Mempho Music Festival delivers a national music festival with a local touch.

October 18, 2022
Slide & Banjo

Memphis is a city that just oozes soul. It drips from the pores of its residents and seeps out of the cracks in the sidewalks. There are few cities across the country with as rich a musical history as Memphis and the surrounding Mid-South area. From Elvis to BB King, the Bluff City’s global influence on musicians everywhere is undeniable.

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Back to semi-normal with Jason Isbell at The Caverns

October 23, 2020
Slide & Banjo

Jason Isbell, The Caverns, 10/11/2020. |. Photo: Erika Goldring

I spent my 43rd birthday at a Jason Isbell concert, which – on its face – isn’t noteworthy. After all, I’ve spent plenty of birthdays, New Years Eves, and anniversaries at concerts. But those were when the world was normal. In 2020, we’re all in the middle of public health scare that has decimated the live entertainment world.

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Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile share top billing in KC.

August 8, 2019
Slide & Banjo

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit / Brandi Carlile / The War and Treaty
Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
Bonner Springs, KS
August 1, 2019
Words/photos by Josh Mintz

Not much can derail a concert like lightning. Bands can play through rain. They can play through wind. But lightning is a showstopper. The forecast for the August 1 Jason Isbell/Brandi Carlile show in Bonner Springs, Kansas looked foreboding in advance, with thunderstorms projected for the entire day. As it got closer to showtime the predicted weather cleared up by the hour, and when first band on the bill, The War and Treaty, took the stage, nary a drop of rain was falling from the sky. 

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