Looking back on 2015, many longtime observers of Mobile’s music scene may remember it as the year long-simmering shifts finally became visible. Between the loss of a two-decade-old institution, the rise of a scrappy replacement, and new investment in venues and recording space, the Port City’s music community saw both endings and new beginnings play out over twelve eventful months.
The most significant story was the end of BayFest. For 20 years, the festival filled downtown Mobile’s streets with major touring acts, eventually earning a reputation as “Alabama’s Largest Music Festival.” Over its run, BayFest hosted performers including Kid Rock, Motley Crue, R. Kelly, Al Green and Godsmack, while also giving local musicians a rare chance to perform for large crowds. The festival’s final lineup, featuring Randy Houser and George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic among others, closed out two decades of history in 2015.
Almost immediately, a new event rose to fill the void. Ten Sixty Five, part street party and part music festival, came together quickly as production crews built stages in the streets of downtown Mobile and organizers scrambled to book bands with open dates. The gamble paid off: alongside local acts such as Ryan Balthrop and Peek, the free event landed performances from George Clinton & P-Funk, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Sublime with Rome, drawing praise from both fans and downtown businesses in the LoDa district. Whether Ten Sixty Five returns, and what it might eventually charge for admission, remained an open question as the year closed, along with speculation about whether it could ultimately claim BayFest’s old title as the state’s largest music festival.
Former Major League Baseball pitcher and Mobile native Jake Peavy was among Ten Sixty Five’s biggest backers, a reflection of his continued investment in the city’s music identity. Peavy and his brother, Luke, also opened Dauphin Street Sound, a recording studio housed in the space that formerly held Jada Recording Studio. Billed as a full-service production facility built around vintage instruments, the studio has also brought on local guitarist Ben Jernigan as an A&R representative, producer and ambassador to the local scene, with the Peavys hoping the operation will help fuel a broader musical vitality along the Gulf Coast.
The Mobile Civic Center also generated headlines in 2015. Outside of the annual run of Mardi Gras balls, the aging venue has mostly hosted occasional concerts and dance recitals in recent years, and Mayor Sandy Stimpson announced plans to close it in April 2016. That announcement drew pushback from Mardi Gras mystic societies, and not long after, the Civic Center booked two major shows: Widespread Panic in the Civic Center Theater on Feb. 17, and Elton John on March 15. Whether those bookings will be enough to secure the venue’s future remains to be seen.
Downtown also gained a new stage with the opening of The Merry Widow, which cleared a series of legal hurdles before debuting a strong sound system and interior that quickly attracted touring acts such as James McMurtry and Pokey LaFarge alongside local favorites. Its arrival gives Mobile three stable, original-music venues for the first time in years, creating a kind of tiered system for local bands: acts can build a following at the intimate Blind Mule, graduate to Alchemy Tavern as their draw grows, and eventually headline The Merry Widow, a structure that gives Mobile artists a way to test whether they are ready to tour beyond the city while still being able to fill a hometown room.
Taken together, these developments suggest 2015 laid groundwork rather than delivering a finished product. Whether that groundwork translates into lasting momentum will depend on local bands staying visible, fans continuing to turn out and spend money on music and merchandise, and venues continuing to balance national acts with homegrown talent.