mvyradio @ The Beale Street Music Festival

The Memphis in May International Festival is a month-long celebration of international color, cuisine, customs and culture. Among its premiere events is the Beale Street Music Festival, a three-day concert series featuring more than 60 acts on four stages.

Blues, gospel, country, rock 'n roll, jazz and soul all found some of their earliest and deepest roots in Memphis. The Beale Street Music Festival is the annual event that consistently defines the confluence of cultures in a unique expression of music from rap to rock, and pop to soul, bluegrass, jazz funk, alternative and metal. Hometown legends like B.B. King (who celebrated his 80th birthday this year and just recently grabbed his 14th Grammy) and Jerry Lee Lewis combine with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Toss in the quintessential rock and rollers, Bo Diddley and Big Star; the unique style (and look) of Little Richard, with the soulful sounds of Booker T. & the MG's. Add to the mix the inspired rock acts like Cake, Blues Traveler, throw in a Latin favorite from Costa Rica (Memphis in May's honored country), Malpais... and you'll never find a greater array of talent, musical character and shear audacity. Other hometowners in the line-up include the Bar-Kays, celebrating 40 years of performing together, DuWayne Burnside, Al Capone with Bo Keys, Richard Johnson and Jessie Mae, Big Jack Johnson, Billy Lee Riley, Paul Thorn, and Robert Wolfman Belfour. Other genres include Jason Mraz, Train, Huey Lewis & The News, the Romantics, Bruce Hornsby, Zac Brown Band, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Rod Piazza & the Mightly Flyers, Lazy Lester, HoneyTribe with Devon Allman, Big Jack Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Jr., Eric Sardinas, Shemekia Copeland, Hubert Sumlin with G.E. Smith, Saffire-the Uppity Blues Women and Johnny Winter.

To get the full brushstroke of who's on the line-up and more about the festival, go to http://www.memphisinmay.org/

Barbara's Journal 

Monday, May 8 7AM

I'll never forget this trip to Memphis.  Many are in love with this town and it's so easy to see why.  Maybe it's the reason that I want to call it town and not a city, because it feels just as homey as Martha's Vineyard.  Even though I have been to other southern cities, I don't think I have ever taken in the experience of the south so deeply.  The sweet soul vibe that Jimmy Vaughn wrote about, that everyone from Elvis and Otis to Dusty and Booker T to Al and Johhny found and to this day find here.  It's still a vibrant and important music town with artists like John Hiatt, Jim Dickinson, Devon Allman, and many others coming here to make records, and The Beale Street Music Festival continuing to draw close to 100,000 people. Viva Memphis!

Sunday, May 7 10:30 AM

We're set for day 3 at the Beale Street Music Festival.  The first thing I do each morning is look out the window to see how the weather is so I can know how much more mud might gather on my Merrells down at the festival site.  It's cloudy, but not raining...yet.  Despite a little rain yesterday, the the place was packed.  Memphis has a sweet, mellow vibe and it permeates every part of this festival.  So, even with lots of people and some pretty rockin' music, it all feels nice and easy.  Today is the final day and we're psyched to see Galactic, Booker T. and the MG's, James Brown, and Hubert Sumlin with G.E. Smith.

Saturday, May 6 11:30 PM

Shemekia Copeland [website] has taken the stage in the Blues Tent and she sounds better that ever! She's singing "Who Stole My Radio?", lamenting the fact that it's rare to find good music on the radio anymore. It's great that we can answer her question with a resounding "not us" and play her Beale Street Music Festival set on the air tomorrow and feature it on mvyradio.com. There has been so much incredible music here today-Devon Allman and Honeytribe, Richard Johnston and Jesse Mae Hemphill, and Big Jack Johnson all played in the Blues Tent. Then there was Yonder Mountain String Band [website], Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Hornsby, Gomez, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Huey Lewis & the News on the other stages.

The festival site is huge, at least a half a mile long, with four stages. The sound has been amazing. Gary and I were walking back from dinner at this great spot called The Flying Saucer (there were hundreds of saucers on the walls and ceiling-???) and we caught some of Bruce Hornsby's set. The clear and sweet sound from this stage floated out over the crowd and followed us a long way down the field as we walked on.

Our hotel is about fifteen minutes out of downtown Memphis, so we have done a fair amount of driving. Gary has a new GPS system and the first day here, all of a sudden the female voice on the system started talking in an English accent. I swear "she" didn't have an accent to start with. Gary named her "Twiggy" and we have had a lot of back and forth with her. When we make a wrong turn, she says "off route, recalculating". We get mad at her if she says that too much. One night we took a wrong turn and drove into Arkansas which really isn't that far away. Definitely off route, recalculating.  Gary said he just wanted me to be able to say I had been to Arkansas.

Saturday, May 6 10AM

I remember the first time that I saw the Mississippi River when I went to New Orleans in the early '90's. As I looked out over the water there, I saw what people have seen for thousands of years-the great expanse of muddy water, the powerful flow rushing by. Yesterday, I saw the Mississippi again in the fading light of the late afternoon and was once again mesmerized by it's gentle power. My thoughts turned to Jeff Buckley and the innocence of him jumping into this water for a swim on a hot May day and how the river took him and his music away.

Jeff was just one of many musicians who planted himself in the fertile ground of Memphis Tennessee. Some have passed away and many carry on the rich musical tradition of this great city. That's what The Beale Street Music Festival is all about and the King Of The Blues, BB King [website] held court last night to the delight of the thousands of concert goers. He talked a a lot about being eighty years old-what a remarkable career he's had and there he is still vibrant and competent after all these years. BB made everyone feel right at home and glad that they were standing under the stars in the presence of such a legend.

Friday, May 5th 7P

The Beale Street Music Festival is off to a blues rocking start with all four stages going strong. I'm in the Blues Tent recording and listening to The Billy Gibson Band [website]. Billy is a Memphis harmonica player and he got a very warm welcome when he came on stage. He has spent many years working in the blues clubs on Beale Street and it shows in his easy and confident playing and stage presence. Gary's over at the main stage recording the Zac Brown Band [website]. We'll be here all weekend with Memphians and others who have come down to the riverside to enjoy the music of a diverse assortment of the country's best musicians. We're very excited about the upcoming Robert Randolph [website] and BB King sets.

Friday, May 5th 3PM

Visiting Jim Dickinson in Independence, Mississippi, like being in Al Green's church,  was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I know I will remember for a long, long time.  I have read about his Zebra Ranch recording studio and it was so amazing to be driving into his driveway with the smashed mailbox with a bandanna hanging over it.  We made our way through a canopy of fragrant wisteria, by the smashed baby grand piano that used to belong to Isaac Hayes, and into the studio.  The piano looked like it was growing out of the earth and it sported a beat up, broke down accordion on top that was covered with moss looking stuff.  Check out the picture...  We're heading back down to the festival site to see Robert Randolph, BB King, Booker T. and the MG's and more!!



Friday, May 5th 10AM

The Reverend Al Green [website] is the Bishop at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, and we made our way over there for what we thought was going to be a service.  It turned out that we were there for the Bible study group. It was hard to believe that we were so close to the Memphis soul star, but there we were, welcomed in by the congregation.  Al was joyful and playful as he read through a passage in the Bible, giving commentary throughout, with the church members echoing his statements with an "Amen" and "Praise the Lord" from time to time.  What an experience!



Thursday, May 4, 2006 5PM

Memphis was just a name of a legendary American city on the shores of the great Mississippi River until I arrived here the other day. Over the course of the last forty eight hours, it's become a sweet, soulful, and vibrant presence in my heart and mind. The moment I hit the ground at Memphis International Airport, I felt the warm and inviting call of some of the greatest music and musicians the world has ever seen. Otis, Elvis, Aretha, Johnny, Carl, Rufus, Booker T., BB, Albert, Al, Dusty, Mavis and Pops. So many musicians have called Memphis home, whether they live or have lived here, or have just become part of the great story of Memphis rock n' soul.

Yesterday, we went to Ardent Studios on Madison Ave. and met up with Jody Stephens and John Hampton. Jody works at Ardent and plays drums for the band Big Star, the Memphis band that REM has called any early influence, and one of the bands that will play at The Beale Street Music Festival that starts tomorrow. John Hampton has worked at Ardent as a engineer and producer for twenty plus years and just this year won a Grammy for his engineering work on The White Stripes' "Get Behind Me Satan".

John has worked with John Hiatt, Jimmy Vaughn, The Replacements, and many others. We sat down in Studio B and recorded an interview and talked about his recent work as engineer on John Hiatt's "Master Of Disaster" and the incredible new technology that they used to get the "so real you can touch it" sound.

Later on, Shermon Wilmott of Memphis Rock N' Roll Tours came to pick us up at our hotel to take us on a musical tour of the city. In addition to the tour company, Sherman owns a record label and a record store, and worked on the new Stax Museum. He took us through town and into Soulsville and the museum. Shermon's enthusiasm and genuine affection for Memphis and it's music was inspiring! He talked about everything from the charismatic founder of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, to Stax house band Booker T. and the MG's and the Beale Street Blues Boy, BB King.

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