Over recent years, DJ Liz Lane, the host of WEVL’s Modern Girl show, was especially tuned in to the wealth of women in Memphis music. Seeing them sporadically here and there, she felt the city was reaching a kind of critical mass of women performers — you just wouldn’t see that reflected in show bills around town. “I would be going to these venues,” she recalls, “and I’m like, ‘Where are all the females on the lineup?’ You would look at the events calendars, and it was definitely a minimum of 80 to 90 percent all males for the month.” There was a sharp disconnect between that and what she was seeing on the ground. “I was meeting so many female musicians that I was like, ‘Why? I don’t understand why they’re not on the boards more.’”
That, in part, is what motivated Lane to team up with local performer and producer Miz Stefani early in 2022 to initiate the Women in Memphis Music (WiMM) group, “bringing female/female-identifying musicians in Memphis together to create a community that thrives.” And right out of the gate, they were hosting monthly “WiMM Presents …” throw-downs at B-Side Memphis, a tradition that has steadily grown in popularity. Now, something bigger is afoot: the inaugural WiMM Festival, an all-day event at the Hi Tone this Saturday, June 24th.
Putting the festival together, they found that some artists’ success actually prevented them from participating. “We kind of put this wish list together,” says Miz Stefani, “and we had people who we wanted to be on the lineup, but, you know, Alicja Trout was out of town, Louise Page, out of town, Cyrena Wages, out of town.” And yet there was no shortage of equally stellar talent to choose from. The festival will feature two pioneers of women in Memphis music: the master jazz vocalist and harp player Joyce Cobb and The KLiTZ Sisters. The latter band is fronted by two founding members of the KLiTZ, “Memphis’ very first all-women punk band,” as Stefani notes.
Aside from their thriving current careers, these two acts represent an important era of Memphis history: the gonzo days of the 1970s. Cobb came here in 1976 to pursue a contract with Stax Records just as the label went under, but nevertheless found the polyglot musical culture of the city to her liking. By the decade’s end, she would enjoy some chart success with the prescient, Afro-pop influenced “Dig the Gold.” Meanwhile, the KLiTZ came together in 1978, adjacent to Alex Chilton’s scene and his work with the Cramps, whose Poison Ivy was another icon of women in punk.
A third marquee name on the bill also represents the height of musicianship among Memphis women today: saxophonist extraordinaire Hope Clayburn. Beyond work with her own group, Soul Scrimmage, she can often be seen in her many side projects, including the rock/jazz/classical hybrid group Frog Squad.
Other familiar names in the ongoing renaissance of women in rock will also be at WiMM Fest, including Mama Honey, Little Baby Tendencies, Oakwalker, Rosey, and Maggie Trisler’s Mystic Light Casino. Stefani also points out two artists less often seen in Midtown haunts. “Raneem Imam is an Arab-American girl, a really great composer and songwriter. I was blown away when I found out how young she was because her songs have the maturity of somebody who knows the R&B that I grew up with. And Glockianna is a rapper from South Memphis who’s already gone viral on social media. She is on fire! And she’s already played festivals in Miami and Austin. She’s kind of in the vein of Gangsta Boo, RIP.”
Stefani, for her part, is excited to see that critical mass of female artists made real. “It’s absolutely a celebration. And we also hope that WiMM Fest is a connector for a lot of attendees to find their new favorite local band, to learn more about the history of women in Memphis music, and just for the artists to meet each other. Because sometimes scenes can be very insular, where people are only over here or there, or only go to certain shows. But we are all musicians. So we want to strengthen the community and build the community of women musicians here as well.”
WiMM Fest 2023 is at the Hi Tone on Saturday, June 24th, 5 p.m.-midnight. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit wimmfest.com. Tickets cost $30.
