The Black Keys, Jason Isbell kick off Mempho Music Festival with big Memphis shoutout

The Radians Amphitheater boomed with familiar names and sounds as the 2022 Mempho Music Festival kicked off at the Memphis Botanic Garden's venue.

Small but enthusiastic early-arriving crowds were greeted with performances by rising roots stars Bette Smith and Adia Victoria, who helped usher in the three-day festival’s early hours on Friday. The masses began to swell at sunset for a pair of Nashville-based acts with deep Memphis and Mid-South ties.

Grammy-winning Americana singer-songwriter Jason Isbell has become a favorite in the Bluff City rising through its various stages — moving from Minglewood Hall to the Orpheum to Beale Street Music Festival, and making multiple appearances at Mempho.

The former University of Memphis student — who quit just a few credits shy of a degree in creative writing and got his start playing local coffeehouse The Map Room in the ‘90s — made the most of his return to Mempho backed by his band, The 400 Unit (which includes drummer and former Memphian Chad Gamble, and on this night also featured an appearance by Isbell’s wife, fiddler/vocalist Amanda Shires).

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During an opening salvo highlighted by moody pieces like “24 Frames” and “Easier,” Isbell joked about his time in town. “I used to live in Memphis. I went to Memphis State ...” he said. “I had a good time. Some days I had a great time. But I always had a good time.”

Isbell’s set powered along with sharp renditions of “Alabama Pines,” “Cover Me Up” and “Super 8,” as well as his old Drive-By Truckers number “Decoration Day,” which he dedicated to recently departed Truckers cover artist Wes Freed.Isbell then brought on Mempho Festival eminence Chuck Leavell, the keyboard veteran of the Allman Brothers Band, for a rousing version of the Allman’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” to cap the performance.

Headliners The Black Keys injected an added dose of the Delta into their performance. The blues rock duo — led by guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney — also have regional ties, having established themselves on the North Mississippi label Fat Possum.

The group made a point of emphasizing that connection, playing a batch of material off their 2021 Hill Country blues tribute album, “Delta Kream,” which featured the songs of Mississippi legends R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough (as well as a cover image by fellow Mississippian/Memphian William Eggleston). The band brought out that album’s featured collaborators, including bluesmen Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, helping transform the Radians Amphitheater, at least momentarily, into a massive juke joint.

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Before the show, Auerbach made the rounds of Memphis record stores in the company of another collaborator, local rocker Greg Cartwright, who helped co-write several tracks on The Black Keys’ latest album, “Dropout Boogie,” including the album’s lead single, “Wild Child” (which the group performed, while shouting out Cartwright).

The song was one of several standout moments from the Keys' 90-minute set, which moved through their 20-plus-year, 11-album catalog and set the stage for what promised to be an interesting weekend of shows at Mempho.

Saturday’s headliners include reunited Memphis band Big Ass Truck and Southern jam band titans Widespread Panic (who will also close out the festival on Sunday). The final day’s performers include Chicago rockers Wilco, Mississippi blues legend Bobby Rush, Americana queen Allison Russel and New Orleans soul collective Tank and the Bangas.