St. Louis shows up for Stephen Wilson Jr. & Bre Kennedy despite storm

As most people know, opening acts (usually) don’t get the benefit of playing to a full house. It’s just part of the game, you know? People gradually make their way into any given venue, grabbing drinks and checking out the merch tables. So, when a venue fills up from floor to balcony before the opener even steps foot onstage, that’s one of the clearest signs that you know you’re in for a good show. That was exactly the case at The Pageant in St. Louis on a stormy Wednesday night in the middle of April, where fans were packed in tight, ignoring tornado warnings, eagerly ready for the evening of country music to begin.

The house lights dimmed and a young musician with an acoustic guitar stepped out under a blue and purple hue, accented perfectly by candles glowing a rich, vibrant orange across the stage floor. After introducing herself as Nashville-based singer-songwriter Bre Kennedy, she went into her first single and, well before it was over, the talented performer had won over the entire crowd.

Bre is currently out promoting her third studio album, The Alchemist, which is available everywhere now. The new album is an unflinchingly honest body of work, driven primarily by personal growth, emotional clarity, and a renewed sense of purpose — all of which were on full display for show attendees this night. The honesty and openness came through vividly when Bre shared with everyone the loss of her grandmother this past January, someone she admitted was like a best friend; tales of those final days of love and laughter, promising that Bre would share her grandmother Sharon’s story while out on the road, flowed beautifully into an unreleased single called “Flowers Through the Concrete”, which references all of those painful goodbyes that must be done and how her grandmother kept a smile on Bre’s face the whole way.

Headlining the evening was renaissance man, Stephen Wilson Jr.

A former microbiologist turned singer-songwriter, Stephen Wilson Jr. is from southern Indiana and currently riding the high of a massive last couple of years, with the immense success of his debut album Søn of Dad, along with millions of views of his “Stand by Me” cover — both of which are building him a larger and larger audience in every city he goes to. Stephen came out and quickly lit the stage on fire. His energetic way of moving around from each side of the stage to the other was matched only by the thrill of the audience keeping up with every moment of it. I was also thoroughly impressed by his slide guitar player, a gentleman named Scotty Murray. The audience was of course treated to Stephen’s newest single “Gary”, an in-depth ode to the blue-collar worker who doesn’t get to do fancy things, but does get ‘the job’ done, which was basically 90% of the people at the show. Wilson also mentioned a new album in the works, which should be available for fans soon.

All in all, the evening with Bre Kennedy and Stephen Wilson Jr. was a good time, with Bre’s intimate vulnerability setting the tone early and Stephen’s explosive energy carrying the show home. Nights like these prove exactly why live music matters.

Photography by Thomas Semonco

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