This is the time of year when music festivals really start firing up, from next week’s grand opening of Grind City Amp to RiverBeat on May 1-3. But there’s another one, without the celebrity artists, that has many just as excited, precisely because of the lack of celebrities. Cooper-Young’s Porchfest is built on a foundation of local talent, all lesser-known musical artists who nonetheless have won their following the hard way, hitting the city’s music venues night after night, week after week. Now they can all get a taste of fresh air as neighbors in the Cooper-Young neighborhood offer their porches as stages. Organizers have been planning the event for months, but now there will be a slight change: instead of this Saturday, which may be plagued with rain, Porchfest will now take place on Sunday, April 19th, from noon to 6 p.m.
In a sense, the festival aiming to be “a grassroots celebration of spring, music, and Cooper-Young” is showing off just how grassroots it is. What large-capacity venue featuring approximately 200 bands in a single day could pivot so deftly to a new calendar date? It is only possible through the coordinated collective action of many small-scale hosts. Power to the Porches!
“Porchfest continues to amaze me,” Amanda Yarbro-Dill, executive director of the Cooper-Young Community Association (CYCA) and organizer of the festival, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to bring back this free, fun, family-centric event back to Midtown, and we feel that our neighborhood is the perfect setting to showcase the musical talents and enthusiasm of the city of Memphis.” Now, with the tight-knit community able to turn on a dime, as it were, the Cooper-Young neighborhood reveals why it is indeed the perfect setting.
And Sunday’s weather promises to be perfect as well, with a high of 71 degrees and a mere smattering of clouds predicted. That bodes well for the sprawling roster of musical acts appearing that afternoon, all of whom volunteer to play purely for the camaraderie of it (oh yes, and the exposure). That’s always been a hallmark of Memphis bands, to be sure, as very few are getting rich off their trade. What makes Porchfest different is the opportunity it offers to see all these bands in a single afternoon, depending on how fast you navigate the streets of Cooper-Young.
Featured bands will include Screamer, The Narrows, Victim Of Doug, San Salida, Grape, Speaker Girl, Red Squad, Braineating Amoebas 666, Magik Hours, Glorious Abhor, Jeremy Shrader, Jeff Hulett & the Hand Me Downs, Alexis Jade & the Gemstone, DJ Zirk, The Stupid Reasons, Frank McLallen, Mothcat, Empress Joyce, Bryan Hartley Industries, Zoë Dominguez, and Trivet, to name only a fraction. Click here for a list of all performers and the addresses where they’ll be playing. As the event’s website reminds us, “All of the musicians are volunteering so bring cash to tip them or do so through Venmo/CashApp through the handles listed on the map.”
Meanwhile, it’s not just about the music, as the CYCA will also hold their annual neighborhood yard sale that morning, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Homes participating in the sale are indicated in the map below.
