Memphis Music and Heritage Festival 2010

The Memphis Music and Heritage Festival is a 2-day celebration of the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South. Between 90 and 120 artists will play on 5 music stages & 1 food demo stage in front of more than 30,000 people at this year's festival.

Artists may be given compensation and lodging.


2010 performers included: Bobby Rush, Hill Country Revue, Kate Campbell, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, Joyce Cobb, and many more./n/nThe Memphis Music and Heritage Festival is 2-day celebration of the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South.



For over two decades, the Center for Southern Folklore's Memphis Music & Heritage Festival has showcased artists whose music has helped define their region to the world. From urban blues to rockabilly, from folk to gospel, soul to salsa, the 2010 line-up was as diverse as ever. This year's festival takes place in Downtown Memphis, on Main Street between Peabody Place and Gayoso Avenue.

The Memphis Music and Heritage Festival features foods, music, arts, and dance from African, Asian, Latino, and other immigrant communities who are now very much part of Memphis' cultural fabric - think of it as contemporary southern folklore, music, foods, and dance! Between 90 and 120 artists will play on 5 music stages & 1 food demo stage in front of more than 30,000 people at this year's festival. Artists may be given compensation for performances and travel/lodging when necessary.

Over 120 artists performed at on six stages at last year's festival. 2010 performers included: Bobby Rush, Hill Country Revue, Kate Campbell, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, Joyce Cobb, Sid Selvidge & Jimmie Crosthwaith, Smoochy Smith Trio, Hickory Withe Bluegrass, Eden Brent, Los Cantadores and many more.

The Center for Southern Folklore is a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, defend, and protect the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South. The Center also offers music events and educational programs, maintains its multimedia archives, Folklore Store, and website.

With major support from The Assisi Foundation of Memphis, The Plough Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts among others the Center has launched A Five Year Program to digitize its Multimedia Archives. The Center's archives contain hundreds of hours of film and recorded interviews and music in addition to major historic photography collections, which Michael Taft, Head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress, assesses to be "one of the most extensive collections of ethnographic materials in the country. It is an important cultural treasure, and demands to be both preserved and made accessible to those outside the Center." Sponsorship from businesses and community agencies allows the festival to continue to be a free family event.