Briggs Farm Blues Festival, located in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, on a 250-year-old working farm that encompasses hundreds of acres, was a dream come true for Richard and Alison Briggs and the Briggs family. The festival, which began in 1998, brings upwards of 10,000 guests annually to northeastern Pennsylvania. This festival has showcased over 250 international, national, and regional artists since its first event. Its star performers have included Big Jack Johnson, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, Louisiana Red, Lurrie Bell, Alexis P. Suter, Eddie Shaw, The Kinsey Report, Shakura S’Aida, Johnny Rawls, Teeny Tucker, Cedric Burnside, Sam “Bluzman” Taylor, Mississippi Heat, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, and Lonnie Shields, among others. Beginning in 2005, the festival began bringing more and more Mississippi blues artists to this farm as a way to showcase the deep blues of the Delta and Hill Country. Camping also plays a major role in this event, which is why many of the festival goers are younger than the attendees at most blues festivals in the U.S.A. Recently the Briggs family started their own blues label, Briggs Farm Blues Records, signing Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and in 2016 releasing Live at Briggs Farm with Alexis P. Suter and the Ministers of Sound.
