While you’re lining up your to-do list this weekend, kick back and enjoy some of the live music acts floating through the area, from gospel and rock to hip hop.
For starters, you can shop and rock at the Louisiana Boardwalk on Friday night with Landry & Company. If the ‘cute’ factor isn’t enough to draw you – the Stonewall-based family trio includes Landry Wilkinson, 15, on guitar, his little brother Cardis Wilkinson, 9, on bass and keyboards and their dad Steve Wilkinson on drums – the music will. Even at their young ages, Landry and Cardis are no strangers to the stage. Landry began playing at 8 and Cardis picked up a bass guitar at age 6, while their dad is a longtime musician and drummer for local fave, The Justin Merritt Band. Landry & Company is known for covering classics by everyone from Z.Z. Top, B.B. King and Lynyrd Skynyrd to Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and more.
If you love that good ol’, down-home gospel music sound, stop by Morning Star Baptist Church on Friday night and hear the legends who started it all when the iconic Grammy Award-winning gospel quartet The Mighty Clouds of Joy featuring original member Joe Ligon, perform live in concert. More than five decades ago, the band made their debut with Steal Away to Jesus and blazed new trails for the genre, becoming the first gospel group to appear on Soul Train and tour with music legends, including Paul Simon, Marvin Gaye and The Rolling Stones. Even after all of this time, they’re still performing and recording new music, like their 2010 album At The Revival, which featured producers Raphael Saadiq and Jodeci’s Devante Swing as well as their 50 Year Celebration album, released in 2011.
But for a fun look back, check out this classic video of the group performing Steal Away to Jesus featuring a young Joe Ligon on lead.
If you love southern hip hop, then run, don’t walk, to CenturyTel Center on Saturday for a hot summer night with some of the dirty south’s biggest superstars when Atlanta-based entertainment company, Brilliant Mind Brothers, presents its first hip hop Summer Bash in Shreveport-Bossier. The lineup will feature a stream of live performances by everyone from Trap House star Gucci Mane and Plies to Roscoe Dash, Dorrough, Louisiana’s own Juvenile and more. The concert will also feature a charitable element with Brilliant Mind Brothers donating $1 of every ticket sold to the Providence House.
