Elvis Presley performing at the Louisiana Hayride. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.
by Winston Hall, ShrevePossible
In the 1950s, a teenage rebel on the plains of West Texas would spend his Saturday nights listening to a crackling, distant AM radio broadcast drifting all the way from Louisiana.
The teenager – a DJ and aspiring musician – tuned in to hear the latest innovators of music and imagine the scene with all its energy. The radio show he heard was the world-famous Louisiana Hayride broadcasting live from the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Shreveport.
Who was the rebel child?
It was none other than future Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and musical outlaw Waylon Jennings, who wrote of listening to the Louisiana Hayride in his eponymous 1996 autobiography simply titled “Waylon: An Autobiography.”
Jennings, like countless performers of his generation, was heavily influenced – shaped even – by the Louisiana Hayride and the music emanating from Shreveport on Saturday nights throughout the 1950s.
But the Louisiana Hayride was not the only part of Shreveport’s history that has influenced the world.
Bob Dylan spoke about Caddo Parish native and musical juggernaut Lead Belly when he accepted his Nobel Prize in 2017. Dylan attributed his love for folk music directly to Lead Belly:
“Somebody, somebody I’d never seen before, handed me a Lead Belly record with the song ‘Cottonfields’ on it. And that record changed my life right then and there – transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness, and all of a sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times.”
With everyone from Bob Dylan to Waylon Jennings lauding Shreveport’s music history and its influence, it begs the question: Why don’t we?
Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter Statue in Shreveport.
Photo by Skip Clinton.
Shreveport’s rich music history is more than a badge of honor. It – by all measures – holds the key to an economic rebirth.
The reasons why this hasn’t happened yet are as varied as they are convoluted, entailing everything from lawsuits to the political climate to good old-fashioned apathy.
The good news? The tide seems to be turning toward honoring Shreveport’s music history. As it turns out, the reason why is the most obvious one. As television producer Don Ohlmeyer once famously said, “The answer to all of your questions is: money.”
The economic impact of developing music tourism is self-evident, and those tasked with developing Shreveport’s economy are finally taking note. Tourism, when it flourishes, drives growth in every sector of the economy, from hotels to restaurants to live music. According to FutureMarketInsights.com, the global music tourism market is estimated to be $11.2 billion in 2023.
The question is, will Shreveport-Bossier act on this potential windfall?
Several noteworthy developments are making this a greater possibility. A recent bill passed by the Louisiana legislature (HB 649) establishes a statewide music trail. The trail is designed to “commemorate and to promote awareness and encourage enjoyment of the stories, biographies and points of interest related to [Louisiana] Music.”
When it comes to music tourism, a statewide, interactive music trail will help tourists connect the dots, quite literally and figuratively. State funding and oversight also will help galvanize local efforts to honor Northwest Louisiana’s music history.
Examples of music tourism’s possibilities are everywhere, and often the points of interest that other cities are capitalizing on are of less historical significance than many of the things Shreveport should claim.
For example, Fort Chaffee in Arkansas is home to the Elvis Barbershop Museum, site of “the haircut heard round the world.” A famous photo taken there captured the moment Elvis’ head was shaved upon his entry into the Army in 1958. The small museum receives approximately 2,500 visitors a year.
Meanwhile, Elvis performed on the Louisiana Hayride 52 times, yet his presence in Shreveport is hardly noted – a glaring oversight.
While Shreveport has so far failed to capitalize on its connection to Elvis, it is not a lost cause. Elvis’ popularity has proved to be generational, meaning the spigots of music tourism dollars can still flow, if Shreveport’s connection to Elvis is properly packaged and marketed. And the numbers back this up. Elvis’ official Instagram page currently has 1.8 million followers. For perspective, that is 1.2 million more followers than the very much alive Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Billy Joel – who has sold more than 150 million albums.
Several factors could quickly turn the tide on Shreveport-Bossier’s lagging music tourism sector. Mainly, city leaders must finally push through the development of a world-class music museum. Cities much smaller than Shreveport have capitalized on the potential of museum development. Among these museums is the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, which has a population of merely 17,662 people, and the Delta Music Museum in Ferriday, population 3,085. For comparison, the Shreveport-Bossier metro population as of 2020 was 393,406. When considering the wealth of music history in Shreveport-Bossier, coupled with the population and staggering domestic and international interest in the music history here, the need for a music museum could not be more obvious and overdue.
Another important factor to developing music tourism is the creation of music tourism infrastructure. Among the most important parts of that infrastructure is a music trail within the city that highlights notable points of musical interest, an office of music tourism that curates the dissemination of information to music tourists, and a strong and bold marketing campaign that closely associates Shreveport-Bossier’s branding with its rich and endless musical history.
By far the most enticing part of Shreveport-Bossier’s music history is its immediate accessibility and possibility. By implementing a few key elements, the music history can become part of the region’s musical future as well and in doing so ensure a new and hopeful era in the story of northwest Louisiana.
