Taj Mahal to headline 2026 Chicago Blues Festival
Blues icon and world music pioneer Taj Mahal will be headlining the Chicago Blues Festival this June.
Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band will perform the night of Sunday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.
The 83-year-old Taj Mahal's career spans 70 years. Lightning Rod Records notes that Taj Mahal helped reshape the genre of blues music, and personified "world music" before it was a term people used.
"Taj has explored and incorporated reggae, Latin, R&B, Cajun, Caribbean, gospel, West African, jazz, calypso, Hawaiian slack-key, and countless other musical styles into his astonishing body of work," Lightning Rod Records notes. "Along the way, he has become proficient on about 20 different instruments and collaborated with a vast range of musicians including the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Angelique Kidjo, Ziggy Marley, and masters from such countries as India and Mali."
Taj Mahal's most recent album, "Room on the Porch," which he recorded with Keb' Mo', was released last year.
Taj Mahal also performed at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1989, 1991, and 1999.
Also among the headliners is the Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite Duo, who take the stage at the Pritzker Pavilion at 6:15 p.m. Friday. Bishop famously pivoted from studying physics at the University of Chicago on a scholarship to taking up the blues and joining the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Harmonica player Musselwhite cut his teeth in Chicago during the blues revival of the 1960s too, and appeared in "Blues Brothers 2000."
At 7:30 p.m. Friday, a tribute celebrating 55 years of Chicago's Alligator Records follows. Lil' Ed & The Imperials, Robbie Baker Brooks, Toronzo Cannon, Nick Moss, and Tinsley Ellis will take the stage.
Blues singer and guitarist Marquise Knox, and zydeco masters C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, will also take the stage at the Pritzker Pavilion Friday night.
On Saturday at the Pritzker Pavilion, Blues Festival veteran Billy Branch will headline as he celebrates his 75th birthday. Branch told WBEZ back at one point that he attended the inaugural Chicago Blues Festival — featuring Bo Diddley, Big Mama Thornton, and Buddy Guy — when he was a 17-year-old University of Illinois Chicago student.
The renowned blues harmonica player and his group, the Sons of Blues, have played at numerous Chicago Blues Festivals going back decades. Singers/guitarists Kenny Neal and Ronnie Baker Brooks will join Branch when he takes the stage at 7:45 p.m. Saturday.
Blues musician Dylan Triplett, roots and soul singer/songwriter Shakura S'Aida, and blues and folk singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster are also headliners at the Pritzker Pavilion on Saturday.
On Sunday before Taj Mahal takes the stage, a Woman in Blues Tribute to Mama Yancey and Big Mama Thornton will feature an lineup of Mary Lane, Deitra Farr, Katherine Davis, Nora Jean Wallace, Melody Angel, Lee Kanehira, and diva and Lynne Jordan & the Shivers.
Blues singer/guitarists Sue Foley and Chris Cain will each take the stage at the Pritzker Pavilion Sunday night.
In addition to the Pritzker Pavilion, music can be heard at three other stages — the Visit Mississippi Crossroads Stage on the South Promenade, and the Rosa's Lounge pavilion on the North Promenade. The latter will feature Blues Festival fan favorites such as The Mike Wheeler Band, Anissa Hampton, the Oscar Wilson Blues Band, and Gerald McClendon with the A-Team Band.
At Wrigley Square, a Next Generation of Blues stage will feature student groups and other up-and-comers.
Before the festivities at Millennium Park, a concert is set for Thursday at the Ramova Theatre, at 3520 S. Halsted St. in Bridgeport, featuring singer-guitarist John Primer and vocalist Willie Clayton.
On Sunday, the Maxwell Street Blues Series will be held on Maxwell Street between Halsted Street and Union Avenue, in the University Village community on the site of the old Maxwell Street Market, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Chicago Blues Festival in its current incarnation has been held annually at the beginning of June since 1984 — except for 2020 and 2021, when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival was held for more than 30 years at the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park before moving to Millennium Park in 2017.
John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Willie Dixon, Pinetop Perkins, and Sunnyland Slim are among the many icons who have performed at the Chicago Blues Festival over the years.
This year also marks 40 years since an especially star-studded Chicago Blues Festival at which Chuck Berry was joined onstage by Keith Richards. The 1986 festival in Grant Park came shortly before the pair joined up for Taylor Hackford's documentary "Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" and organized Berry's two star-studded 60th birthday concerts in St. Louis.
