20 March 20 - 26, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Sidewalk Serenade Dallas now has a city- funded buskers program. BY CHRISTIAN MCPHATE S inger-songwriter Carly Tate had only been in Dallas for about six months in late Janu- ary when she found herself at House of Blues, auditioning for a spot as a busker for Dallas Sounds Ampli- fied, the city’s first-ever city-funded busker initiative. Tate was 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 Un- der New York program, Dallas Sounds Am- plified 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 down- town Dallas. I’m always there at night and not really taking in the city. It was an op- portunity to see the city in real-time during the day.” This year’s roster includes 17 artists, in- cluding 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 ex- cited to help support the newly formed Dal- las 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 promot- ing 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 Of- fice, says the buskers’ information and train- ing 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 down- town 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, ven- ues and stakeholders invested in the city’s music scene. Kirkenaer-Hart stresses that these busk- ers are vetted artists who know what they’re doing and that this is a professional develop- ment 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 or- ganizers are offsetting the lower tips from buskers’ performances with paid gigs, place- ment in a promoting directory to play corpo- rate 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 loca- tions 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, Er- fan Ebadipour and Sam Cormier, who also per- formed in the pilot pro- gram last year. “This program has al- lowed 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 ma- chine 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 oc- curred 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-pro- test occurred. Both sides were yelling, am- plified 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 photogra- pher. I wish I could find him and give him a camera.” | B-SIDES | t Music Andrew Sherman Above: Remy Reilly is one of the artists participating in Dallas Sounds Amplified. Left: Carly Tate is a budding Dallas artist. Dawn Muncy ALWAYS IN YOUR FEED. CHOOSE YOUR CHANNEL
