Photo by Dave Chesak, courtesy of the Louisiana Grandstand.
Shreveport natives and professional country musicians Jordan (left) and Jacob Davis (right) performing at The Louisiana Grandstand. Jordan Davis—an award-winning, multi-platinum country music artist—is one of the Grandstand's Artist Ambassador Program's inaugural mentors.
There was a time when Shreveport was considered an essential tour stop for up-and-coming musicians looking to make a splash in the world of country music. From 1948 until 1960, The Louisiana Hayride concert series, broadcasting live from the stage of the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, helped to launch the careers of superstars the likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and George Jones.
Today, Stephen Gillum, a forty-two-year-old Shreveport native and the co-founder of a new concert series called The Louisiana Grandstand, sees potential for Shreveport to be restored as a mecca of what he calls “real music.”
“We don’t want to just host established stars. We want to help create, build, and launch stars,” Gillum said. “We hope to be a part of breaking new artists from this area while hearkening back to this area’s history, doing it all with a hometown feel because we’re proud of these artists and their roots.”
The Louisiana Grandstand team hosted the first of their “listening room”-style concerts in 2021 at the Woman’s Department Club of Shreveport, a sprawling, circa-1919 estate on the edge of downtown Shreveport that houses a 440-seat auditorium and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Louisiana Grandstand’s early concerts paired country legends like Sara Evans, Marty Stuart, and Robert Earl Keen with opening acts curated from Northwest Louisiana’s current crop of emerging singer-songwriters.
“We don’t want to just host established stars. We want to help create, build, and launch stars. We hope to be a part of breaking new artists from this area while hearkening back to this area’s history, doing it all with a hometown feel because we’re proud of these artists and their roots.” —Stephen Giillum
The success of The Louisiana Grandstand’s early shows paved the way for more ambitious bookings. Over the past few years, breakout artists like Marcus King, Eli Young Band, and Red Clay Strays have performed to packed houses.
Riding the wave of positive buzz, The Louisiana Grandstand announced its biggest venture to date in August 2025. In addition to the opportunity to share a stage with country music superstars, local musicians can now apply for admission to The Louisiana Grandstand’s Artist Ambassador Program. Locals who are accepted will benefit from one-on-one mentorship and professional development, with hands-on training and experience with aspects of concert production, ranging from ticket office administration to lighting design.
“We want our artists to understand not only how to perform, but to learn what all goes into pulling off a successful event,” Gillum said. “They need to know these things, and there are not a lot of ways to learn. We expect them to come in and put some of the work in. Learn how the sound works, learn how the lighting cues work, and learn how the ticket office works.”
Organizers expect to announce the first two program mentees in March 2026.
Leading the mentorship program will be none other than country superstars Kix Brooks and Jordan Davis—both of whom grew up in Shreveport, where they honed their talents before going on to find enormous success in Nashville.
“[Brooks and Davis] had to move away from Shreveport to develop their career,” Gillum said. “We believe in a future where that isn’t the case.”
“I, more than most, understand the importance that local venues like The Louisiana Grandstand have in supporting homegrown talent,” Brooks said in an emailed statement. “I’m honored to join fellow native Jordan Davis in the first year of the Artist Ambassador Program.”
“My grandparents met going to shows at The Louisiana Hayride, and we grew up hearing about these iconic moments that they witnessed. But it can’t just be about the past. The most exciting part about The Louisiana Grandstand is that it’s about the future.” —Stephen Gillum
In addition to the star power they’ve enlisted for the inaugural class of the Artist Ambassador Program, the best resource that The Louisiana Grandstand team has may be the lessons they’ve gleaned from history. The Louisiana Grandstand isn’t the first initiative built upon the promise of recapturing the glory days of Shreveport as a destination for up-and-coming country music artists.
Following the final broadcast of the original Louisiana Hayride, which ended its initial run in 1960, similar efforts with names like Hayride U.S.A., the North Louisiana Hayride, the Louisiana Gospel Hayride, and the Ark-La-Tex Roundup have cropped up every few years. These jamboree-style shows often over-relied on the fading star power of musicians and radio personalities who had appeared on The Louisiana Hayride stage decades prior. Gillum is adamant that, while he and his team take great pride in Shreveport’s history, The Louisiana Grandstand isn’t an exercise in nostalgia.
“The great thing about history is that it teaches us what not to do,” Gillum said, alluding to past attempts to recreate the magic of the Hayride era. “You have to be able to get out of your own way and let things move into the direction that they need to go.”
While Gillum couldn’t divulge specifics, he said The Louisiana Grandstand will be making its home in a much larger venue beginning in mid-2026, giving organizers the opportunity to plan bigger, more frequent concerts and events. A number of major announcements will be shared soon via The Louisiana Grandstand’s website and social media, he said.
“My grandparents met going to shows at The Louisiana Hayride, and we grew up hearing about these iconic moments that they witnessed,” Gillum said. “But it can’t just be about the past. The most exciting part about The Louisiana Grandstand is that it’s about the future.”
