Riverfront Park has a new tradition, and it did not happen by accident. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art went after national funding and won it, bringing the Levitt AMP concert program to Moss Point: a free, three-year concert series in the heart of downtown, presented by the Maddox Foundation in partnership with the City of Moss Point and Moss Point Main Street, with support from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
That puts the River City in serious company. The national Levitt AMP program is behind more than 900 free concerts in over 90 towns and cities across America this year, and one of them is ours. Walter Anderson painted this coast in pelicans, waves, and palmetto fans, and the series carries that same spirit: open lawn, no front row and no back row, everyone welcome, the river doing the rest.
Parker Barrow opened the lawn on August 22, and the season is just getting warm. Six more Saturdays of live music are coming to the water between now and Halloween, and no two of them sound alike.
The first one comes quick. This Saturday, August 29, the lawn belongs to A.J. Haynes, the voice of Seratones, the Shreveport rock and soul band that built a national following on her church-raised, force-of-nature vocals. They call this one Nature Notes, and it fits: soul and storytelling at golden hour, with the Escatawpa moving slow behind the stage. Her show page on Go Coast Events has the details.
Two weeks later, on September 12, Austin rolls into town. Nik Parr & The Selfless Lovers play piano-driven rock and roll built for a dance floor, the kind of band that logs more than 150 shows a year and arrives road-tight. Parr plays saxophone and piano at the same time, which you should see once in your life, and the River Jam is your chance. Booths and volunteer shifts for that night are open on the River Jam page.
Then comes the Saturday this town has circled. September 19 is the Homecoming, and it means exactly what it says. Daniel Stallworth grew up in Moss Point, graduated from Moss Point High School, and earned his music degree at Alcorn State before becoming an elementary music teacher. This spring the rest of the country caught up to what the River City already knew, when he sang his way all the way to the Top 7 on American Idol. He came back through town in May to a hometown welcome. In September he comes home to sing on the riverfront that raised him, and unlike the rest of the series, this one is an afternoon lawn party, 1 to 5 PM, made for families and lawn chairs and staying all day. If you only make one show this fall, make it this one.
October opens with a passport. On October 3, OKAN brings the Latin Soundwave: the Juno Award-winning duo of Cuban-born musicians Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne, who fuse Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk, and global rhythms. Their name means heart in the Afro-Cuban tradition, and that is exactly how they play. Details for the October 3 show are here.
One week after that, the series collides with Smokin' the Sip, our signature BBQ festival, and the collision is glorious. On October 10, Grammy winners Tank & The Bangas come over from New Orleans to headline Festival Night: BBQ smoke drifting down the riverfront all day, blues on the water, and one of the most electric live acts in the South after dark. Circle it, then grab the details, because that whole weekend is going to be one for the books.
And when the season has to end, it ends right. On Halloween night, Luther Dickinson closes it out with friends in tow. Dickinson co-founded the four-time Grammy-nominated North Mississippi Allstars and grew up steeped in hill country blues, learning from the tradition of R.L. Burnside and Otha Turner. Blues, jazz, and funk under the lights on October 31, costumes welcome, to put the season to bed.
The housekeeping fits in one breath. Every show is free, no tickets and no cover, all ages, 5 to 9 PM except the 1 to 5 Homecoming. The lawn is open seating, so bring a blanket or a chair and settle in by the water at Riverfront Park, 5200 Main St. And while you are down there, look up: the River City Guitar, 17 feet of Moss Point in steel, now anchors the riverfront and carries the whole story, the blues, the sawmill years, and a life lived on the water.
Want in on the working side of it? Vendor booths and volunteer shifts are open for every show on Go Coast Events. The full lineup and the story behind the series live on the Levitt AMP page, where you can add every show to your calendar, and the rest of the fall is stacked on our events page.
Seven Saturdays. Seven headliners. One riverfront. See you on the river.