Nestled on the shore of the Mississippi River at Memphis' Tom Lee park, fans get the best bang for their buck attending this event. It's apparent why BSMF is listed in www.everfest.com's top 300 worldwide festivals. With so many music festivals these days what makes BSMF standout besides reasonable ticket prices is the diversity of the acts and a uniquely low percentage of performers that are also at multiple festivals. In short if you attend more than one music festivals in a summer, you will notice the overlap of acts is much lower than most other festivals.

Featuring four stages, the variety of music is surprisingly fresh. Starting at the north side of the grounds is the blues tent. Both the legacy of the festival and the name sake, this stage featured Peter Wolf of J. Geils, Toronzo Cannon, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Super Chiken, Booker T. Jones and Preston Shannon to name a few. If you only attended this stage alone, you will get your fill of great music. 

The other three stages are sceduled from afternoon to late night with big draws. This year included Ben Harper, Ani DiFranco, Drive-By Truckers, Snoop Dog, The Revivalists, Dawes, Kongos, X Ambassadors, Wiz, Khalif, Grouplove, Greensky Bluegrass, Jimmy Eat World, Bush, Ziggy Marley and more. The biggest challenge is catching favorite artist at competing time slots. As you plan next summer's festival destinations, seriously consider Beale Street Music Festival top of your list. The side trips to Sun Records and STAXX Records alone is worth this visit.