Marcella and Her Lovers take the stage at Railgarten.
Editor's Note: This story was written in November 2020 for publication in our December 2020 issue. All venues and events are subject to change, as the Shelby County Health Department adjusts its guidelines for the COVID-19 situation. Please call ahead to confirm dates of operation, and additional health and safety precautions.
As a Saturday evening in September approached, I stepped with some trepidation into the grounds of Railgarten, a spacious outdoor restaurant and bar nestled right next to the train tracks in Midtown. My initial reluctance stemmed from habits I’d cultivated since quarantine began in March, but as a wide-open space, complete with a volleyball pit, tables, and a large stage made from boxcars, Railgarten makes the perfect setting for social distancing with plenty of air circulation — ideal for a night out in the pandemic.
As I snagged a table and was met by my date, I dared to hope that there was a way to congregate safely at last, after months of sheltering in place. Then the band, Marcella and Her Lovers, kicked in with “I’ll Take You There,” and I was a little shaken. The therapeutic power of the live music was palpable.
“I feel like a farmer, watching the weather so frequently. For the foreseeable future, we’re building most of our programming on outdoors.” — Railgarten co-owner Jack Phillips
Looking around, I felt safe. Servers and bartenders wore masks, as did patrons whenever they left their table to order drinks. Even in the outdoor setting, most people respected the mandated six-foot separation, though sometimes you had to swerve to keep space around you. I waved to some friends across the yard and we all soaked in the voluptuous sounds with a collective sense of relief.
As I discovered that night, live music was popping up all over Memphis in a variety of innovative approaches that have balanced the music’s magnetic draw with public-health priorities. Over the summer and into fall, the Shelby County Health Department has gradually, cautiously eased restrictions, building on very specific guidelines that have now become routine. And many club owners, musicians, and music lovers have accepted the inherent risk and are grateful.
photo courtesy railgarten
Another view of Railgarten.
Another venue that has brought live music back — indoors, no less — is Lafayette’s Music Room, the celebrated club from the 1970s that reopened in 2014, adding a reliable musical heartbeat to the bustling Overton Square district. The two-story room, with tables on the mezzanine, allows ample space for distancing. But health precautions go far beyond that, and all venues, both indoor and outdoor, follow the same routine described by Lafayette’s Brent Harding: “Under county guidelines, tables have to be six feet apart, and patrons have to wear masks coming in and walking around the venue. They can only take them off when they’re sitting down and eating. And the audience has to be seated. We don’t allow people to get up and dance or wander around. Then everything is sanitized after each table becomes free again.”
By working such practices into their routine, Lafayette’s has been able to maintain a surprisingly active music calendar. “With the six-foot spacing,” Harding estimates, “I believe we can do about 150 people at a time. And for the bigger acts, we’ll do an early show and a late show. We can roll the house, clean the place, sanitize everything, and then do another show. That’s really the only way it can work with some of these bands.”
With such practices apparently helping to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections at the time, Shelby County unveiled looser restrictions on October 7th, allowing bars and restaurants to stay open until midnight instead of 10 p.m., and raising the allowed table capacity from six to eight people. And, as fall heads into winter, most venues offering live music are making the most of the increased opportunities. Even those with outdoor yards.
Winters in the Mid-South being what they are, it’s not too surprising that Railgarten is preparing to continue hosting open-air concerts through December and January, pandemic permitting. With average temperatures then in the low-forties, even reaching the low-fifties at times, enjoying live music outside is not an absurd proposition, especially if the venue lays the groundwork. And though Railgarten does have an indoor stage, they’re downplaying that as an option for now.
Co-owner Jack Phillips says, “I feel like a farmer, watching the weather so frequently. For the foreseeable future, we’re building most of our programming on outdoors. We’ve got a lot of coverage, a lot of heaters, a lot of firepits. We’re gonna sell s’mores kits so people can have that fun campfire feel. And we’ve put a lot of heaters under our outdoor structures, just to keep people comfortable and coming back.”
And the music will continue, with planned December shows by the Lucky 7 Brass Band, Marcella and Her Lovers, and the Memphis All-Stars on New Year’s Eve.
The Slider Inn Downtown, in the thriving South Main district, has also been hosting live music in its outdoor area, known as the Slider Out. Eric Bourgeois, marketing director for the group that manages the space, says, “As soon as we were allowed to resume live music down there, we were booking artists between four and five days a week. We have a really nice outdoor space that plays well into the necessities of social distancing. And we’re the only restaurant and bar on Main Street, to my knowledge, with live music now.”
Even if winter dampens the Slider Out, the same management group is prepping another nearby space to host live performers more safely. Bourgeois explains, “At Momma’s, we have a massive outdoor patio deck that we are in the process of wrapping and enclosing for winter. At the Slider Inn Downtown, it’s usually more of a grungy cover band feel. Momma’s leans toward the country, bluegrass sound — a trucker-themed bar.”
photo courtesy hernando's hide-a-way
Hernando's co-owner Dale Watson with a celebrity guest.
Similar sounds prevail at The World Famous Hernando’s Hide-A-Way, where the owners have a vested interest in hosting bands — because they are the band. Newlyweds Dale Watson and Celine Lee bought the legendary club, which had been shuttered for decades, and re-opened it in late 2019. The retro design was already becoming a musical hotspot again when the lockdown brought things to a halt.
But, as Lee explains, “we decided to go virtual and set up three different cameras in the bar and a way to stream from multiple platforms.” Watson, with a music career of more than 30 years, streamed shows with his band, often featuring Lee on vocals, for months before they decided to open their doors to a limited capacity crowd, encouraging people to enjoy their Tiki Patio. Now they continue to feature bands like Big Barton, Sunny Sweeny, and Watson himself, who will preside over their New Year’s Eve party. Because of their investment in live-streaming, they’re one of the few places to simultaneously offer music both in-person and online.
And that is surely the safest approach of all. B-Side Bar in Midtown also features music fans a choice between free live-streamed events and limited in-person attendance.
Such performances have mostly been revived by venues blessed with abundant space. Some well-loved clubs are simply too small to justify live shows at a limited capacity. As Blues City Cafe booker Jason Ralph notes, “On Beale Street, there are some places that have started back with live music, and we’re happy for the musicians. And we tried a few times to have music in the band box, with duos and small groups. But for us, with such a small room, and following the guidelines from the health department, we saw pretty quickly that it was not viable as a business to have live music.”
The Orpheum Theatre and the adjacent Halloran Centre have an abundance of space and have also opened up their doors to concerts. “The first one was in the Halloran Centre, with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra,” says Brett Batterson, president and CEO. “Sixteen players socially distanced on stage and [we had] a limited audience of 90 in the house. Then we did a program called Women of Soul in the historic [Orpheum] theatre.” The latter was so well-received that they’re hosting Women of Soul II on December 12th.
Through all this, local musicians have benefitted the most from the eased restrictions. As Batterson notes, shows like Women of Soul “give some local singers the opportunity to be on the Orpheum stage. Under normal circumstances, they may not have had that opportunity.” National acts are simply not touring now, and that’s opened up opportunities for local players.
Supporting local performers is one reason venues go to the extra trouble of hosting music at all. Indeed, Railgarten is upping the ante as they combine live shows with fundraising for local arts nonprofits. As Jack Phillips explains, “A lot of artists in town are struggling. So we thought we’d help raise funds for the Memphis Music Initiative, the first of many organizations we’re going to partner with. They’ve done a great job getting some relief funds to the Memphis music community.” Every Thursday, a portion of Railgarten’s proceeds will go to select nonprofits like the MMI.
This support of the players is common among all the club managers I spoke with. Assuming the county continues to allow such shows, they may just be what keeps music thriving in this city. And for most of these venues, it’s a mission of sorts. “We wanted to see what we could do to go the extra step and really show our love for Memphis musicians,” says Phillips. “Music is in our blood.”
