Hamtramck Music Fest 2020 - Podcast & Guide

The Hamtramck Music Fest will take over the City of Hamtramck for the 7th year in a row, during the weekend of February 27-29. This year, the fest will showcase 189 acts at 23 venues throughout the city. There are some new venues on the list this time around, like Bar/Ter, The Film Lab, Port, and even St. Florian Church is getting in on the fun. The church will feature keyboard musicians playing music on the pipe organ at St. Florian, with performances by TradeMark Psalm, Yorg Kerasiotis, and Luis Resto. Another thing that is different for this year's fest is that the kick off on Thursday night will take place at 2 different venues. This time around, it will be at The High Dive and Bar/Ter. (Ant Hall will be hosting Hedwig this weekend, so they won't be taking part in the event. But, that's an amazing show too!)

One thing that hasn't changed about HMF is that it is the best deal around. Once again this year, wristbands for the entire weekend are only $15. They can be purchased online here or at the following locations:

Dearborn Music, Detroit Record Club, Detroit Threads, Dr. Disc (Windsor), Cafe 1923, Encore Records, Flipside Records, Found Sound, Hello Records, Melodies & Memories, Nosh Pit, Paramita Sound, Peoples Records, Rat Queen Vintage, Record Graveyard, Rock City Music, Smalls, Solo Records, Stormy Records, Street Corner Music, Third Wave Music, UHF Records, Underground Vinyl, Weirdsville Records

Once again this year, proceeds from the event will go to the Hamtramck Public Schools’ Music and Art programs. In years past, these funds have provided things like instruments for the marching band, and a new state-of-the-art mixing board and stage microphones for the High School auditorium.

To get ready for this year's HMF, we sat down with a few bands playing and chatted about the event. Our guests on this episode include Sean Donnelly - The Doozers, Jack Mullen - Kimball, Chris Jarvis - Ancient Language, Noah De Leon - Leland Blue, and James Linck. Click play below to give that podcast a listen, and then hit play below that to listen to tunes from all of these artists. (Special thanks to Ghost Light for letting us record this podcast in their space!)

If you would like to see any of these acts during this year's HMF, they will be playing at the following times:

Ancient Language - Friday at 11 PM @ New Dodge Lounge

James Linck - Friday at 11:30 PM @ The Painted Lady

Leland Blue - Saturday at 9 PM @ New Dodge Lounge

The Doozers - Saturday at 10 PM @ New Dodge Lounge

Kimball - Saturday at 11 PM @ New Dodge Lounge

Check out all of the other bands that are playing HMF on the schedule below. And make sure to keep that map handy so you can get to all of the venues! Remember, there will be free shuttles running between the venues, so take advantage of that service and make it to as many of these shows as you can!

~C