The late eighties saw a movement to promote downtown as not only a place for work, but a destination for living life and socializing after five o’clock. Way before all of the condos, townhouses and urban migration headed back downtown, there was a simple premise that city center should once again become the epicenter for commerce, dining and having fun. Enter Nightfall.
Several incarnations of the concert series were produced by a few different promoters starting as early as 1988. However, it wasn’t until 1992 that a host of corporate sponsors led by the River City Company and Chattanooga Downtown Partnership banded together to create a full-fledged summer-time Friday night concert series in an effort to keep people in the area a little longer before they headed home to the suburbs for the weekend. And, even though downtown has now become the premiere local destination for work, play and living, the goal of Nightfall, and the support of its gracious sponsors, remains the same.
In fact, Nightfall has hosted many famous entertainers, including Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Buddy Guy, The Black Keys, Of Montreal, Derek Trucks Band and JJ Grey & Mofro just to name a few.
So c’mon down and join the party every Friday night from May 20th to September 9th!
Before Nightfall became the concert series we know today, there were other incarnations of concert series held in the plaza dating back to 1988. In its first four years of regular music, Miller Plaza saw performances by many premiere artists, including Buddy Guy, John Prine, John Hiatt, Alex Chilton, Taj Mahal, Tony Joe White, Pinetop Perkins, Dave Mason and more. Here’s a complete listing of who’s played since:
1992
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
RedDog Blues Band
Arrow
Full Kitchen and Sandra Wright
Lucinda Williams
Leo Kottke
Pentangle
David Wilcox and Patty Larkin
Felix and the Cats
Wayne Toups and Zydecajuns
NRBQ
Louden Wainwright III
Zulu Spear
Little Barber and Bad Weather
Maura O’Connell
Acoustic Alchemy
1993
Junior Wells
Steve Forbert
The Rankin Family
Feday Musa Suse and Mandingo
Brave Combo
Alison Krauss and Union Station
Joe Ely
Andy Narrell
Ken Peplowski
Alejandro Escovedo
Sons of the San Joaquin
Jai Uttal
Boozoo Chazis
The Story
Tuck & Patti
Charles Brown’s band with Danny Sample & Taylor Caldwell
Beth Neilson Chapman
1994
Clyde Stubblefield Band
Special EFX
C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band
Morgan Heritage
Marti Jones & Don Dixon
Robert Earl Keen Band
Domestic Science Club
Junior Walker & The All-Stars
Wolfestone
Mac Gayden
Dan Hicks & the Acoustic Warriors
The Klezmatics
Livingston Taylor
James Cotton
Laurie Lewis and Grand Street
Vance Gilbert
Hugh Masekeia
1995
Eddie Palmieri Band
Junior Walker & the All-Stars
Austin Lounge Lizards
Mose Allison
The Roches
Dave Hole
Marc Antoine
Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans
Boiled in Lead
Saffire – Uppity Blues Women
Eric Gales Band
Atchafalaya
Moxy Fruvous
Charles Brown
The Heartbeats Rhythm Quartet
Quetzal
1996
The Iguanasv
Poncho Sanchez
Ron Sexsmith
Sonny Landreth & The Goners
Jay Unger and Molly Mason
Angelique Kidjo
Irma Thomas & the Professionals
Mitch Ryder
Little Dave Thompson & Big Love
Keb’ Mo’
Rosie Flores
Cyrus Chestnut
Barenberg, Douglas & Meyer
The Mollys
Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys
1997
Barenaked Ladies
Kelly Willis
Christine Lavin
Yellowman & the Sagittarius Band
Sam Bush Band
Corey Harris
The Laura Love Band
Allen Fontenot & the Country Cajuns
Son Seals
Flaco Jimenez
Gene Harris
Doyle Dykes
Inca Son
Little Jack Melody & His Young Turks
Maura O’Connell
1998
Susan Tedeschi
Sonia Dada
Chenille Sisters
Creole Junction
New Morty Show
Richard Thompson
Deni Bonet
Zulu Spear
Francine Reed
Todd Snyder
Carey Bell
Bob Mamet
Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys
Tannahill Weavers
Hal Ketchum
1999
Tiny Town
Maria Muldaur
Fantcha
John Mooney & Bluesiana
Robin & Linda Williams
Ram
Al Croce
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Big Rude Jake
R.L. Burnside
Eileen Ivers
Nicholas Payton
Blue Highway
Willie Porter
The Campbell Brothers
Chubby Carrier
2000
Los Mocosos
Pyschograss
Shannon Curfman
Theresa Andersson
Richard Shindell
Chiwonsio
Doc Watson
Snooky Pryor
Eric Heatherly
Joyce Cobb’s Delta Blues Women
Paris Combo
Let’s Go Bowling
The Paperboys
Leo Nocentelli of the Meters
Derek Trucks Band
Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers
2001
The Holmes Brothers
Jesse Colin Young & Sons
David “Fathead” Newman
Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun
The Persuasions
Nickel Creek
Les Yeux Noirs
The Gourds
Wild Magnolia
Eddie Floyd
North Mississippi Allstars
Jonathan Brooke
Stacey Earle
Brother
Peter Rowan
Burning Spear
2002
Graham Parker & the Figgs
Buddy & Julie Miller
Luna
The Dudes
The Brothers Johnson
The Flatlanders
Indigenous
Solas
Zydeco Boneshakers
Anthony Gomes
Charlie Hunter
Pinmonkey
Seven Nations
Jesse Winchester
Nashville Bluegrass Band
Leon Redbone
Tama
2003
The Impressions
Here Come the Mummies
Anders Osbourne & Big Chief Monk Boudreaux
Laura Cantrell
Wes Cunningham
Robert Bradley & Black Water Surprize
Monte Montgomery
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem
West African Highlife Band
Terrence Martin
Speech
The Brubeck Brothers
NRBQ
Alvin Youngblood Heart
Les Yeux Noirs
The Cottars
Del McCoury Band
2004
Billy Joe Shaver
Ricky Fante’
Alison Brown Quartet & Andrea Zonn
Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet
Clumsy Lovers
Garrison Star
Andi Hoffman & Bo-Goes
Larry Carlton & the Saffire Blue Band
Bernard Allison
Deanna Bogart
Wheat
Ryan Shupe & the Rubber Band
Janis Ian
Ricardo Lemvo & Makia Loca
Sonny Landreth
Cherish the Ladies
Lonesome River Band
2005
Buckwheat Zydeco
De Sol
The Waybacks
Mary Gauthier
Marcia Ball
Eric Johnson
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Reckless Kelly
Marshall Crenshaw Power Trio
Guy Davis
Lucy Kaplanski
Wolfestone
The Black Keys
Joey Defrancesco Trio
Be Good Tanyas
Adrian Belew
King Wilkie
2006
Lil’ Brian & the Zydeco Travelers
The Sun Ra Arkestra
Junior Brown
The Greencards
Susan Cowsill
Deadstring Brothers
Jake Shimabukuro
John Cowan Band
Del Castillo
Terry Anderson & the OAK Team
Shemekia Copeland
Of Montreal
Tim O’Brien
The Bad Plus
Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men
The Elders
Bettye Lavette
2007
Chris Thile & the How to Grow a Band featuring Bryan Sutton
Luke Doucet
Cadillac Sky
The Screaming Orphans
The Soul of John Black
Bobby Bare Jr.
Thomas Mapfumo
Eric Lindell
Del Castillo
Gandolph Murphy & the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars
Lenahan
Freddy Cole Quartet
Paul Thorn Band
Eric Bibb
Red Stick Ramblers
Howard Jones Acoustic Duo
2008
Mike Farris Band
Karla Bonoff
Back Door Slam
Groundation
Asylum Street Spankers
Bonerama
Ruthie Foster
Clair Lynch Band
Soulive
Michelle Shocked & the Lee Boys
The Whigs
Robben Ford
Hal Ketchum
Blue Mountain
Basia Bulat
Belleville Outfit
Big Al Anderson & the Balls
2009
Lil’ Malcom & the House Rockers
Nation Beat
Carolyn Wonderland
Reed Thomas Lawrence
JJ Grey & Mofro
Dan Baird & Homemade Sin
Ben Sollee
Eleni Mandell
Daby Toure’
Act of Congress
Rocco Deluca & the Burden
John Nemeth
Shotgun Party
Enter the Haggis
Carlene Carter
Dr. Dog
The Gibson Brothers
2010
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Josh Charles
Farewell Drifters
Grupo Fantasma
Raul Midón
Bottle Rockets
Mooreland & Arbuckle
Plants and Animals
Hot Club of Cowtown
Black 47
Civil Twilight
Warren Hood
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Katie Herzig
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion
The Lost Fingers