Whether Essence Fest is changing or simply growing depends on who you ask. The Gulf States Newsroom's Tanner Riley attended the 2026 festival. Here's what he saw.

This is American Routes for the Fourth of July weekend, celebrating our country’s 250th year and more live music recalling the fiftieth anniversary of the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center. Including Afro-French zydeco and blues from South Louisiana accordionist Jeffery Broussard, classic folk songs from Johnette Downing and Scott Billington, Bentonia, Mississippi, blues from guitar slinger Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and the latest Cajun French stylings of Louis Michot and band. First, here’s John Fenn, Head of Research and Programs at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, to tell a bit about the Center’s work and legacy over the last half century.

With record crowds, extreme heat, and packed streets expected in downtown New Orleans this weekend, here’s how to move through Essence Fest 2026 safely, smoothly and like you’ve done it before.

The late tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins was one of the premier players in jazz. Rollins has been a favorite of both fans and critics, traversing bebop and cool with a strong melodic sound. The calypso rhythm that Sonny Rollins captured on one of his best-known tunes, “St. Thomas,” comes from family life. Sonny’s parents were natives of the Virgin Islands. Sonny was born Walter Theodore Rollins in 1930 and grew up in Harlem. His brother and sister were classically trained musicians, but Sonny turned to jazz early, and by his twenties, he was playing tenor sax with top jazzmen like Bud Powell, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. By the late 1950s, Sonny Rollins had a long list of recordings to his name. Many are still classics today, including Saxophone Colossus, Tenor Madness, and Freedom Suite. Sonny Rollins’s music ranges from social statements to sweet remakes of popular songs. He absorbed it all in his youth: the sounds of his neighborhood, the radio and movies, and the music in his household.

The Historic New Orleans Collection spotlights Edwin Blair, an early supporter of Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb's Loujon Press in New Orleans.

The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of those enslaved in the Sea Islands of Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. Because of the remoteness of the plantations, the Gullah Geechee were able to retain some of their African traditions, including the ring shout. It’s a ritual in which participants move counterclockwise in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands, in call and response fashion. The tradition is rooted in West African culture, mixed with elements of Christianity. The Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters from Darien, Georgia have preserved this ancestral heritage through performance and education since 1980. They joined us on stage at the New Orleans Jazz Museum where they started with a song you will probably recognize, that came from the Gullah Geechee culture.