National
Blues Museum
Move to the
music
Musical tours and attractions hit all the right notes
BY GABE WEBB
APPRECIATING MUSIC and appreciat-
ing travel aren’t so different, and some-
times we might even turn to music and
travel for the same reasons. Putting on
a record or popping in your earbuds
and listening to your favorite songs
offers comfort—just like returning to a
familiar place. And when a new song
on the radio catches your ear, or when
you go off the beaten path to see
someplace new, you’re seeking to add
a little bit to the edges of your map
of experience. It’s comfort, but with a
little something extra.
That’s also the story of countless
generations of music makers; they build
on the sounds they grew up with.
Read on to discover (or rediscover)
the places travelers can hear the songs
they loved. The following pages take a
look at the Blues, from the birth of rock
’n’ roll and soul to the hip-hop radio
hits of recent decades.
The Blues and St. Louis
“Two places in St. Louis you need to look
into are the National Blues Museum and
the Delmar Loop,” says Anthony Paraino
of Explore St. Louis.
The National Blues Museum opened
in St. Louis in April of 2016, and the
attraction’s 15,000 square feet of exhi-
bition space is dedicated to telling the
story of the genre’s legendary perform-
ers and drawing connections between
the Blues and today’s popular music.
In addition to housing a permanent
collection of artifacts and multime-
dia exhibits, the museum regularly
welcomes traveling exhibitions and
hosts live performances. “Kirk West,
Photography” will open next month,
displaying images taken by West, a
photographer for the Chicago Tribune
and the Chicago Sun-Times whose sub-
jects included James Brown, B.B. King,
Etta James and other household names
of rock and the Blues. Regular music
events include the Howlin’ Fridays and
Soulful Sundays concert series. Special
pricing and interpreter-guided tours are
available for groups of 20 or more.
The Delmar Loop is a six-block neighbor-
hood packed with restaurants, live music
venues and the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
“The Loop has some historic per-
formance venues, including Delmar
Hall, the Pageant and Blueberry Hill, an
eclectic restaurant where Chuck Berry
used to play gigs in the basement per-
formance hall,” says Paraino.
Many more musical attractions and
performance venues are included in
Courier ’s Guide to Theaters, which
begins on page 41.
Attractions listed in bold type are
NTA members.
NTAonline.com
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