KALAMAZOO, MI — In just its second year, the weeklong Sounds of the Zoo music festival and symposium is gearing up to make even more noise than a year ago.
The free music festival, curated to showcase multiple genres and venues across Kalamazoo, kicks off Monday, Sept. 25 and comes to a climactic conclusion Sunday, Oct. 1.
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“I feel like there’s a different momentum that I feel just from last year,” said festival founder and organizer Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert.
The addition of four new locations — the Clover Room, the Crawlspace Eviction Theatre, Rugger’s Up and Under and Bates Alley — adds to that.
Hudson-Prenkert has curated nights that showcase jazz, singer-songwriters and blues musicians, along with the big weekend finale featuring a slew of eclectic artists at Bronson Park. In total, she has 55 artists ready to take stages across Kalamazoo.
Among those are Nathan Walton and the Remedy, Dixon’s Violin, Kait Rose and the Thorns, Hannah Rose Graves, Jordan Hamilton, Carrie McFerrin, Headband Henny and Last Gasp Collective.
“I feel like the bands this year are just spectacular,” she said. “I’ve got Liz Kelley out of Nashville, bringing her neo-soul, electronica sound; Patty PerShayla, who just moved to Nashville and then we’ve got Full Cord, which is really exciting. They’re from West Michigan, but just recently won the Telluride Bluegrass competition.”
Other acts Hudson-Prenkert is excited about include Whorled, Desmond Jones, the Rebel Eves, Avalon Cutts-Jones and Sophia McIntosh and the Sages, one of the younger acts on the festival bill.
While many of the shows are all ages, the event kickoff Monday, Sept. 25 at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe is not.
The event, for those 21 and up, will feature music from Sophia McIntosh and the Sages, starting at 6 p.m. Sets from Elisabeth Pixley-Fink at 7:30 and Yolonda Lavender at 9 p.m. will follow.
After an evening at Bell’s, the festival will move to the Clover Room, 1501 Fulford St., on Tuesday for a singer-songwriter showcase featuring Annabelle Fuerst, Dylan Tolbert and Jon Hayes. Also performing that evening will be Lucas Powell, Carrie McFerrin, Santino Jones and JNOH.
After the first three performers are done and before the second three start, sound engineer Ian Gorman will host “a gigging musician’s guide to live sound” workshop at the adjacent La Luna Recoding Studio at 7:30.
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On Wednesday evening, the festival moves to the Old Dog Tavern for an all-ages event featuring Hannah Rose Graves, Kait Rose & The Thorns and Nathan Walton and the Remedy. Music starts at 6 p.m.
On Thursday, there are two musical showcases at the Crawlspace Eviction Theatre and Rugger’s Up & Under.
Pocket Watch will kick things off at the Crawlspace at 6 p.m., followed by The Caelan Cardello Trio and Jenna Mammina with Matthew Fries, Keith Hall and Carlo De Rosa.
At Rugger’s, blues artists False Atlas and Jake Kershaw will hit the stage, with music starting at 6:30 p.m.
As the weekend rolls around, the main venue will become Bronson Park with Great Lakes Brass, Last Gasp Collective, La Furia Del Ritmo and Desmond Jones performing in order on Friday from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m.
On Saturday, music will start at Bronson Park at noon with a two-hour performance from the Kalamazoo Academy of Rock. That will be followed up with Grace Theisen’s Rebel Eves, Nashville songstress Liz Kelley, Minor Element, Zion Lion and Gasoline Gypsies, with music ending at 10 p.m.
There will also be numerous musicians performing around town and other workshops happening throughout the day.
On Sunday, Dixon’s Violin will perform at noon and be followed by Full Cord, Avalon Cutts-Jones, Erin Zindle & The Ragbirds and Patty PerShayla & The Mayhaps.
“It really is a seven-day event as opposed to a giant festival,” Hudson-Prenkert said. “I always tell people you can pick one day, you can go home and shower, you can sleep in your bed and you can come back out and have more fun. It’s such a variety I think there’s something for everyone.”
Being a free festival, Hudson-Prenkert relies on community sponsorships and in-kind donations to pay artists and sound engineers. There are links to donate on the website. The idea behind all of the shows being free, she said, is to make music more accessible.
For more information on Sounds of the Zoo Music Festival, visit soundsofthezoo.com. Follow Sounds of the Zoo on Facebook and Instagram.
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