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The classic juke joint as a place for Black Americans to play and hear live music, and to dance, drink and socialize had its heyday in the segregated South following the abolition of slavery. While just a handful bona-fide juke joints still operate today, their impact in fostering Black music and its profound influence on American life is enduring. For the third year, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami is recreating that formative experience with Juneteenth Juke Joint, a celebration of Black joy, music and culture that also commemorates the end of slavery.
Juneteenth, long celebrated in Black communities, became a national holiday in 2021 marking June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to free enslaved people. Arsht Center community engagement manager Zaylin Yates says that the center’s Heritage Committee, which puts together events and programming supporting Black artists, wanted to find a way to celebrate the milestone, and the Juneteenth Juke Joint was born.
“The juke joint is for everyone,” Yates says. “It’s a night where we all get to come together under one theme of freedom, artistry and community.”
This updated juke joint features a pre-show happy hour with soul food-inspired bites and libations, along with local poet David Hepburn and music by New Cannon Chamber Collective. The party officially begins with resident DJ Cardi and soul, funk and pop jams by Coral Springs-based musical duo The W’s, who play originals and hits by artists including Usher, Alicia Keys and Michael Jackson
For the The W’s — musical and life partners Chadwick and Brittany Watkins — 2025 is a year of milestones. Their Juke Joint performance comes a week before the couple’s tenth wedding anniversary, and three years after Chadwick suffered a near-fatal heart attack. There’s a lot to celebrate. “We want people to have an experience together and to know that we are all coming from different places,” Chadwick says, “but our first language, music, is our common denominator.”
Juneteenth Juke Joint with The W’s, DJ Cardi, David Hepburn and New Cannon Chamber Collective, 7:30pm Saturday, June 7 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. arshtcenter.org
