Soulard Blues & Roots Festival returns to St. Louis this weekend

The second annual event will be held at Big Daddy’s Soulard

After a successful event last year, the 2nd Annual Soulard Blues & Roots Festival is coming back even better than before with well over a dozen performances on two stages from local musicians and bands at Big Daddy’s Soulard at 1000 Sidney St. in south St. Louis. The festival is held in collaboration by Dogtown Records Radio & Entertainment and Big Daddy’s. 

"We wanted to define another, perhaps better reason that people should be familiar with and come to the Soulard neighborhood,” said Andy Coco, Dogtown Records & Entertainment founder and festival organizer. “In St. Louis, we have a blues tradition and cross-pollination thing happening with music here like no other place and Soulard continues to be at the center of it. I want help to raise and wave the flag of pride in our blues and roots music here. We envision the event continuing to grow, based on last year‘s success, and hope to bring it to the entire district as a free festival in upcoming years.”

While Saturday and Sunday are ticketed events, there’s a free kickoff party beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, on the patio at Big Daddy’s. On Friday, you can look forward to performances by Big Mike Aguirre and the Blu City All Stars featuring Renee Smith, Margaret Bianchetta and Western Satellites, along with Brother Jefferson.

Saturday and Sunday parties commence at noon, with music workshops at 1 p.m. each day. A bevy of performances follow the workshops.

On Saturday, Aug. 31, you can look forward to School of Rock - Kirkwood; Matt "Rattlesnake" Lesch Band; Sharon Bear and Friends with Tom Maloney, Popcorn and Eric McSpadden; John McVey Band; Chris Shepherd Band; Ivas John Band; Gene Jackson and Power Play; and the Rum Drum Ramblers.

On Sunday, Sept. 1, performers include Second Line with St. Louis Public Schools Band; Kingdom Brothers Band; Hamilton Band with Hillary Fitz; Eugene And Company; Colonel Ford; Saint Boogie Brass Band; Soulard Blues Band; and Rich McDonough and the Rhythm Renegades featuring Andy Duncanson.

While the patio stage will have plenty of seating, it’s recommended to bring your own lawn chairs to enjoy the performances on the street stage.

Tickets are available online and include an option for reserved seating near each stage. Can’t make the festival in person? Dogtown Records Radio will be posting a live stream of the event on the Dogtown Records Radio app.