Tate found herself among 26 other hopefuls, such as McKenzie Brown, The Blue Line and Carson Lewis, to help “transform public spaces and strengthen Dallas’ reputation as a ‘Music Friendly City,’” the Dallas Music Office pointed out in a Jan. 22 press release.
“I played one song,” Tate says. “It was very friendly and super-welcoming and warm. I was nervous going into it, and as soon as I walked into the room, I calmed down and felt confident."
Inspired by New York City’s Music Under New York program, Dallas Sounds Amplified kicked off last fall with seven artists who secured paying gigs linked to their street performances.
“I actually met DART workers,” says Remy Reilly, who participated in the pilot program and served as a judge for this year’s busking talent pool. “I met people who are actively making Dallas better. … It was cool to see the inner workings of the city, to sit outside in the middle of downtown Dallas. I’m always there at night and not really taking in the city. It was an opportunity to see the city in real-time during the day.”
This year’s roster includes 17 artists, including Luke Herbert, Mkn Coffee, Caleb Dean and Wang Taylor. The Thin Blue Line, Brown and Lewis and Tate will join them.
“My band Going Places is thrilled to be a part of the Dallas busking initiative and excited to help support the newly formed Dallas Music Office,” Savannah Young from Going Places wrote in a Feb. 20 email. “KERA and local venues like the Kessler Theater have been doing the work promoting local musicians for a long time, but it's exciting to see the city making an effort to support us now, too.”
Tate looks forward to the professional development opportunities, the year-long inclusion in the music office directory and the networking possibilities.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity,” Tate says. “It’s a great exposure for me.”
Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart, the director of Cultural Tourism and the Dallas Music Office, says the buskers' information and training session will start the week of March 17. In collaboration with Downtown Dallas, Inc. and DART, the busking program will kick off in late March or early April in downtown Dallas.
The Dallas Music Office was created last year by Visit Dallas as an extension of the Texas Music Office to serve as a marketing and community hub for artists, bands, venues and stakeholders invested in the city’s music scene.
Kirkenaer-Hart stresses that these buskers are vetted artists who know what they’re doing and that this is a professional development program. Those who aren’t selected receive a critique so they have a roadmap to try again.
While Dallas may not be a walking city like New York, Kirkenaer-Hart says the organizers are offsetting the lower tips from buskers' performances with paid gigs, placement in a promoting directory to play corporate and public gigs and other opportunities in Dallas nightlife.
“I’m ecstatic at the level of talent in this lineup and to the point where I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’” Kirkenaer-Hart says. “We have a pretty consistent pipeline of feedback, and the [artists from the pilot program] freaking loved it and got gigs directly from it.”
This year, buskers will play at eight locations downtown, though Kirkenaer-Hart would like to move them to Deep Ellum in the fall.
Other artists playing include H.E.I.S (Will Fitzgerald), The Kid Brothers, Dev Wulf, Alexandra (Lexie Pritchard), Leslie Austin, Gracen Wynn, Erfan Ebadipour and Sam Cormier, who also performed in the pilot program last year.
A Tale of One City
“This program has allowed me to share my music in new areas of the city, something I never imagined doing years ago,” Wynn said in the Jan. 22 news release. “It’s incredibly rewarding to sing these songs and see someone smile because of it.”A veteran busker, Cormier started last year’s program in August and wrapped it up around December. He’s been busking for a few years, mainly at Pegasus Plaza. He plays guitar and sometimes will set up a drum machine and a piano. The singer points out that people aren’t aware of how many musicians and artists call Dallas home.
For Cormier, a memorable moment occurred in late January at the House of Blues audition when, after his performance, one of the artists approached him.
“[They] said that it was inspiring to see a queer artist being visible in Dallas, making music and putting themselves out there and just being themselves,” Cormier says.
Over the years as a busker, Cormier has had several memorable moments happen at Pegasus Plaza. The artist recalls a time when a religious protest and counter-protest occurred. Both sides were yelling, amplified by speakers, as if protesters were trying to decide who could make their point the loudest.
Eventually, Cormier sat with someone who called himself Earl. He’d just gotten out of jail and had gone home only to discover that his family had sold his house. He had nowhere to go and asked Cormier to play Stevie Wonder covers.
“I sat with my acoustic guitar and hung out and played a bit,” Cormier says. “He was saying it was his dream to be a photographer. I wish I could find him and give him a camera.”
