The annual Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee has announced its 2020 lineup featuring Alabama Shakes frontwoman and genre spanning singer Brittany Howard, folk rock band The Avett Brothers and rapper Lil Wayne, who will perform at Tom Lee Park from May 1-3. Other prominent acts that will be performing at the festival include indie rock bands The Lumineers and Portugal. the Man, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and trap pioneers Three Six Mafia.

Unlike many other high profile music festivals, which are owned by for-profit corporate entities the Beale Street Music Festival is organized by Memphis in May, a 501-C(3) not-for-profit, community-based organization.

Howard released her debut album Jaime earlier this year, which was supported by singles such as “Stay High,” and “History Repeats.” This latest album is a departure from her well known blues/rock inspired sound which she performed with the Alabama Shakes, and was made with the help of producer and piano player Robert Glasper, giving it a more soulful. and jazzy edge.

“The lyrical content is what really makes the album tick,” mxdwn reviewer Arnim Whisler explained. “Howard details her upbringing as a mixed-race child in the South, losing the sister who taught her how to play music to cancer and learning how to love oneself and that ultimately is what pushes this album over the bar.”

The Avett Brothers also debuted an album project titled Closer Than Together earlier this year. “In their latest album Closer Than Together, the Avett Brothers don’t try to conceal the message they are trying to convey. It is an explicitly contemporary political album that at times seems more a way for vocalists, songwriters and brothers Scott and Seth Avett to reckon with their own place and societal climate experience,” mxdwn reviewer Spencer Culbertson explained.

UPDATE (2/21): Beale Street Music Festival has added The Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The 1975, Nelly, Reignwolf, 311, Weezer, 21 Savage, Of Monsters and Men, Liam Gallagher, Sheer Mag, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Louis The Child, DaBaby, Rivals Sons, Mavis Staples and Patty Griffin to their 2020 lineup. See below for an updated day-by-day flyer.

Photo Credit: Ekaterina Gorbacheva