Mempho Music Fest 2025 Features Top Names in Insurgent Country

When you hear about the National Guard deploying to Memphis, you might get the wrong impression. Sure, just like any major American city, there are “issues” in certain parts of Memphis. And in some cases, those issues are serious.

But Memphis doesn’t just remain a cultural epicenter in America, it’s a musical Mecca. Nashville might be “Music City,” and Austin might still try to boast about being the “Live Music Capital.” But neither of them have Sun Studios, Graceland, Beale Street, and the kind of music legacy that has allowed the Memphis influence to permeate throughout music in the United States and beyond. Memphis is where the soul of American music emanates from.

Memphis is proud of it’s musical legacy, and that’s on full display at the city’s annual Mempho Music Festival, held at a park in the east part of the city. Far from a field festival, old growth shade trees and art installations invite you into the grounds with botanical gardens bordering the festival on one side, and a small lake on the other. Mempho is big festival talent, big crowd energy, but small festival vibes.

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3rd and 4th featured a big slate of performers in 2025, with Widespread Panic headlining both days, along with folks like Galactic, Leftover Salmon, Father John Misty, Mavis Staples, Lukas Nelson, and The Flaming Lips performing as well.

The excuse for a country music fan to finally take the plunge and explore Mempho Music Festival in 2025 was the lineup on Sunday, October 5th. To be able to see Sierra Ferrell, Charley Crockett, and Tyler Childers all on the same bill—and not at some 50,000-person megafest—is incentive enough. Add John R. Miller, and Memphis legends Amy Lavere and Lucero to the lineup, and it was worth traveling from two states over if necessary.

John R. Miller isn’t the most lively performer on stage, spending maybe half the time with his back turned to the audience. But his performances come with an allure and charisma all their own from his beat poet pentameter and unpretentious delivery of songs intentionally crafted. He’s the perfect specimen of Appalachian authenticity to open a day of music that also included Sierra Ferrell and Tyler Childers.

Better chance than not, Lucero is your favorite country songwriter’s favorite rock band. That’s thanks to the incisive songwriting of Ben Nichols, and their sound that is not afraid to veer into the alt-country realm at times. There’s also just something about seeing an artist or band perform in their hometown. The energy’s up that much more. The moments carry that much more meaning. The audience is more familiar. Memphis-based Lucero walked out on stage like hometown heroes, and we’re greeted as such.

Sierra Ferrell is an Appalachian roots revivalist, a traditional country queen, a four-time Grammy winner, and a larger-than-life mythical being/fever dream apparition sent down to Earth to remind us there’s more to life than what physics and natural science can explain. She dazzled the audience, helping to restore faith in life and humanity.

Sierra officially now welcomes a fifth member to her backing band, allowing steel guitar to be featured in her live sound. These days Ferrell is also sporting a fantasy-inspired stage setup complete with vines and toadstools, aligning with how many of the top names in independent country are stepping up their stage presentations thanks to healthy audience sizes.

That’s certainly the case for Charley Crockett as well, whose name is emblazoned in lights on the back of the stage, with footlights and vintage spotlights on the side of the stage all lending to the larger than life presentation he puts on. If nobody else will put his name in lights, Charley Crockett will.

Another way you can interpret Charley Crockett’s name emblazoned in lights is, “Gavin Adcock, where you at?” As Gavin engages in drunken buffoonery, Charley Crockett doubles down on class, even if the showy, glitzy nature runs the risk of overshadowing the sincerity of Charley’s songs. But that’s one of the reasons he curates solo acoustic songs, and opportunities for his band The Blue Drifters to highlight their skills throughout the performance.

The Tyler Childers presentation is larger than life too, but in an entirely different way. As opposed to a cocksure Texan prancing around the stage, Childers comes out in a Mr. Rogers cardigan, making weird faces and awkward gesticulations, but is still endearing in his own unique way, showcasing songs that have become bedrocks of American roots music at this point, making him an unlikely superstar.

Tyler’s new album Snipe Hunter might have come with some polarizing production decisions and stirred culture war acrimony with his explanation why he no longer plays “Feathered Indians.” But tracks like “Eatin’ Big Time,” “Bitin’ List,” and “Dirty Ought Trill” are big winners live, and slide right into Tyler’s repertoire beside “Whitehouse Road,” and “Jersey Giant,” which Childers finally started to perform recently after so many others found success with it.

Sunday night at Mempho Music Festival featured three of the top acts in independent country and roots music, who are all at the top of their game, are all able to realize their creative vision in the live music space unencumbered by budgetary concerns, and illustrate the blazing creativity and boundless vision alive in this space.

It’s that same boldness that was brought forward in Memphis by Sun Records and other landmarks that revolutionized music in America. Now it’s a new crop of performers looking to define their own era, but not one that tears asunder the work of predecessors, but taps their legacies for inspiration, builds upon their work, and tells the Great American story in song to keep it thriving through uniquely unsettled times.

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