Medicine For Your Soul: Annie & The Caldwells
Annie & The Caldwells have carried their gospel sound from Mississippi's Golden Triangle to stages across Europe and Los Angeles.
This November, the family band returns home to bring their "medicine music" to Jackson's National Folk Festival.
The road out of West Point has carried Annie & The Caldwells farther than most family gospel groups ever expect to travel. This summer, it ran through Europe; next, it bends toward Los Angeles. In November, it will bring them back to Mississippi, where the family will take the stage at the 83rd National Folk Festival in downtown Jackson.
Annie Caldwell has been singing with her family for most of her life. As a teenager she performed with her brothers in the Staples Jr. Singers. She later met guitarist Willie Joe Caldwell Sr., who became her husband and musical partner. Today, their daughters Deborah Caldwell Moore and Anjessica Caldwell sing alongside their goddaughter Toni Rivers, while sons Willie Jr. and Abel Aquirius handle bass and drums.
Their lineage can be felt through the vibrations of the strings and the weight of their presence. Annie leads from the front, Willie Joe's guitar cuts through behind her, and the rest of the family carries the performance through to electric crowds. Their gospel background is unmistakable, but so are the funk and soul records their children grew up listening to, including Chaka Khan, Bootsy Collins, and the Gap Band.
The Caldwells spent years playing churches, community programs, and gospel events around Mississippi's Golden Triangle before finding audiences far beyond the state. Fresh from a run of European dates, they will perform at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on August 6, sharing the evening with the Campbell Brothers. Then, from November 13–15, they will join musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople from across the country for the National Folk Festival in Jackson.
The band plays to help people connect with the gospel and with the Lord. "Sometimes when you're sad and you need a pick up, listening to gospel music can be like medicine for your soul," Annie has said.
That thought helps explain why the group connects so quickly with an audience. Their songs come from family life, faith, illness, loss, recovery, and the decision to keep going. The music does not deny that people have hard days; it gives them a way to help lift what they are carrying.
When Annie & The Caldwells take the stage in Jackson, they will do so as a Mississippi family bringing their own sound to the state's biggest folk festival. After Europe and Los Angeles, the music comes home to ears that already understand the heart of the sound. For one weekend in the City with Soul, Annie & The Caldwells will bring the medicine music.
The National Folk Festival returns to downtown Jackson November 13-15, 2026. Make time for Annie & The Caldwells, then stay to discover the music, artists and traditions that continue to make Jackson one of America's great cultural cities.
