June 10-12, 2016
This years festival included a tribute to the life and work of notable west side guitar ace Otis Rush. It included a ceremony where Mayor Rahm Emmanuel presented Otis with a plaque commemorating the day as “Otis Rush Day” in Chicago. An all star band played songs made famous by Otis throughout his career. The festival also celebrated the 45th Anniversary of Alligator Records with pairings of Alligator Artsts such as Shemikia Copeland and Curtis Salgado and Little Ed and Corky Siegel, Also appearing in 2016 were Irma Thomas, Fred Wesely and Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater and many others.
