Kicking Off the Second Day of @BealeStMusicFes with Memphis’ own @starandmicey @ArdentRecords

Memphis’ folkish rock band Star and Micey are immensely popular locally, and have a growing popularity elsewhere in the country, having toured extensively and peformed at South By Southwest in Austin two years back to back. Something of their Memphis stardom can be judged from the fact that they have a coffee drink named for them at Cafe Eclectic in Midtown. Signed to Memphis’ legendary Ardent Records imprint, the band has released a self-titled full-length, and a more recent EP called I Can’t Wait, so the crowds gathered in front of the Orion stage at the Beale Street Music Festival seemed to know every word of every song. As for the music, Star and Micey are melodic and tuneful, with ever so slightly a hint of Elliot Smith’s influence at times. Never particularly aggressive, their music pleases, and for an encore, they jumped over the fence into the crowd to perform one final tune acoustically, surrounded by hometown fans.