Music at the Market
Every week Memphis Farmers features free live music from local musicians. Come enjoy the music while shopping and visiting. Here are some of the fantastic local talent you’ll find at the market this season.
Valerie June
Organic Moonshine Roots Music
With the voice and face of an angel and a Medusan tangle of dreadlocks as thick and strong as her family ties and her musical roots in the flatlands of West Tennessee, Valerie June is a true original and an emerging star in the legendary and still vibrant Memphis music scene. A self-taught guitar player, composer and troubadour of heartbreak ballads, folk songs, spirituals, soul-stirring blues and what she calls “Organic Moonshine Roots Music,” Valerie is poised to reach a wide audience as one of the stars of the ballyhooed new MTV web series “$5 Cover,” written and directed by Craig Brewer, creator of the Oscar-winning movie “Hustle & Flow.” With a haunting, distinctive voice that will appeal to fans of Linda Thompson, Michelle Shocked, Jeff Tweedy, Sinead O’Connor, Jessie Mae Hemphill and the music world’s most famous Bobs, Dylan and Marley, Valerie began to pursue songwriting and performing at the age of 19, when she was part of the husband-and-wife duo, Bella Sun. Perhaps her relatively early marriage wasn’t a surprise: The oldest girl in a strict Christian family of five children, she was domestic as well as ambitious — she pretty much raised her siblings. Says Valerie: “Grandad always feared for my hips because I always had a baby on ’em.” Valerie’s marriage died but her talent bloomed. Shedding her possessions, this daughter of a brick cleaner from humble Humboldt, Tenn., left the South and traveled up and down the West Coast as a sort of gypsy nightingale, playing for tips on the streets and in bus and subway stations. As interested in “sustainable” technology and natural living as music, she learned to make soap and bath salts, to supplement her income. Since returning to Memphis, Valerie has been working hard to make ends meet and to make her music the best she can, becoming a mainstay at such events as the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival and the International Folk Alliance Conference, and releasing such albums as “The Way of the Weaping Willow” and “Mountain of Rose Quartz,” recorded at Ardent Studios (Big Star, Replacements, ZZ Top). She’s mastering the banjo and the lap steel guitar, and the new sounds she creates vibrate with the tension that occurs when mountain-spring freshness meets rivertown grit. The result is beautiful, generous and authentic — and brimming with gratitude for life, with all its joys and hardships. Visit www.valeriejune.com to learn more.
Dates at the Market: April 18, May 16
Potlikker String Band
Bluegrass
The Potlikker String Band began in Memphis in January 2007, when fiddler Ritchie Schuman and banjoist Mike Albert teamed up with guitarist Christian Stanfield to play old-time Appalachian fiddle tunes. Mandolin player Mike Cannito joined the band in May 2007. The Potlikker String Band faithfully renders old mountain standards in a style that would be easily recognized a hundred years ago. The band has played at many coffee houses, dances, fairs and festivals over the past two years, including the Delta Fair, the Goat Days Festival in Millington, the Memphis Bluegrass Association's annual Pickin' Picnic, the Memphis Contra Dance at Idlewild Presbyterian Church and contra dances in Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama.
Dates at the Market: May 9
Reel McCoy
Celtic tones
Enjoy the enchanting Celtic tones of Reel McCoy with Joel Kaserman on the hammered dulcimer, Ritchie Schuman on fiddle and banjo, Cheryl Parker on the concertina, Jim Turpin on guitar, and Harry Johnson on his array of percussion instruments and harmonica.
Dates at the Market: Coming soon
Ken & Robyn Greene
80s, 90s Popular
Ken & Robyn have been popular regulars on the Downtown Memphis scene, playing several venues, including the South Main Art Trolley Tour, and of course the Memphis Farmers Market. Their versatile style of guitar and violin covering all your favorite hits from the 80s and 90s will keep you dancing all day long!
He plays the guitar and sings everything from Elvis and ballads to classic rock and lullabies. She intertwines the haunting strains of her electric violin. The result is two string instruments from different family trees making beautiful music quite unlike any other. Ken and Robyn Greene, a husband and wife duo from the East Coast, became captivated by Memphis during a vacation/research gig when the city and its mystique struck a cultural chord. The two music teachers were taken by the Southern charms of Memphis and never looked back.
In 2007, the couple released their first self-produced CD, 38103, a tribute to South Main and Downtown Memphis, where the two Downtown fans perform at local hangouts and clubs, charitable events, Art Trolley Night, and the Memphis Farmers Market. They recorded the CD at their home using a digital recorder, two mics and editing software. Fans will recognize many of their favorite, most requested songs. To take a listen and order a CD, visit www.kenandrobyn.com.
Dates at the Market: Jun 27, Jul 4, Aug 8, Aug 22, Sept 5, Sept 19, Oct 3, Oct 17