St. Louis is always full of memorable things to do. It’s known as the city of firsts, the city shoes, booze and Blues, so why not be the host city for The National Blues Museum? The museum hasn’t been around but over 4 years and is continuing to be a focal spot for entertainment.
The pandemic shut it down for a while, yet there were still outdoor seating events going on, as they are today, with the Al Fresco at MX concert series.
The National Blues Museum explores the Blues and celebrates the genre as the foundation of all modern music. The facility educates guests in an entertaining environment that includes a state of the art theatre and more. (http://nationalbluesmuseum.org)
To kick off Black Music Month, you won’t miss a beat with the soul-stirring line up for Juneteenth music fest, on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Starting at 11 a.m. with the Renaissance Band at 2p.m., with the awards winning Mz Sha & The Ka’Sha Band, and many others until 8 p.m.
This event is part of Al Fresco, an outdoor live music series in the downtown MX district, and as always, it is free for the public, with area restaurants and bars situated nearby for your convenience.
If you are traveling to St. Louis, there is a hotel, the Embassy Suites, right up above the National Blues Museum, and if you book now, it is guaranteed that you will be part of all the action.
There are some other Black Music Month events outside of The National Blues Museum that may be of interest to you in St. Louis. At the Ambassador, national recording artists, Howard Hewett and Lenny Williams, bring a Juneteenth Father’s Day Weekend Celebration to the city.
Sunday, June 20, 2021, at 6pm; Ambassador Venue 9800 Halls Ferry St. Louis, MO 63136.
Whether you are in St. Louis or somewhere else, get out and support Black Music Month.
A little history: Courtesy of The National Blues Museum
St. Louis influenced the Blues as it sat right along the Blues Highway, Highway 61. Historically, musicians stopped and performed in St. Louis as they traveled from the South to the big recording labels in Chicago.
Songwriters, such as W.C. Handy, were inspired to write based on their experiences in St. Louis and created monumental hits that forever changed music such as the song St. Louis Blues. Inspired by the Blues Highway’s extensive history, St. Louis was a great place for a National Blues Museum as it sat smack in the middle of it all.
Sitting on Washington Ave between 6th and 7th Streets, the National Blues Museum resides in what was initially known as the Grand-Leader building, most known today as the Stix, Baer, and Fuller building. Stix, Baer, and Fuller was a department store chain that operated from 1892-1984. In 1906, their department store occupied an entire block of downtown St. Louis, where they found themselves amidst a growing city.
At this time, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the United States and two years earlier, had hosted the 1904 World’s Fair and Summer Olympics. For many years, this store was a primary influencer of high-class fashion in the metro St. Louis area.
