Everybody wants to play Point Richmond.
Point Richmond Music’s summer concert series always seems to pack the streets with elbow-to-elbow fans dancing their hearts out or relaxing with kids, dogs and a picnic dinner.
With this summer marking the 25th anniversary of one of the region’s most consistently diverse free concert series, the lineup promises to stay true to its mission of pulling from the Bay Area’s deep well of talent.
Held at Park Place and Washington Avenue, the series kicks off with a powerhouse double bill on Fri., June 12, pairing the Mexican roots ensemble Los Cenzontles with Americana blues belter Miko Marks. Like the other acts, they were drawn from more than 200 submissions after the series put out an open call last January.
“The response was wonderful and overwhelming,” said Christina Zirker, a board member of Point Richmond Music, the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that produces the concert series.
What sets the programming apart from so many summer civic concert series is the focus on local original music, rather than cover bands and Top 40 acts. The volunteer committee that sifts through the video submissions to assemble a wide-ranging mix of acts that have created distinctive bodies of work.
“It doesn’t all have to be danceable, but we appreciate groups with upbeat tunes,” Zirker said. “You end up finding bands you never would have heard of before. All the volunteers are music lovers, and some are musicians who know about the challenge of being a gigging musician doing original music in the Bay.”
A summer lineup of heavy hitters, including Richmond-based performers
The summer lineup includes the roots-rock soul of San Francisco’s Wreckless Strangers and the Bollywood blues of San Jose’s Aki Kumar on July 10. The Aug. 14 program pairs veteran Richmond folksters CBD (Claudia Russell and Bruce Kaplan with Christopher Smith and Daniel Patrick) with Those Darn Accordions, a seriously zany, hard-rockin’ band featuring resident Richmond star Susie Davis, whose resume includes stints with “Purple Rain”-era Prince and tours with Van Morrison, Deborah Harry and Pat Benatar.
Point Richmond Music summer concert series
What: A free outdoor concert series with a 2026 lineup including Los Cenzontles, Miko Marks and Those Darn Accordions.
Where: Park Place and Washington Avenue, Point Richmond
When: June 12, July 10, Aug. 14, Sept. 11; two acts each night at 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.
More info: You can bring a camp chair and food. There are usually pop-up food, drink and kids’ activity booths and local restaurants are open.
The season closes Sept. 11 with another prodigious double bill: the Afro-Latin funk of Los Nadies and the old-school horn-driven R&B of the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra featuring vocalist Willy Jordan, fresh off the group’s annual residency at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.
The 2026 opening night alone features two acts with serious national credentials. Oakland-based Miko Marks, who spent years working in Nashville, is part of a wave of Black women who have made inroads into the country music scene in recent decades. She has performed several times at the Grand Ole Opry, and more recently has been selling out a monthly residency at Yoshi’s with her new body of gospel-steeped blues originals.
Los Cenzontles, the flagship ensemble from the Richmond cultural academy that has introduced generations of East Bay young people to traditional Mexican music and dance, has performed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Despite an expansive body of recordings, documentaries and collaborations with storied musicians such as Taj Mahal, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos, the group doesn’t always get its due attention at home.
“We’re a nonprofit serving kids, and sometimes organizations put us on the kiddie stage,” said guitarist Eugene Rodriguez, who founded Los Cenzontles in 1989. “When Point Richmond Music called us, I was a little surprised and pleased. They seem to really value local artists from various cultures. It’s the right way to do things.”
How Point Richmond Music started — and how it keeps going
With a shoestring budget of $30,000 and no paid staff, the concert series devotes roughly half its funds to artist fees and sound production, with the remainder going toward insurance, permits, rentals, and other event costs.
The city contributed $7,000 this year. Sponsors including Mechanics Bank, the Gateway Foundation, Atchison Village Credit Union, and Point Richmond Neighborhood Council made up the bulk of the remaining budget.
The idea came from Tom Butts, who was in his second city council term and wanted to bring the community together through live music while promoting local businesses and enlivening neighborhoods. Michele Seville, then the city’s arts and culture manager, helped put the plan in motion with a group of volunteers, and the first concerts were held in 2001 in a parking lot off Railroad Avenue.
“It outgrew that space after a few years and we got more organized, getting permits, closing down the street, and bringing people in the evening to create a Richmond event,” Zirker said.
Some of the founding volunteers and board members are still active, and Butts’ son Andrew Butt is part of it, but to keep the series thriving, Zirker says Point Richmond Music is looking to recruit new voices and fresh ideas — both in music programming and presentation.
Los Cenzontles will play this year’s series with a lineup that reflects exactly that spirit.
The band features Rodriguez and founding vocalist Fabiola Trujillo alongside a rising generation of players — among them 16-year-old guitarist Raul Rivera, 16-year-old bassist Natalie Caldera, 19-year-old accordionist Cruz Torres and 20-year-old Camila Ortega, “who’ve all been with us since they were kids,” Rodriguez said.
“For something like this, we’re playing a good sampling of the music we’ve done — cumbia, boleros, son jarocho, rancheras, Latin jazz and originals,” he said. “It’s a broad repertoire and it’s a strong band.”
