Live Music in St. Louis

Few American cities can claim to have shaped as many distinct genres as St. Louis. Chuck Berry pioneered rock and roll here, Scott Joplin refined ragtime on its stages, and the St. Louis Blues gave the city's name to a sound built on piano-heavy blues that spread far beyond the Mississippi. Uncle Tupelo, from the St. Louis area, is credited with helping invent alt-country, while Nelly and the St. Lunatics put the city on the hip-hop map. That lineage feeds directly into a current live scene with genuine range: The Pageant and Delmar Hall anchor the mid-size concert circuit, The Sheldon hosts over 350 events annually in the Grand Center Arts District, and Broadway Oyster Bar brings live music nearly every night in a New Orleans-influenced setting. St. Louis rewards the listener willing to dig in.