As many people of Mill Valley know by now, Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals will headline the inaugural the Mill Valley Music Festival, a one-day, multi-faceted, all-ages outdoor arts and culture event, presented by the Mill Valley Chamber, and held on Friends Field behind the Mill Valley Community Center on Saturday, May 7, from 12-7 p.m.
The Chamer told the Mill Valley Herald last week that “we’ll continue to work feverishly to make MVMF something the community can be proud of, with a full day of amazing music but also world-class food and drink and activities and art and games and entertainers and much, much more.”
Since his debut with “Welcome to the Cruel World” in 1994, Harper’s career has been steeped in both breadth and depth, recording both as a solo performer and with the Innocent Criminals, Fistful of Mercy, Relentless7 and Charlie Musselwhite.
In an interview late last year with Relix, Harper discussed his decision to launch Mad Bunny Records in April 2020 with Beautiful Day Media’s Elizabeth Freund, “who has worked as a publicist, producer and manager over the course of a career that began in the late ‘80s—her recent press campaigns include Ringo Starr, Paul Simon and Joe Walsh,” Dean Budnick writes.
“I had been thinking about starting a label off and on for years,” Harper told Relix. “As the landscape shifted and shape-shifted, which it’s still doing now, it became more and more apparent that it was something I wanted to do. Timing is everything, and the timing seemed right for Elizabeth and myself to jump in and give it a shot. Thanks to Elizabeth’s savviness when it comes to the music industry, coupled with who I am and what I’ve done in the business, it’s been an exciting prospect to see what this label can be.”
You can still buy tickets to the festival at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce.
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