Shreveport takes new title for music history
Shreveport, besides being the center of the Ark-La-Tex, is also the center of a musical genre local historians. Most residents, including many of those who lived through it, aren’t aware that history was made here, they say. Now, there is a move under way to have Shreveport recognized as the Southern Soul Capital.
“There’s a tremendous music history in this city that has not been traditionally celebrated,” Chris Jay, the public relations and social media manager of the Shreveport Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau, said.
Ron Hardy, who runs a local recording studio, agrees and has been pushing for Shreveport to get recognition for its historic contribution to soul for about a decade.
“A lot of people just don’t know how important the city was in the development of soul,” he said.
There’s no question that Louisiana is known for its music. New Orleans has its jazz, and the bayou country has Zydeco and Cajun. But Shreveport also contributed, Centenary College archivist Chris Brown said.
“I’ve always been a big music nut and record collector and been interested in Shreveport history. About 15 years ago, I said I want to know more about Shreveport music history. Back then, if you wanted to buy a CD of Shreveport music, you were looking to European record labels who had reissued stuff. It’s really European record labels who have licensed this stuff and reissued it for a modern audience. They were keeping the flame burning, when it comes to the older stuff,” Brown said.
Keeping it alive is important for the region’s tourist industry, too, Jay said.
“I think it’s a great idea. I think that there are a lot of musicians, some of whom are still alive, who can really benefit from it as individuals. And then, we can benefit from it as a destination.”
A news conference was held on Aug. 15 to announce the effort to recognize Shreveport officially as the Southern Soul Capital. It marked an important milestone in Hardy’s effort to remind Shreveport and the rest of the music world what happened here in post- World War II.
“In doing research and talking to people, [I learned] there was a lot going on,” Hardy said. “My family came back to live here in 1964, and at one time, we lived next to Club 66 on Ford and Dale street. James Brown used to play there all the time when I was little. So I went on a mission, talking to people and compiling information.”
He said he discovered that Shreveport was a major hub in the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” where soul music genre was beginning to blossom.
Hardy said, “I was told that Sam Cooke said Shreveport was the pivotal point between Jackson, Miss., and Dallas, Texas. So, it was a very important stop. It was the epicenter of the Ark-La-Tex.”
The story doesn’t stop at just traveling artists. There were recording studios, record shops and record distribution operations that made Shreveport important to the music industry.
The local labels are mostly found in antique shops now. They bear names like Jewel, Paula, Ronn, Murco and Alarm. Not all of the labels catered to soul, but artists who appeared under their banners have made names for themselves in the category.
Hardy, Brown and Jay mention iconic figures like Tina Turner, James Brown, Percy Mayfield, Eddie Giles and Dorie Grayson as people who learned some of their trade right here.
Stan Lewis, known nationally as Stan the Record Man, advertised his 728 Texas St. location as “the one-stop shop for all kinds of music.” His Jewel label distributed music by Aretha Franklin, Fats Domino, Redd Foxx and B.B. King, among others.
Murco, on 70th Street in Cedar Grove under the direction of Dee Marais, released a song that reached Cashbox’s Top 100 by Eddie Giles a familiar name in town who now serves as a local minister, and whose “Losin’ Boy” is a favorite of Jay’s.
“In the ’70s, one of the leaders,” “would be Alarm Records up on Line Avenue near Byrd High School, Brown said. They had a recording studio called Custom Sound Studios.” Giles recorded there along with folks like Reuben Bell and Ted Taylor, he said.
Local record-sellers like Stan’s, Bayou Records and SOOTO are quaint memories now, but Hardy and his supporters don’t want to see the curtain drawn on Shreveport’s musical performances.
“Shreveport is the heart of something. There’s a whole lot of culture in this area. I almost feel like that guy, Indiana Jones, looking for archeological finds,” Hardy said. “This is a great area that has really been undiscovered or untapped. It’s just under the radar.”
–Joe Todaro
