Live Music In Memphis This Month: June 2023

IMPORTANT

• This is just a sampling of shows in Memphis this month. For more, check out: I Love Memphis Music Calendar and the Memphis Flyer Music Listings.
• Submit your show to the blog's calendar HERE.

Saturday, June 3

Moxie at Growlers

7 p.m. doors, show at 8 / $15 advance, $20 day of show

Indie rock band Moxie has a name that’s absolutely useless for a search engine, but they dropped a new song as I was writing this column, which you can hear above, and it’s pretty good!

Ayana Contreras at Eight & Sand

9 p.m. / free

Chicago DJ Ayana Contreras will be spinning at Eight & Sand in Central Station Hotel’s live music collaboration with Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Contreras has been in the radio game for over 15 years, and she’s currently the Music Director/Director of Content at Vocalo Radio 91.1fm in Chicago, an NPR affiliate that’s also the country’s first Urban Alternative-formatted station. I have an immense amount of respect for folks who make careers out of having great taste.

Live at the Garden 23: Lady A at the Radians Amphitheater

Tickets for the Live at the Garden series at the Radians Amphitheater went on sale last month, but there are still tickets left for every show. Lady A (the former Lady Antebellum “Lady A”, not Anita White, the folk and blues singer from Seattle who had the name first and who’s been performing under the name “Lady A” since the ‘90s).

THURSDAY, JUNE 8

Rachel Maxann with Cyrena Wages and Joe Restivo at Crosstown Arts

7 p.m. doors, show at 7:30 / $15 advance, $20 day of show

Rachel Maxann has traveled the world soaking up musical inspiration from any and every source, which she uses to make deeply, deeply personal music.

Tré Burt at Overton Park Shell

7:30 p.m. / free!

The Orion Free Concert series starts this month! Tré Burt makes Woody Guthrie-style folk—witty, poignant, and indignant. His latest release “You, Yeah, You” is brought to us by Oh Boy Records, a label partly founded by folk legend John Prine. Appropriate!

FRIDAY, JUNE 9

Anand Wilder at Overton Park Shell

7:30 p.m. / free!

Anand Wilder was one of the founding members of Yeasayer, a name that should be familiar to indie music fans of a certain vintage, who has since gone solo since the band’s dissolution in 2019. His world music influences in this new stuff implies that he still seems to have a love for musical experimentation.

SATURDAY, JUNE 10

Summerween at Black Lodge

8 p.m. / $20 / 18+

This Halloween-in-June celebration at Black Lodge includes performances from three great Memphis-based bands Joybomb, Lipstick Stains, and Sunweight. Should be a good bit of fun!

THURSDAY, JUNE 15

The Heavy Heavy at Overton Park Shell

7:30 p.m. / free!

I listened to this song from The Heavy Heavy before I read that this band hails from the UK. I thought, “Did they even have cowboys in the UK?” And wouldn’t you know it, the first use of the English word “cowboy” was by Johnathan Swift in 1725. The more you know!

FRIDAY, JUNE 23

Dwight Yoakam at the BankPlus Amphitheater

7 p.m. / $49+

Did you know Dwight Yoakam, one of country music’s most prolific and celebrated artists, released his album dwightyoakamacoustic.net seven years BEFORE Soulja Boy released his 2007 debut album souljaboytellem.com that would eventually be recognized as one of the earliest times an artist went “viral” and a highly influential work in terms of being a blueprint for artists seeking to leverage the internet to find success outside of traditional music industry avenues? Dwight was way ahead of the game.

Anyway, I loved him in Sling Blade.

DJ Soul Sister at Eight & Sand

9 p.m. / free

Hailing from New Orleans, DJ Soul Sister has been getting the party started since 1997 and has enjoyed a storied career of crate digging and spinning. Her website says that she retired from live DJ performances in 2021, so somebody should probably update that. There’s always the possibility that I’ve been doing research on the wrong DJ Soul Sister this whole time.

SATURDAY, JUNE 24

Live at the Garden 23: Matchbox Twenty at the Radians Amphitheater

I don’t know why I’ve believed Matchbox Twenty is from Canada this whole time. These folks are from Orlando. WTF? Rob Thomas has probably been to EPCOT like ten times! Anyway I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this band because I think Rob can actually write really good music sometimes. Well, a few times. Kinda like how Nickelback dropped straight heat with “How You Remind Me” and then just never did that again.

WiMM Fest at Hi Tone

6 p.m. / $30

The Hi Tone will host the first annual Women in Memphis Music Festival, which features some of the most talented and hardworking women in our city across many genres. Check out the videos above for some highlights!

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

Drake and 21 Savage at FedExForum

7 p.m. / $50.50+

If you’re reading this, it’s not too late to get tickets for Drake and 21 Savage at FedExForum, which is actually kind of surprising.

For more, check out: I Love Memphis Music Calendar