Kenny Dorham's Backyard

06/05/2026

East 11th Street is where the cool comes from!! Check out Charm School Vintage if you want some Eastside style!

06/01/2026

🎶 TEXAS BLUES REUNION! KEEP THE HISTORY ALIVE AT BLUE MONDAY TONIGHT! 🎶

🎸 Every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Happy Black Music History Month!! Join us tonight at Blue Monday Blues Jam and help carry this tradition of Blues fellowship into the future of East Austin! To celebrate this month, we are sharing the documentary project, TEXAS BLUES REUNION, one of the few living records of East Austin’s African American cultural heritage.

A historic reunion concert was held on Juneteenth, 1987, at the Victory Grill on East 11th St. Some of the greates Blues musicians, including B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland, who had played there decades earlier gathered and shared their stories of the scene.

Event and video was conceived of and produced by Tary Owens. Scriptwriter and interviewer was Martha Hartzog. Paul Congo directed and edited the video production.

Blue Monday Blues Jam is how we honor the history, uplift the creative originators, and ensure the African American cultural memory of East Austin is carried onward with the next generation of creatives.

Harold McMillan brought this memory back to the forefront in a facebook post this past week and offered his insight...

“Believe or not, austin blues used to be Black. and it lived at the Victory Grill on E. 11th St....and at Sam’s Showcase, the IL Club, Charlies Playhouse, Ernie’s Chicken Shack and several other joints that were gentrified out of existence.

so, you say you’re part of the austin blues tradition and your knowledge only goes back to Clifford Antone (whom I loved as a person and for the work he did), you’re missing the point and you don’t really know where you are.

if Clifford were alive today, he would tell you where he found his early local blues players—before he brought folks from Oak Cliff, West Texas, Louisiana, and Chicago. and he could tell you this history his own self. educate yourself. know where TF you is at.”

- H

05/28/2026

Don’t miss the Freedom Jazz Mo’tet’s return to the Kenny Dorham's stage tonight!

⏰ Doors at 7:30PM
🪐8PM - &
🌊9PM - Freedom Jazz Mo’tet
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

🍺 BYOB / 🥃 BYOL
🌭 Hippie Picnic & Hippie Ice food trucks onsite
🥤 Water & soft drinks available
🎟️ $5+ Suggested Donation

Event: Freedom Jazz Mo'tet

Sponsored and Produced by East Austin Creative Coalition

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

05/26/2026

Join us this Thursday at the Backyard for an evening of jazz and beyond!

👁️ 8PM - Villwock & Mankenberg - musical symbiosis, shifting psychedelic textures, jazz fusion pyrotechnics (keys/drums duo)
💥 9PM - Freedom Jazz Mo’tet - deep grooves, monster riffs, and intense interplay led by Harold McMillan

⏰ Doors at 7:30PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

🍺 BYOB / 🥃 BYOL
🌭 Hippie Picnic & Hippie Ice Food trucks onsite
🥤 Water & soft drinks available
🎟️ $5+ Suggested Donation

Sponsored and Produced by East Austin Creative Coalition-EACC

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

05/25/2026

Sorry to report...
WE ARE RAINED OUT TODAY.
NO BLUE MONDAY BLUES JAM AT KDs

05/25/2026

05/25/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY BLUES JAM IS BACK TONIGHT 🎶

🎸 May 25th and Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Join us tonight for the Blue Monday Blues Jam, a 25-year-plus tradition of blues fellowship in historic East Austin hosted by Harold McMillan and the - .wallace710 on vocals and guitar, on guitar, on drums, on keys and on bass and if we’re lucky, sax support from and !

Bring your instruments, your voice, or just your ears—players, singers, dancers, and listeners are all welcome. ✨

This ain’t just music—it’s East Austin culture.
Come be part of the legacy. 💙

This season we are also sharing documentary archive materials from the Blues Family Tree Project that spotlight the creatives who helped build Austin’s musical history.

JW Davis played saxophone as a member of the Yellow Jacket Band at L.C. Anderson High School after moving to Austin from Beaumont, TX. Soon he began composing and arranging his own Jazz pieces, performing at various jazz and blues clubs, and leading many of his own bands, such as the Not’cho Saxophone Quartet and the East Side Horns, a five piece ensemble featuring local Austin legends “Donald Duck” Jennings and Pat “Homeboy” Patterson on trumpet and flugelhorn, Pat Murphy on baritone sax, and Kaz Kazinoff on reeds.

While coming up in East Austin’s music scene, he was a strong admirer of T.D. Bell, regularly attending his blues nights as an audience member and a player. They bonded over a shared passion for writing and composing music, with J.W. even arranging horn sections for T.D.’s music. This friendship earned him canonization as an East Austin music legend, sharing his saxophone talents with Erbie Bowser and the Blues Specialists, and Matthew Robinson and the Texas Blues Band.

J.W. now lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he continues to compose music for saxophone and guitar.

Photo credit: photography contact sheet by Diane Watts of J.W. Davis with the East Side Horns at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series, Antone’s (1992)

05/21/2026

The Freedom Jazz Mo’tet shall ride again next Thursday May 28th! Prepare yourself for searing groove-based improvisations rooted in jazz, blues, and funk anchored by bassist .

Keys/drums duo Villwock & Mankenberg will open up the night with a sonic odyssey from tight grooves to ambient chaos and back again! Jazz fusion shredding, fluid drum textures, and spiritual revelation await you.

⏰ Doors at 7:30PM | Music 8-10PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

🍺 BYOB
🌭 Hippie Picnic & Hippie Ice Food trucks onsite
🥤 Water & soft drinks available
🎟️ $5+ Suggested Donation

Sponsored and Produced by East Austin Creative Coalition

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

atxmusic atxlivemusic do512 jazz jazzfusion freejazz freeimprovisation nonprofit

05/21/2026

The Freedom Jazz Mo’tet shall ride again next Thursday May 28th! Prepare yourself for searing groove-based improvisations rooted in jazz, blues, and funk anchored by bassist Harold McMillan.

Keys/drums duo Villwock & Mankenberg will open up the night with a sonic odyssey from tight grooves to ambient chaos and back again! Jazz fusion shredding, fluid drum textures, and spiritual revelation await you.

Event: Freedom Jazz Mo'tet

⏰ Doors at 7:30PM | Music 8-10PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

🍺 BYOB
🌭 Hippie Picnic & Hippie Ice Food trucks onsite
🥤 Water & soft drinks available
🎟️ $5+ Suggested Donation

Sponsored and Produced by East Austin Creative Coalition-EACC

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

05/18/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY BLUES JAM BACK AGAIN TONIGHT 🎶

🎸 Every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

The Blue Monday Blues Jam is an evening of cultural fellowship, community, and creativity, hosted by and the , .wallace710 and on guitar, on drums, on keys, and and on sax!

Bring your instruments, bring your ears, bring your self. All are welcome at the Jam!

Help us celebrate the creative legacy and musical history that built Austin, TX!

Elouise Burrell performing with Matthew Robinson (pictured in background), Henry “Blues Boy” Hubbard, and the East Side Horns at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series, Antone’s (1992). Photography contact sheet by Diane Watts.

Elouise Burrell is an acclaimed vocalist, percussionist, recording artist, dancer, actress and event producer born in Palestine, Texas, now living and working in Ft. Worth.

She worked as a tour-de-force organizer in Austin’s creative community as former director of the Black Arts Alliance, coordinating interdisciplinary Black arts events in Austin such as the annual Juneteenth festivities.

She performed key roles in numerous plays with ZACH Theater, participated in the Texas Music Review tour of Western Europe and USSR, and was a formative member of multiple creative ensembles including her band, Trickle Down, an 8-piece jazz-fusion-funk dance group that mixed Afro-Caribbean rhythms with impactful social messages.

She contributed beautiful vocals to Scintilla, a black women’s singing group, and OJALÃ, a woman-led blend of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and contemporary rhythms and songwriting.

Cofounded by herself and Dumile Vokwana, Elouise was also a member of the SF-based Amandla Poets, a 10-piece jazz-influenced world music group rooted in anti-apartheid South African protest and empowerment. she was also a leader in the Cultural Heritage Choir, a voice and percussion ensemble noted for participating in Invisible Wings, a site-specific performance event inspired by the Underground Railroad.

05/05/2026

Please take a moment for this recording of Claudia Williams and the Voices of Christ at Huston Tillotson College Chapel from June 1, 1994.

Claudia, the legendary directress of the St. James Missionary Baptist Church choir, founded one of Austin’s most highly-regarding Gospel choirs. This performance shows the ceremonious passion that the Voices of Christ brought to each of their performances.

Claudia came up in a distinguished musical lineage as a descendent of the Franklins, Austin’s first family of Gospel. E.M. Franklin, member of the historic Austin group, The Paramount Singer, hand-picked her to lead her first choir at age 14 and appointed her as Minister of Music for all of St. James church at only 16. Ever since, Claudia has been dedicated to this vocation as a standard-bearer of Austin’s faith music communities.

This performance was produced as part of the Blues Family Tree Concert Series, an initiative that served to create a living record of Austin’s founding creative community.

When Jim Crow legislation segregated African American life to East Austin, the community began building strong cultural institutions, two colleges, and thriving commerce and nightlife. For multiple decades, 11th-12th Street was the home of Austin’s most active music scene. With desegregation came the gradual disintegration of the cultural core of Black East Austin. Many artists didn’t find sufficient work once the scene moved west of I35. Because this creative work was rarely documented, histories of the Live Music Capital of the World seldom acknowledge Austin’s true community of music pioneers.

The Blues Family Tree Project seeks to address this scarcity of documentation and provide a more complete look into East Austin’s music scene. At a time when the community is further besieged by gentrification, cultural archivists and researchers can help fortify the African American Cultural Heritage District as the birth place of Austin’s musical identity.

Interested in learning more about Austin music history?

Reach out via DM or email! By getting involved, you can have a lasting impact on the cultural landscape of East Austin’s future.

Photo credit: Diane Watts

05/04/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY BEATITUDES ONCE AGAIN!! 🎶

🎸 May 4th and every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Doors 7:17pm
Assorted Chocolates 7:45-8:15pm
Blues jam 8:15-10pm

Join us tonight at the backyard for the decades old tradition, Blue Monday Blues Jam! All are welcome, dancers, singers, players, poets, and those who just need to connect with community.

This event serves to amplify the sound of African American musical culture through old-school East Austin blues, but it won’t be the only sound you hear. The Assorted Chocolates are well versed in all the styles that make up the mosaic of East Austin music. Every jam is infused with Jazz, R&B, and even gospel!

This week, we are sharing an incredible photo of Claudia William’s and the Voices of Christ, a community choir that has led the music of East Austin faith communities for decades. This jam also serves to recognize the musical leaders of East Austin!

Head on over, bring your instrument and sign up on the sheet at the front of the stage! We will try to get you up on stage to share your talents!

Come be a part of the legacy!

Assorted Chocolates:

Ivan Wallace (.wallace710 ) - vocals & guitar
Willie Johnson ( ) - guitar
Damien Greene ( ) - drums
Trevor Villwock ( ) - keys
Harold McMillan ( ) - bass

BYOB
Limited supply of Free Beer available
Water and soft drinks available
All Ages
Bring your blankets or use our chairs
Free event, $5-10 suggested donation

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

Photo credit: Gospel vocalist and St. James Baptist choral director, Claudia Williams, with the Voices of Christ community choir performing for the Blues Family Tree Concert Series photographed by Diane Watts at Huston Tillotson College Chapel (1994)

Sponsored and produced by

05/04/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who came out this weekend to support the emerging filmmakers of UT RTF 366K! EAST AUSTIN STORIES has been an annual tradition at the Backyard that brings us together to listen and learn from the personal narratives of our community on the Eastside.

Also a huge thank you to the students and Professor for their hard work in bringing these stories to light.

As we have learned, simply listening can be an empowering act for the filmmaker and the documentary subject, and just as well the audience and the creative community as a whole.

Celebrating this event at the Backyard has helped to nest the endeavor of documentary storytelling within the community whose voice is being shared, allowing for a greater poignancy and presence of personal truth.

We can’t wait to see how these young filmmaker move forward in their craft!

If you’d like to keep up with past documentary shorts or watch the projects that were shared at this year’s screening, visit youtube.com/ or hit the link in our bio!

photo credit:

04/29/2026

EAST AUSTIN STORIES 2026: Documentary Shorts Screening with UT RTF 366K at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard this Friday, May 1st (RAIN PLAN: Saturday, May 2nd), 8:30-10PM!

Documentary Short Films:

Greater Than
El Barrio Club de Fútbol
The Rock
JOE’S
SKINS
Until the Sword is Sharp
Don’t Be a Stranger
A Place at Our Table
Poder de la Mujer
Punchline

East Austin isn’t just a physical location; it encompasses a set of ideas, movements, lives, and unique experiences.

This area, with a rich historical and cultural background, was segregated and cut off from downtown and various city services due to an infamous 1928 city plan and state and federal policies. City costs, immigration, available resources as well as many other factors led to an East Austin community primarily composed of people of color, incoming refugees, artists, musicians, and families rooted there since Texas’s pre-statehood days.

The past two decades, especially the last ten years, have witnessed rapid changes in East Austin and with it the loss of many of the places, people, and stories that made East Austin a cultural, political, and social landmark of the state.

Since 2000, the filmmakers in East Austin Stories have been in dialogue and collaboration with the residents, businesses, and organizations of East Austin to tell their stories. The work made for this class is not only a valuable historical and cultural resource, but an artistic exploration of space and people, and an important documentation of a changing world.

04/27/2026

EAST AUSTIN STORIES 2026: Documentary Shorts Screening at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard on Friday, May 1st!

This Friday’s event will take place from 8:30-10PM and include ten film screenings that amplify the voices of East Austin!

This past February at the Backyard, we had the honor of welcoming a group of student from RTF 366K, an upper-division course at led by that invites young filmmakers to practice in the craft of documentary film production and non-fiction storytelling.

Since 2000, as the forces of gentrification and development make profound changes in neighborhoods of East Austin, University of Texas Radio, Television & Film students have produced short documentary films about the communities, families, individuals, institutions, and businesses east of I-35.

shared his insight with the class into the cultural memory of East Austin and the process of building relationships as an essential component of the storytelling process.

Simply listening can be an empowering act for the filmmaker and for the documentary subject.

He also spoke about the production of his 1992 documentary film, East Side Blues, a collection of oral history interviews and live performance recordings that examine the personal perspective of Black musicians on the embedded cultural history and stark transformation that has taken place in East Austin. The project served to document the stories and music of aging African American jazz and blues musicians who were directly connected to the pre-integration community of Black East Austin. The underlying notion was to beg the question of, “what happens to an urban Black Community’s cultural core when it gives way to gentrification and displacement?”

Nowhere is more rich in stories than East Austin. and his students are bringing these films to the silver screen! Join us in celebrating the achievements of these emerging filmmakers and the illumination of East Austin stories!

Free outdoor event
BYOB
Family + Pet Friendly

1106 East 11th St. Austin, TX, 78702

Presented by UT Radio-Television-Film + Kenny Dorham’s Backyard

Watch past EAS shorts here: tinyurl.com/EASfilms

04/26/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY WILL BRING US TOGETHER AGAIN 🎶

🎸 April 25th and every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Assorted Chocolates 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

The Blue Monday Blues Jam is an ages-old tradition of blues fellowship and collaboration that has found a home at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard for the past two decades. This jam serves to bridge East Austin’s cultural legacy into the present day and beyond.

To celebrate the Backyard’s final year of programming, we are sharing the striking visual history that lies within the Blues Family Tree Project archives. We hope to use this time to recognize the importance of archiving and preserving Black creative history and the cultural impact of documentary preservation.

In addition to the monumental cultural center that will rise within the Blocks 16 & 18 development project in coming years, we are also building a digital public access library to ensure that these memories live on into the future. If you’re interested in this project, reach out and get involved

EACC is the home of the Austin Black Music Archive, including 150+ hours of live performance recordings, 1000+ film photography negatives and slides, 25+ hours of filmed oral history interviews, 500+ pages of oral history transcripts and journalistic articles covering Black history in Austin dating back to the mid 1800’s. These materials embody a living record of Black Austin’s creative expression, memory and music.

Come be a part of the legacy!

Assorted Chocolates:

Ivan Daddy the 1st (.wallace710 ) - guitar
Willie Johnson ( ) - guitar
Damien Greene ( ) - drums
Trevor Villwock ( ) - keys
Harold McMillan ( ) - bass

BYOB
Limited supply of Free Beer available
Water and soft drinks available
All Ages
Bring your blankets or use our chairs
Free event, $5-10 suggested donation

Photo credit: Soul Blues vocalist and pianist, Carol Fran, performing at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series at Antone’s, 1992. Double-exposure photography contact sheet by T.O. Pettit.

Sponsored and produced by

04/12/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY IS BACK BACK BACK AGAIN🎶

🎸 April 13th and every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Assorted Chocolates 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

We are excited to announce that our lease at the backyard has been extended, allowing for anothee year of music, art and community events that honor the musical history of the African American Cultural Heritage District. This time next year, we will be planning events and programming for the cultural center at the heart of the Blocks 16 & 18 project!!

We are giving everything we’ve got to bring an exciting final season at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard this year!

These grounds have given rise to so many cherished memories, family moments, new and old friendships, and visible (and audible) African American culture in East Austin.

The Backyard has earned a send off for the ages! Join us for Blue Monday tomorrow, hosted by the Assorted Chocolates, so come out and jam with us to the music that built this city!

Come be a part of the legacy!

Assorted Chocolates:

Ivan Daddy the 1st (.wallace710 ) - guitar
Willie Johnson ( ) - guitar
Damien Greene ( ) - drums
Trevor Villwock ( ) - keys
Harold McMillan ( ) - bass

BYOB
Limited supply of Free Beer available
Water and soft drinks available
All Ages
Bring your blankets or use our chairs
Free event, $5-10 suggested donation

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

Photo credit: contact sheet from photographer Brenda Ladd featuring jazz and blues vocalist Hope Morgan at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series at Top of the Marc, Katz Deli (1997)

Sponsored and produced by

04/12/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY IS BACK BACK BACK AGAIN🎶

🎸 April 13th and every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Assorted Chocolates 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

We are excited to announce that our lease at the backyard has been extended, allowing for anothee year of music, art and community events that honor the musical history of the African American Cultural Heritage District. This time next year, we will be planning events and programming for the cultural center at the heart of the Blocks 16 & 18 project!!

We are giving everything we’ve got to bring an exciting final season at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard this year!

These grounds have given rise to so many cherished memories, family moments, new and old friendships, and visible (and audible) African American culture in East Austin.

The Backyard has earned a send off for the ages! Join us for Blue Monday tomorrow, hosted by the , so come out and jam with us to the music that built this city!

Come be a part of the legacy!

Assorted Chocolates:

Ivan Daddy the 1st (.wallace710 ) - guitar
Willie Johnson ( ) - guitar
Damien Greene ( ) - drums
Trevor Villwock ( ) - keys
Harold McMillan ( ) - bass

BYOB
Limited supply of Free Beer available
Water and soft drinks available
All Ages
Bring your blankets or use our chairs
Free event, $5-10 suggested donation

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

Photo credit: contact sheet from photographer Brenda Ladd featuring jazz and blues vocalist Hope Morgan at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series at Top of the Marc, Katz Deli (1997)

Sponsored and produced by

04/09/2026

Mark your calendars - Special open house event by Preservation Austin this weekend at the Kirk Family Home! Registration closes this Friday:
https://www.preservationaustin.org/events/within-beyond-these-walls-the-kirk-family-home-legacy

This is where Connie Kirk grew up, incredible jazz vocalist who is featured in the Blues Family Tree Project, with her siblings, Saundra, Lee & Ron. They were raised by Willie Mae “Ankie” and Lee Kirk, legendary icons of civic leadership and civil rights activism in Austin!

Join us on April 11 for an open house celebrating the legacy of one of Austin’s most significant Black families, the Kirks. This event is FREE with registration. Space is limited - register today: https://www.preservationaustin.org/events/within-beyond-these-walls-the-kirk-family-home-legacy

The Kirk family home in the Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross Historic District represents stories and lives central to Austin’s civil rights movement and cultural vibrancy–from the desegregation of Barton Springs Pool to contributions to the region’s music and political scenes. Join Preservation Austin for a special open house featuring displays about the home’s history and significance, while celebrating the Kirk family’s recent renovations to the structure marking an incredible investment in this tangible reminder of a vital legacy.

This free event is presented in conjunction with Preservation Austin’s 2026 Homes Tour. Four timeslots are available, during which registrants may walk through the home and view the displays.

04/06/2026

more from the archive

This February 1994 video featuring jazz act J.W. Davis & the East Side Horns is the fourth of four shows filmed at Midtown Live in Austin, Texas, as part of ...

04/06/2026

from the archive

Bells of Joy live at the 6th Annual Clarksville Jazz & Arts Festival on June 12,1994. Members of the Bells of Joy have been performing since the late 1940's...

04/04/2026

Review finds gaps in Long Center contract oversight as Austin faces decades-long audit warnings on spending controls.

03/30/2026

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

Are you free tonight? Want to enjoy the blues, support local musicians, and make a difference in your community?

Join us tonight at Blue Monday! Pick up a shift at the link in our bio - a few simple steps and you will be helping sustain a musical tradition that has shaped Austin’s identity and culture for generations.

Tap on Blue Monday, select the role that suits your skills, continue the sign up as a guest, and share your info.

Come be part of the legacy!

03/30/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY IS IN FULL SWING!! 🎶

🎸 March 30th and every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Doors 7:17pm
Assorted Chocolates 7:45-8:15pm
Blues jam 8:15-10pm

Come on down and jam out with us tonight! We’re bringing back Eastside Blues with the best of the best. The 2026 season of programming at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is in full swing, and as always, we are honoring the rich tradition of African American music in East Austin.

Come be a part of the legacy!

Assorted Chocolates:

Ivan Wallace (.wallace710 ) - vocals & guitar
Willie Johnson ( ) - guitar
Damien Greene ( ) - drums
Trevor Villwock ( ) - keys
Harold McMillan ( ) - bass

BYOB
Limited supply of Free Beer available
Water and soft drinks available
All Ages
Bring your blankets or use our chairs
Free event, $5-10 suggested donation

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.

Photo credit: contact sheet from photographer T.O. Pettit featuring Clarence Pearce at the Blues Family Tree Concert Series at Huston Tillotson (1992)

Sponsored and produced by