Over the last decade — excepting, of course, the annus horribilis that was 2020 — the North Texas music scene has received profound, enduring and highly visible support from civic and private partners.
This shift, exemplified by the ongoing designation of “music friendly cities” at the state level or organizations like Hear Fort Worth and the Dallas Music Office at the city level, has rejuvenated the infrastructure, opened new possibilities for performers and bolstered an industry not exactly known for its stability and plenitude.
Yet, for all those positive developments, many significant challenges remain for all participants in the live music ecosystem: How to attract an audience? How to grow a career? How to keep venue doors open amid so many entertainment options?
Enter JAMBALOO, a free, week-long event set to unfold Feb. 2-8, 2025, across multiple North Texas cities.
Billed by its co-creators — long-time North Texas booking agency Spune Productions and the law firm Mullen & Mullen — as “a community-driven initiative designed to uplift the local music scene during challenging times,” JAMBALOO will blend discussion around industry trends, challenges and strategies, in the form of a symposium, and the celebration of live music with a series of concerts at four different venues.
The confirmed line-up thus far for the inaugural JAMBALOO is a blend of national, regional and local acts, many of whom will be playing far cozier venues than normal: MJ Lenderman, Wild Pink, Lomelda, Slow Joy, Twain, Pretty Boy Aaron, Mark Lettieri, Robert Ellis, the Texas Gentlemen and Quaker City Night Hawks will appear, at one of the following venues — Tulips in Fort Worth; Club Dada in Deep Ellum; Ferris Wheelers in Dallas’ Design District and Andy’s in Denton. (Exact line-ups for each venue are being finalized.)
“One thing I know is smaller venues nationwide, are having some issues,” said Joseph Morrison of Mullen & Mullen. “Shane [Mullen] and I — we battle big, giant insurance companies for a living, and so we’ve always been fans of the little guy. These smaller venues spoke to us. Frankly, they’re just places that need and deserve support.”
The symposium is scheduled to include appearances from rap legend and Dallas native The D.O.C., Grammy-winning Dallas rapper Bobby Sessions and Grammy-winning producer Tre Nagella, among others. It will zero in on how to help push the North Texas scene to the next level. Helpfully, this conversation will be recorded and live-streamed, for those unable to attend.
Although JAMBALOO is in its infancy, Morrison and Corey Pond, Spune’s general manager, another co-founder of the event, are not skimping on ambition, with designs on making the week-long happening “one of the premiere, if not the premiere, free music week in the country,” as Pond put it.
“The easiest way I could explain it is, if in year two or three, we have a significant number of people [attend] who are not from DFW, who are coming here because it sounds awesome to them, then that’s a win,” Pond said. “That’s what we want. We want it to be a national-level event.”
JAMBALOO, multiple venues, Dallas, Denton and Fort Worth. Feb. 2-8, 2025. Admission is free, and attendees can begin to RSVP for their preferred shows starting at noon on Oct. 25.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on X (@prestonjones). Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
