, all he left was alone, heard 'bout Papa done some store-front preaching, dealing in dirt, stealing in the name of the Lord I heard that Papa got three other outside kids And another wife, and that ain't right Papa was a rolling stone Wherever he laid his hat was his home.

Now when he died, all he left was alone.

Hey.

I'm a hoochie coochie man.

Oh well, oh well, hey, hey, whoa, well, well, well, well.

Oh well, oh well, hey, hey, whoa, well, well, well, well.

♪ - And you know that's right.

[laughs] Melvin Smith on the bass.

On the harmonica, Steve Bell.

And then the mediocre drummer, John Trimont.

And we are the Real Deal Blues Band.

♪ I'm gonna play some blues for y'all.

♪ [playing in bright country/blues rhythm] ♪ [playing in bright country/blues rhythm] ♪ Morning rain is keeps on falling Like the tears like the tears falling down from my eyes ♪ As I sit here in my room and I'm staring out at the blue, 'cause of the rain, it's the same old blue.

Sunshine, sunshine is all I can see.

But it all looks just like clouds to me.

Now my clouds, they have turned to rain And all my laughter have turned to pain Cause the rain is the same old blues ♪ ♪ Sunshine, now sunshine at all I can see.

♪ But it all looked just like clouds to me.

Now my clouds have turned to rain, And on my laughter have turned to pain.

Because of the rain is the same ole blues Yes it's the rain is the same ole blues I'm talking 'bout the rain, is the same old blues.

♪ Yes, it's a rain, it's the same old blues.

Yes, it's a rain, it's the same old blues.

How y'all doing out there?

This is where I was born, y'all!

Mississippi is my home, yeah!

♪ Cryin' oh, baby don't you wanna go?

Cryin' hey, baby don't you wanna go?

Back to the same old place Sweet home Chicago.

Cryin' hey, baby don't you wanna go?

Cryin' hey, baby don't you wanna go?

From the land of Jackson, MS Sweet home Chicago.

One and one is two, two and two four, I'm booking, I'm heavy loaded and you know I got to go, crying, hey, baby don't you wanna go?

From the land of Jackson, Mississippi to my sweet home Chicago.

two and two is four, four and four is eight.

Wait a minute baby, don't you make me late.

Come on.

Baby, don't you wanna go Back to the same old place, sweet home Chicago.

♪ two and two is four, four and four is eight.

Wait a minute, baby, don't you make me late.

Come on.

Baby, don't you want to go from the land of Jackson, Mississippi to my sweet home, Chicago.

three and three is six, six and three is nine, give me some of your blues.

I play all of mine's come on.

Baby, don't you want to go back to the same old place?

Sweet home Chicago.

Well, thank y'all.

We love y'all.

Thanks for staying with me and being cold.

- All right, we thank you so much.

♪ - Bluegrass was born out of the American Appalachians in the 1930s and '40s, with Scottish, English, and Irish influence.

Its sound is rich with fast-paced rhythms, Virtuosic instruments, high-pitched harmonies, and there's always a fiddle in the band.

Dale Ann Bradley is a major voice of bluegrass, a Kentucky Hall of Famer, a two-time Grammy nominee, and recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Association six times.

Now, here's Dale Ann Bradley with "Livin' on the Edge."

♪♪♪ ♪You knocked me down you just can't let it be♪ ♪You think you've got the right to♪ ♪When you push me to thee ledge it's plain to see♪ ♪You think nothing's wrong with you♪ ♪So go ahead and make your angry pledge♪ ♪Cuz I've gotten used to living out here on the edge♪ ♪Well, summer's gone and winter's pouring♪ ♪I feel the chill pushing me away♪ ♪I've grown so used to never knowing♪ ♪If I should leave or should I stay♪ ♪You knock me down, you just can't let it be♪ ♪You think you've got the right to.♪ ♪When you push me to the ledge, it's plain to see.♪ ♪You think nothing's wrong with you.♪ ♪So go ahead and make your angry pledge.♪ ♪I've gotten used to living out here on the edge.♪ ♪So go ahead and make your angry pledge.♪ ♪I've gotten used to living out here on the edge.♪ Thank you all.

Summertime meant you picked blackberries.

Picking those blackberries and, you know, getting all scratched up with the briars and keeping the snakes away and stuff.

When you got that gallon of blackberries, it was, I knew it was gonna be a treat for the evening on the front porch.

So maybe this little song will bring back some memories.

I hope it does bring back good memories.

One, two, three, four, and.

♪♪♪ ♪Save gallon buckets from the grocery store♪ ♪♪♪ ♪And wait to hear the slam of the front screen door♪ ♪ ♪When Grandma came in late July♪ ♪♪♪ ♪And we'd hang around the house 'til twilight time.♪ ♪Roll down the side of old 52.♪ ♪Where the baby's breath and the brambles grew.♪ ♪Filling up those buckets with the sweetest ones.♪ ♪Growing fat and ripe underneath that sun.♪ ♪But oh, sometimes I wish I could go home♪ ♪And hold all the people I've lost♪ ♪Forget about all that's gone wrong♪ ♪I'd tell her again how much and how long I'd love her.♪ ♪What I wouldn't give for one more blackberry summer.♪ ♪ ♪I can see the stains on my fingertips.♪ ♪♪♪ ♪Still taste that sugar on my lips.♪ ♪Catching lightning bugs to a cricket's song.♪ ♪And falling asleep with the box fan on.♪ ♪But I couldn't hold on to my innocence.♪ ♪I can't let go of the days I've spent.♪ ♪Being young, safe, loved, and free♪ ♪ ♪Made me who I was supposed to be.♪ ♪But oh, sometimes I wish I could go home♪ ♪And hold all the people I've lost♪ ♪Forget about all that's gone wrong♪ ♪I'd tell her again how much and how long♪ ♪I'd love her♪ ♪What I wouldn't give for one more blackberry summer♪ ♪I'd tell her again how much and how long♪ ♪I'd love her.♪ ♪What I wouldn't give for one more blackberry summer.♪ [audience cheers] Can you taste that blackberry cobbler?

[audience cheers] Would you make welcome from around Asheville, North Carolina, Josh Goforth.

[audience cheers] - We're going to do one that's a bluegrass standard, but it actually is an old time song that I actually learned from my granddad growing up in Madison County, North Carolina.

He used to sing this to me when we would go fishing.

♪♪♪ ♪I am a roving gambler.♪ ♪I've gambled all around.♪ ♪Wherever I meet with a deck of cards♪ ♪I lay my money down♪ ♪Lay my money down, lay my money down♪ ♪I had not been in Frisco many more weeks than three♪ ♪Yeah, I fell in love with a pretty little girl♪ ♪She fell in love with me.♪ ♪Fell in love with me, fell in love with me♪ Matt!

She took me in her parlor, cooled me with her fan Whispered low in her mother's ear "I love the gamblin' man" Love the gamblin man, love the gamblin' man Now daughter, oh dear daughter, how can you treat me so Leave your dear old mother here and with the gambler go With the gambler go, with the gambler go Now mother, oh dear mother you know I love you well But the love I have for the gambling man No human tongue can tell ♪♪♪ No human tongue can tell No human tongue can tell ♪♪♪ Now we started out in Frisco, I wound up in Maine.

There I met with a gambling man and I got in a poker game.

Got in a poker game, got in a poker game.

I put the money in the pot and dealt the cards around.

So I saw him deal from the bottom of the deck And I shot the gambler down Shot the gambler down Shot the gambler down ♪♪♪ Now they've got me down in prison, got a number for my name And oh, the warden said when he locked the door, you've gambled your last game.

Gambled your last game.

Gambled your last game.

♪♪♪ [APPLAUSE] Yeah.

- Cabo Verdean folk music presents a worldly sound.

It's music rooted in Portugal, West Africa, and the Caribbean, and has an islander feel with tropical vibes.

Lutchinha was born in Cape Verde where she was inspired by her father, who was a musician.

Among the many sub-genres of Cabo Verde, Lutchinha sings Coladeira songs, highly rhythmic tempo that has positive vibes and makes you want to dance and move.

Now here's Lutchinha with Coladeira.

[singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Nahuatl] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] This melody is from my daily life It's a wind without sorrow Nor a sun without shine In the summer that is in my feet We sing to bring joy [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

One more time it's a pleasure to be in Mississippi.

It's the first time but I hope it's not the last one.

[audience cheering] I wanted them back again.

♪ You see, this one is a song that I composed too.

♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [Singing in Native Language] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ >> Okay, the next song is called Warner.

It's actually a song that my father composed to my mom.

A hand of applause for my dad, please.

Papa, this is for you.

Es mi amor.

Es el amor de mi corazón.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] ♪ [singing in Portuguese] ♪ Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[audience applauding] Folks, it's about to get funky on this stage.

Bobby Rush brings an explosion of funk to the stage with his moves, his style, and his folk funk blues.

Bobby gained fame in the early 1990s when he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006 and became a Grammy Award winner in 2017.

Bobby Rush is a performer on the stage with fast and funky moves, often citing James Brown as his inspiration.

Performing an original by Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters from 1954, here's Bobby Rush with "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."

♪ Egyptian told my mama the day I was born Got a boy child comin' Make women heartburn He gon' play the blues Make women jump and shout Look at me real good You'll see what everybody In the world been talkin' 'bout Here I am ♪ Everybody know what I do.

Well, I'm a hoochie-coochie man.

Everybody in the world knows who I am ♪ Hey ladies I say hey ladies I started singing the blues long time ago but the blues ain't the only thing yall in this world I know I could take thirty-five women and line them up in a line I can make love to them in bout an hour fifteen minutes time.

Here I am Everybody knows what I do Well I'm a hoochie coochie man Everybody in the world knows who I am [harmonica solo] [harmonica solo] I remember chopping cotton, picking cotton, plowing a mule.

I didn't have a bathroom in the house.

We had to go outside to the outside toilet and use the bathroom.

They smelled bad.

They look bad.

Now I got nine bathrooms in my house.

They look good.

They smell good.

But you do the same thing in 'em.

That haven't changed.

So I had my harmonica looking like this.

When I was at the end of my cotton row, picking cotton every day, I was getting my harp and I would say... [playing in slow tempo] ♪ Everywhere I go every place I've been everybody in the world be talking 'bout the shape the world is in don't matter where I go how wide of range everybody in the world be talking 'bout the same old thang that thang.

Everybody like that thang.

I don't know who to blame, but everybody in here is a little bit like that thing.

Everybody like that thing wave their hand like that.

Let me check y'all out.

Hold on a minute.

Hold on a minute.

I said everybody like that thing wave their hand like that.

I got three ladies sitting down front and two ladies over here.

Y'all didn't do Do y'all know what the hell I'm talking about?

If you don't, let me explain it to you.

♪ [applause] ♪ [audience cheering] There it is... ♪ Shake it fast, show me what your working with watch yourself Shake it fast, show me what your working with watch yourself Shake it fast, show me what your working with watch yourself [audience cheering] Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Evil.

I want to talk about evil for a minute.

Is that all right with y'all?

Let's dig this.

Evil is someone that talks about your mother.

You know, evil is somebody that disrespect another.

Evil is someone that treat a blind man so mean.

When he ask for drink of water, you give him gasoline.

That's evil.

I said, that's evil.

It's some evil going on, y'all.

♪ I hear you, Louie.

♪ [harmonica solo] ♪ Yeah, yeah.

I'm talking about you.

I'm talking about you.

Talking about you.

You sho' know what to do.

Every time I see you in your skin tight britches my imagination runs wild I wanna do something with you I said you sho' know what to do Baby, sho' love you your the only one at night I dream about If you feel what I feel when I'm watching you If you feel what I feel here's what I want to do because you, the girl know what to do ♪ I'm sorry about that.

I thought I was in Chicago somewhere.

How y'all feel?

Y'all feel all right?

Do y'all feel all right?

How you feel, baby?

Do you feel pretty good?

Let me hear you sing.

♪ How about a hand for Robert on the keyboard, ladies and gentlemen?

Talking about you.

Show no one to do it.

Bruceski!

How you feel, Bruce?

Let me hear the energy, let me feel the energy then.

Ah yeah!

♪ Can I go to the bridge?

Hot baths of water?

When?

When?

I said when?

♪ Right Now!

♪ [harmonica solo] [harmonica solo] ♪ Said you know what to do you know what to do sho' know what to do How about a hand for the Bobby Rush Blues Band, ladies and gentlemen.

Put your hands together for the soulful sounds of the blues, the groove of funk, the picks and brass of bluegrass, and the uplifting tempo of Coladeira.

Folk music is the heart of the soul, and it's a rhythm that beats in all of us.

It's heard in the foundation of all the music that we love, and though these sounds are Although they're culturally unique to one another, they still share the same heartbeat.

It's a heart that beats at the National Folk Fest.

♪