The making of Homegrown Concert Series, Little Rock's best kept secret

 

Have you ever had a song on your playlist that you skip often but one day you decide to let it play and it turns out to be the best song you heard in a while? Imagine that but instead of just one song it’s a whole collection of songs from a diverse group of artists, and better these artists are all in close proximity to you.

This is the idea of ‘Homegrown: the concert series’ produced right here in Little Rock in 2019. 

“The mission of [Homegrown] is to be a pub source for local artists and talent,” artist, producer and creator of Homegrown, Stoney Jackson said. “We already have local shows happening around the city, so Homegrown essentially is just my version of that.”

Jackson wanted to cultivate an “intimate” concert series that not only features artists and talent from the city but also has a “kickback” vibe to it to where people can gather and revel.

“When I got there it was super warming, it was such a different atmosphere compared to what I had been around,” Char Dupins, 2019 attendee and 2021 Homegrown host, said. “Everybody was dancing, clowning and having a good time.”

“The performances were of course why we were there but to see the community and see all these people that support other artists, it really put me on to other artists,”  Char said.

‘Homegrown’ was curated in the summer of 2019 and consisted of six shows that ran from July to November. Each show gave attendees access to a full bar with complimentary food.

The 2019 shows mainly featured hip-hop and r&b artists but Jackson plans to expand in the future. “It was mostly hip-hop and r&b that year because it was people that we know but we plan to network and reach out to different genres,” Jackson said. “We want to include everybody in the concert series.”

While Jackson was mostly the brains and muscle behind this project, he acquired the help of a fellow Little Rock artist and co-owner of Unemployed Records to gather talent for the shows, Dadaman, who also goes by Dada. Dada, who lives across the hall from Jackson says the collaboration was organic. Jackson juggled the idea of Homegrown around with Dada after he saw one of his self-produced shows titled ‘Stoned’. 

“Stoney said he liked the show and he was like ‘man we need to do an outside show’,” Dada explained. “The ideas just came together. I already had the crowd and stuff...it just worked.” 

This idea has been something that Jackson has been cultivating for years, 3 years to be exact. Stoney funded the whole project out of pocket, using all the resources he had available to bring his idea to life. “It was totally out of pocket, I built the stage out of pallets, I used majority of my studio equipment and brought it outside,”Jackson said. 

Being that the shows publicized artists whose home is here in Little Rock, it was only right that the venue was close to home as well, in fact very close. Homegrown 2019  was actually held in Dada and Jackson’s very own backyard in downtown Little Rock. “We stay across the hall from each other so we used to always talk about it,” Dada said.

While Stoney worked out the mechanics of the series Dada helped publicize it and recruit talent. “I’m a people person. People really gravitate towards me,” Dada said. With him having experience throwing shows and being a popular figure in Little Rock, he helped build hype to the movement. 

“I know a lot of artists too. I’m cool with a lot of artists so it helped us really get alot of artists who probably wouldn't perform at other places,” Dada said.

As far as the criteria for selecting artists to perform, the two wanted to use this opportunity to shine a light on lesser known artists around the city. “We tried to reach out to people who weren’t necessarily tapped to perform,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot of dope artists, I feel like sometimes the music scene can be a little clique-ish, so we tried to reach out to people that we knew on a personal level.”

Nevertheless, they also made sure to select people who were truly serious about their craft. “I have to see the work ethic,” Dada said. “I’m picking on artists who book studio time, investing in videos, who invest in themselves… we just wanted to put a spotlight on those artists,” Dada said.

And Homegrown did exactly that, put a spotlight on artists putting in work and sharing their music with the city. Artists that performed felt that it gave them a chance to connect with listeners in a cool way. 

“I liked performing because of the intimate feeling. It’s cool how [Stoney] took a narrow alley and made it a performance venue,” Penn Davis, one of the performers at Homegrown said. “I feel like  it connected me with people who up to that point I only knew through the internet. So I got to meet people who I’ve never met and engage in a different way with them.”

“It definitely added another element to me...I’m not just an artist now. I could do anything, I could throw shows… people look to me for a lot of other stuff now,” Dada said. 

Homegrown wasn’t only a concert series to the people of Little Rock, it was a movement. It was something these people looked forward to every other Saturday to connect, vibe and embrace the people right here in the city.

“It was great. It’s a lot of love. It’s people you see and hang around everyday who wanna see you do good,” Dada said “It’s hard to get support in Arkansas especially in Little Rock. The fact that people were supporting it… I was just shocked and like speechless. It makes me want to do more, it gives me confidence for the future,” Dada said.

For Homegrown 2021 Stoney is producing the show solo and says it will be done on a much more grand scale than the 2019 run. Homegrown will make it’s return May 29 with a bigger and better secret location. Instead of the continuous Saturday night series that took place in 2019, this year will be an all inclusive all day event. This year’s show will be hosted by Char Dupins aka Chiggy Char and will headline a total of 24 local artist. One ticket will give you an all access pass to music, drinks, food, a free T-shirt, and tons of vibes.

 “This year it’s more of a festival feel,” Stoney said. “It’ll be an all day thing from 2:00pm-10:00 pm. We’ll still do free food and free alcohol. We got Char hosting this year which I’m really excited to see what she does on her own on stage. I can’t spill the beans on everything but definitely some new and improved type stuff.”

The Homegrown team encourages everybody to come out and see what the hype is about. “I want people to really come with the energy to support and remember why we are here and what this is all about,” Char said. “Even when you are out there having a good time like it’s bigger than seeing people perform, these are all opportunities that we all can get… I hope everybody can come out and participate and it is their vibe. I think it’s something that they don’t want to miss for sure.”

For updates and more details follow @homegrownconcertseries on instagram.