ST. LOUIS — Alexia Simone’s voice echoes inside the vibrant red room of The Gem Media House in south St. Louis. As each lyric flows out in the singer's sultry voice, she sways from left to right as she sits on a wooden stool.
This performance is unlike a typical concert. There is no audience or flashy set. This performance acts as a portal to show the vulnerability and authenticity of Simone.
That’s what Sessions of St. Louis aimed to curate.
“Our goal was to give artists a platform to share their beautiful art and music on our page,” St. Louis Gram Creative Director Natalia Parr said. “Making sure the voices that aren't being heard, can be heard.”
Mirroring NPR’s Tiny Desk series, the creative team drew inspiration from the intimacy of performances with just a band and no audience present. Both Simone and Parr agree this setting allows performers to connect in a personal, raw manner to let fans take in each lyric, cadence, and melody.
“It's just a beautiful thing to experience someone expressing themselves so freely,” Parr said.
Simone's session differs from the previous performances. Each session is typically filmed behind a simple picturesque backdrop of bookcases sprinkled with St. Louis authors and artwork in a facility nestled in the Grand Arts Center.
All genres of performers are welcome but there is one focus for each YouTube episode.
“We want it to be a well-rounded reflection of the St. Louis music scene and we want to make sure that those artists who may be underrepresented are featured,” Parr said.
For the launch of Session of St. Louis, Parr said it was a ‘no-brainer’ for who would kick off this new platform: Kinfolk And Them, a soulful musical group of musicians, poets and rappers.
“Kinfolk has always been on our radar," Parr said. "I imagined a big jazz collective being there. So it was like we can't not have them here.”
Parr and videographer Brian McClelland spent countless hours taping and perfecting each shot to make their vision come true. It wouldn’t be until June 2023 for the team to finally upload their masterpiece for everyone to see.
“We realized there was never going to be a right time to drop it. We just decided ‘let's put it out into the world’,” she said.
The reactions from the debut episode were overwhelming. Parr was grateful to see success in Sessions of St. Louis. She exclaims it was better than she imagined. Since their release, the team has dropped seven episodes, racking up to 75,000 views each.
In December, Sessions of St. Louis partnered with MVSTERCAMP, a local artist development camp, for three episodes. Simone, a MVSTERCAMP artist, was selected to be featured.
“It took over St. Louis when [Sessions of St. Louis] emerged. I would have never thought that I would have been invited to do this,” Simone said expressing her gratitude.
Now that Parr and her team have garnered the attention of the St. Louis music scene, the interest to join Sessions is overflowing. Parr said they will maintain their mission as they prepare for future episodes.
“Our goal is always to keep it local. We always want to make sure that we're featuring St. Louis’. she added.
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