Memphis Powerpop Festival

Memphis PowerPop Lineup:

• A Tribute to Chris Bell
• Van Duren
• Jon Auer
• Your Academy
• The Sonny Wilsons

Growing up in Memphis, you were constantly reminded of the musical heritage of our city. Rhythm and blues, soul, gospel, funk, rockabilly, rap, and of course that guy with the swivel hips and sneer.

Incredibly, there was more. Go back in time and get your hands on your college cassette collection and you’ll probably find a healthy dose of R.E.M., The Replacements, and Let’s Active. Fast forward another decade or two, and thumb through those scratched up Wilco, Posies, Teenage Fanclub and Lemonheads compact discs. What do these bands have to do with Memphis? They all cite Memphis’ own Big Star, as a defining influence in their development.

‘Power Pop’ music is rooted in the harmonic structure of the Beatles and Beach Boys with the harder edge of The Who at its core. Big Star soaked it in and added their own spin, drawing upon the melting pot that is the Memphis music scene. The result was a three album catalog from the 1970’s that to this day is in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

It’s that legacy, and really Memphis’ musical legacy, we are celebrating through the festival. In this inaugural year, we want to especially honor Big Star founding member Chris Bell. We’ve put together a lineup of power pop legends including former Big Star bandmate Jody Stephens, Van Duren, and former Posies and Big Star guitarist/singer Jon Auer. We will also be featuring a number of local acts who draw inspiration from the source- Memphis PowerPop.