By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
GRIFFITH PARK — The Soul Country Music & Culture Festival returns to the lawn at the Autry Museum of the American West Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
The event turns into something Los Angeles doesn’t see very often: a Black Western town square.
There will be line dancing and a mechanical bull, food trucks and shopping, western exhibits and museum tours, a health pavilion, a costume contest, and at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31, a Black Classic Movie Night screening of “Vampire in Brooklyn” with Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett under the stars.
Then on Nov. 1, the reason everyone came: six singers competing for $10,000 and a spot on the 2027 Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo tour.
Hours for the festival are 5:30 to 11 p.m. Oct. 31 and noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 1
Launched as Soul Country Music Star in its inaugural year three years ago, the event was later expanded and renamed the Soul Country Music & Culture Festival to reflect its broader cultural programming.
Produced by Wade & Associates Group in partnership with the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — the oldest Black rodeo in the country — and KJLH Radio, the festival benefits the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation.
If soul, country, horror, rodeo, wellness, and democracy sounds like a lot for one lawn, founder Margo Wade LaDrew calls it “an obligation.”
“We have to get out and vote,” LaDrew said.
The Autry will double as an official L.A. County Vote Center for the Nov. 3 general election, with early voting Oct. 31-Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Election Day voting Nov. 3 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Since it is Halloween, we tied in ‘Vampire in Brooklyn,’” LaDrew said. “This will be a fun weekend. It’s for the artists.”
LaDrew didn’t set out to be a country music impresario. She’s a Richmond, Virginia. native who has lived in Los Angeles 33 years, married 30 years next year.
Before the rodeo, she was in the beauty industry — Johnson Publishing, hair care lines Raveen and Duke and Dark and Lovely, and a brokerage repping Black haircare lines.
She worked with the NAACP and the Image Awards. Then she volunteered for the Bill Pickett Rodeo.
“Being near cowboy stuff, and enjoying seeing the kids’ eyes, it’s a family event,” LaDrew said. “It’s like a travel show. People look out for each other’s kids. It’s like that family bond that Black people have. This reminds you of the family getting together, barbecuing and listening to some music.”
LaDrew started Soul Country Music Star because she kept seeing artists come and go without access to a stage.
“The fact that we always had music and I had seen some country artists just come and go, that people never saw, and this was so discouraging,” LaDrew said. “Beyoncé opened up that door. Finding out about the banjo, and that it came from Africa. We were the ones. Let’s just add soul country and bring it to life.”
The research matters because the erasure was so complete.
“Traditionally, they didn’t put us on TV,” LaDrew said. “But Bill Pickett went on TV in 2021. We got on TV, including CBS. We did a partnership with the Professional Bull Riders, and now we have 10 shows in Fort Worth, which is the Mecca of all things West. The stories weren’t being told.”
Last year, the one-day festival drew about 900 to the Autry. This year, over two days, LaDrew is predicting 1,500.
“The Soul Country Music & Culture Festival is a celebration of the artists, traditions and community connections that bring soul and country music together,” LaDrew said. “This year’s Black Classic Movie Night gives guests one more way to enjoy the festival weekend, while our wellness programming creates opportunities to raise awareness and connect the community with meaningful resources.”
Proceeds go to the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation. The health pavilion will share resources on cancer awareness, domestic violence awareness, and mental health awareness.
On Nov. 1, a health panel helmed by Adai Lamar will include discussion on breast cancer and domestic violence.
“If people showed up, had fun, and the artist felt like they were appreciated — that’s successful,” LaDrew said.
Ask Glenn Stanton what makes soul country different from country and he gives you one word: “Reclamation.”
Stanton is the Los Angeles winner headed to the National Finals Nov. 1.
The finals run from 1 to 3 p.m., with live music and dancing until 6 p.m. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.
He’ll be joined by regional winners Silas Reed IV of Memphis, Brenda Guy of Dallas-Fort Worth, and Jacqueline Merrill of Atlanta, plus one wildcard and one artist chosen through the National Online Competition.
Stanton won the L.A. competition after singing “Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em.”
On Nov. 1 he gets two songs in the first round, three max.
“I’m debating on five different songs,” he said. “I might play one called ‘Idle Hands.’ It’s a mischievous song.”
Stanton, who is married, is from southern Ohio but lives in Los Angeles. His father is Black with Cherokee, his mother is Scotch-Irish hillbilly.
“Country is Scotch Irish doing their version of … music,” he said. “My mother’s mother was the daughter of sharecroppers. I grew up with Appalachian stories, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton.”
He describes what he does as “Afro Indigenous hillbilly music.”
“This is how I do country,” said Stanton, who began writing songs as a teen. “I don’t know if it has to be defined, but I do soul country.”
Stanton said representing Los Angeles during the competition at the Autry “means a lot.”
“Los Angeles is where I truly met all of myself,” he said. “The L.A. music scene has embraced me.”
Win or lose, Stanton isn’t rushing to calculate what a $10,000 purse and a rodeo tour will do.
“That’s important, but the amount of history in the rodeo and what it represents, I give weight to the experience,” he said. “It’s so much bigger than me.”
LaDrew wanted the prize to be more than a check.
“You can give someone some money, but it might not be enough,” she said. “They get to hone their craft and show people their music.”
Three years in, she’s learned what festival attendees want.
“They really love soul country music,” she said. “When you go back and look at singers Dobie Gray and Ray Charles — we always bring the soul into everything. Ours is soul country.”
On Oct. 31, guests can come dressed in Western garb or for a costume contest for family-friendly Halloween activities, line-dancing, food trucks, shopping, and wellness resources.
On Nov. 1, attendees will have access to wellness, music, bull riding, plus six artists will perform.
“During the festival, you’ll get that Black Western vibe, and the whole underlining of the Black culture, the camaraderie, the love, while we’re showcasing the talent,” LaDrew said.
Tickets are $45 Sunday, $65 weekend, $30 weekend for kids at soulcountrymusic.com. Code SAVE5 takes $5 off.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
