Book launch parties can be quiet affairs, but one coming up in March is guaranteed to get a little rowdy—in the best possible way. The St. Louis Sound Project, with tickets on sale now, features five nights of shows across five venues, representing the best of the St. Louis music scene.
Dip into jazz at the Grandel on March 23, rock at the Duck Room on the 26th, blues at BB’s Jazz, Blues, and Soups on March 28th, hip-hop on the 29th at The Ready Room, and Americana on the 30th at Off Broadway.
The concert series is celebrating the release of a new book, St. Louis Sound: An Illustrated Timeline, by Steve Pick and Amanda E. Doyle, to be published March 15 by Reedy Press LLC.
St. Louis Sound looks at our history and the present day, examining locally connected powerhouses like Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Uncle Tupelo, Nelly, and Pokey LaFarge.
“Essentially it’s a history book,” says Josh Stevens, owner and cofounder of Reedy Press. “You can’t cover everyone, so you end up deferring to groups that have a considerable track record.”
The book—and the shows—are more representative than comprehensive. The scene and the legacy of music in St. Louis is just too much to cover completely.
“We normally do events for our books,” says Stevens. “For this, we decided to do something a little more ambitious.”
The shows are divided into five categories, based on the genres St. Louis is most known for: hip-hop, rock, Americana, blues, and jazz, with performers like the Tonina Saputo Quartet, Finn’s Motel, Marquise Knox, Looprat, Fine to Drive, and a host of others.
“We have five shows and five different people that are booking each show,” says Stevens. “I’m calling them curators, because it’s not just about booking who is available. They have to think about the genre and the quality of the music they want.”
Stevens credits Pick—who you may know from his longstanding KDHX show Sound Salvation—with leaning on his lifetime connections to music to assemble the curators. Rob Ford put together the hip-hop show, John Wendland assembled the rockers, Keith Dudding curated the Americana night, John May worked out the blues, and Terry Perkins handled the jazz.
Tickets for individual shows or an all-access wristband can be purchased through MetroTix. Check the website for showtimes.
