Concert begins at 5:30PM sharp.
2023 Orion Free Concert Series at Overton Park Shell. Picnic baskets, beverages, blankets, and lawn chairs are always welcome. We also offer food and beverage for sale in our ShellEats community area. Dogs on a leash are welcome in designated areas. Overton Park Shell is a nonsmoking facility.
*A live interpreter will be available in partnership with DeafConnect of the Mid-South.
About the Festival:
North Mississippi Allstars & Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory
The annual Country Blues festival is returning to Overton Park Shell this year with some additional programming. Join us on the lawn as we start the evening with the sounds of Alvin Youngblood Hart followed by the official presentation of the Shell’s blues marker. Then stick around because the night will only grow in energy as the North Mississippi Allstars make their way to the stage to honor the history of this Shell event.
About North Mississippi Allstars:
Nothing runs deeper than family ties. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters understand one another at the purest level. When families rally around music, they speak this oft-unspoken bond aloud and into existence. After 25 years, twelve albums, four GRAMMY® Award nominations, and sold out shows everywhere, North Mississippi Allstars open up their world once again on their thirteenth album, Set Sail [New West Records], welcoming other family (by blood and by the road) into the fold. As legend has it, Luther and Cody Dickinson started the band in 1996 as a loose collective of like-minded second-generation musicians who shared a local repertoire and regional style. Over the years, the lineup shifted by design, and each subsequent record offered up a different combination of collaborators. This time around, they mined the talents of Jesse Williams on bass and Lamar Williams JR. on vocals. During the Allman Betts Band Family Revival, the Dickinsons first linked up with Lamar, son of the Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams Sr., becoming fast friends and collaborators and eventually paving the way for Set Sail.
“The chemistry we have with this lineup is powerful, ”observes Luther.“ We are all second-generation musicians and share a telepathic, relaxed ease about creating and performing. I believe music is a form of communion with our loved ones and conjuring this vibe with members of musical families can be inspirational. Lamar and I are like-minded. I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a singing partner like Lamar. He has a true-blue quality in his musicality that will pull you in and break your heart. At the same time, Jesse grew up playing music with his brothers and his father—as did we. He plays like a sibling. We recorded the album fresh off the road and captured the energy we had worked up with him. I’m drawn to musical families, regardless of style. Playing with second-or third-generation players allows us an easy unspoken musical dialog. It’s not a big thing; it’s just what we do. We never had to figure out what it means and takes to be a musician. We all inherently know.”
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About Alvin Youngblood Hart:
The cosmic American love child of Howlin Wolf and Link Wray...
Known as a “musician’s musician,” Alvin Youngblood Hart’s praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to guitar gods Gary Moore & Mick Taylor.
“Alvin Youngblood Hart’s (version of Nelly Was A Lady) is as good a version as you’ll ever hear. Alvin sings the song in it’s pure form. The guitar turn-arounds are a slow cakewalk between heartbroken verses, loss shared on the front porch. The tune will stay in your head long after you have forgotten the story and every time you hum it a tear will roll down your cheek.” ~ BOB DYLAN 2022 from his book The Philosophy of Modern Song.
“He’s the Real Deal” ~ Mike Campbell, 2022 External Combustion Support Tour.
Mr. Hart was born in Oakland CA in 1963 to a family of post WWII Mississippi transplants. After a couple false starts, he began to play the guitar, in earnest, in 1977.
“By that time, it had become obsessive competition among us teenage boys. The guitar was the video game of our day,” Hart says.
The Hart family was never one to stay put. Spending his formative years on the West Coast, in the Midwest and the Mid-South surely influenced Alvin’s wide ranging musical perspective.
“It really taught me to appreciate MUSIC for what it was... not because it was this or that genre. I have a great disdain for genre segregation. I try to avoid that practice”.
Along with his 40 years of playing comes a nuts and bolts passion for the hardware of the trade.
“I’ve been a guitar tinker since day one. I can recall my parents buying me a new guitar, and I would have every screw out of it by bedtime”.
Hart is also an electronics technician, a talent he picked up after 7 years active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard. His knack for quick thinking repairs on the road has earned him nicknames such as, The Garage Guerrilla or The Rock N Roll MacGyver from fellow musicians.
After two decades on the road, Alvin continues to delight audiences worldwide, whether as a solo performer or with the eternally rockin’ Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory... The multi award winner always delivers.
“When I was a 15 year old kid in my room, I would never believe that I would someday play legendary venues like the Hollywood Bowl or Royal Albert Hall. You couldn’t have told me that I’d be in the studio with Taj Mahal, or play onstage with the Allman Bros. Band and members of Thin Lizzy. Some days, it’s a dream job...”
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Food Trucks:
Sips and Sammies | Soi #9 | Moss Be Smoke | Mexico in Memphis
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