# List of blues festivals

Blues festivals are music festivals which focus on blues music. Blues is a genre and musical form that originated in African-American communities in the Southern United States around the end of the 19th century. It has elements of traditional African music, American folk music, spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, such as country blues, Delta and Piedmont, Chicago, West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners.

## List of blues festivals
### North America
#### Canada

| Name | City | First year |
| Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival | Fredericton | 1991 |
| Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival | Salmon Arm | 1991 |
| Ottawa Bluesfest | Ottawa | 1994 |
| Bluesfest International Windsor | Windsor | 1995 |
| Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival | Edmonton | 1999 |

#### United States

List of blues festivals with name, first year, last year, city, and reference(s) :
| Name | First year | Last year | city |
| Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival | 1969 | intermittent | Ann Arbor |
| Billtown Blues Musical Festival | 1990 | present | Hughesville |
| Blast Furnace Blues Festival | 2011 | present | Bethlehem |
| Blues Masters at the Crossroads | 1998 | present | Salina |
| Boundary Waters Blues Festival | 2001 | present | Ely |
| Bradenton Blues Festival | 2012 | present | Bradenton |
| Briggs Farm Blues Festival | 1998 | present | Hazleton |
| Chicago Blues Festival | 1984 | present | Chicago |
| Cincy Blues Fest | 1992 | intermittent | Cincinnati |
| Crossroads Guitar Festival | 1999 | intermittent | various |
| Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival | 1991 | present | Rentiesville |
| French Quarter Festival | 1984 | present | New Orleans |
| Heritage Music BluesFest | 2000 | present | Wheeling |
| Highland Jazz & Blues Festival | 2003 | present | Shreveport |
| Memphis In May International Festival | 1977 | present | Memphis |
| King Biscuit Blues Festival | 1986 | present | Helena |
| Long Beach Blues Festival | 1980 | 2009 | Long Beach |
| Old Town BluesFest | 1994 | present | Lansing |
| Orange County Blues Festival | 1993 | intermittent | Dana Point |
| Pittsburgh Blues Festival | 1994 | present | Pittsburgh |
| Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival | 1987 | 2016 | Red Bank |
| San Francisco Blues Festival | 1973 | 2008 | San Francisco |
| Springing the Blues | 1990 | present | Jacksonville Beach |
| Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival | 1988 | present | Clarksdale |
| Telluride Blues & Brews Festival | 1994 | present | Telluride |
| Topanga Canyon Blues Festival | 1982 | intermittent | Topanga Canyon |
| Waterfront Blues Festival | 1987 | present | Portland |

### Oceania

| Name | First year | City |
| Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival | 2011 | Bendigo, Australia |
| Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival | 2002 | Gold Coast, Australia |
| Blues Train | 1993 | Queenscliff, Australia |
| Byron Bay Bluesfest | 1990 | Byron Bay, Australia |
| Dingo Creek Jazz and Blues Festival | 2002 | Gympie, Australia |
| West Coast Blues & Roots Festival | 2004 | Fremantle, Australia |
| Marysville Jazz and Blues Weekend | 2014 | Marysville, Australia |

### Asia

| Name | First year | City |
| Himalayan Blues Festival | 2007 | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Kathmandu Blues n Roots Festival | 2016 | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Mahindra Blues Festival | 2011 | Mumbai, India |

### Europe

| Name | First year | City |
| Orkney Blues Festival | 2005 | Stromness, Scotland |
| Bluesroute Helmond | 2011 | Helmond, Netherlands |
| Holland International Blues Festival | 2016 | Grolloo, Netherlands |
| National Jazz and Blues Festival | 1961 | London, England |
| Focsani Blues Festival | 2016 | Focșani, Romania |
| Blues Peer (Belgium Rythmn 'n' Blues) | 1986 | Peer, Belgium |
| American Folk Blues Festival | 1962 | Europe |
| Bath Festival of Blues 1969 | 1969 | Bath, England |
| Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music | 1970 | Bath, England |
| Puistoblues | 1978 | Järvenpää, Finland |
| Rawa Blues Festival | 1981 | Katowice, Poland |
| Liri Blues Festival | 1988 | Isola del Liri, Italy |
| Pistoia Blues Festival | 1980 | Pistoia, Italy |
| Blues to Bop Festival | 1988 | Lugano, Switzerland |
| Notodden Blues Festival | 1988 | Notodden, Norway |
| Harvest Time Blues | 1990 | Monaghan, Ireland |
| August Blues Festival | 1993 | Haapsalu, Estonia |
| Upton Blues Festival | 2001 | Upton-on-Severn, England |
| City of Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival | 2002 | Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Dark Season Blues | 2003 | Longyearbyen, Norway |
| Callander Jazz and Blues Festival | 2006 | Callander, Scotland |
| Stafford Blues Festival | 2015 | Stafford, England |
| Blues Nights | 1993 | Varniai, Lithuania |
| Blues-Bike Festival Suzdal | 2008 | Suzdal, Russia |
| Baltic Blues / Bluesfest | 1989 | Eutin, Germany |
| Brunner Blues Festival / Bluesfest | 2007 | Brunn am Gebirge, Austria |
| Santa Maria Blues | 2004 | Santa Maria Island, Portugal |
| Suwalki Blues Festival / Bluesfest | 2007 | Poland |
| Moulin Blues Ospel | 1986 | Ospel, Netherlands |