DALLAS — John Larue makes sure all his equipment is in tiptop shape before a concert brings the lights, camera and action to his business.
“There is nothing easy about doing this work,” said Larue, co-owner of Deep Ellum Art Co. “There’s a lot of competition for it.”
When Larue and his wife opened Deep Ellum Art Co. in 2017 just east of downtown Dallas, it was due to their love of music festivals. They wanted to bring the same vibes to North Texas year round.
But he said the lack of funding nearly turned the music off in more ways than he can count.
“This past year was pretty bad just because we had a downturn in the economy, and people are just not coming out as much,” Larue said. “You know, we saw several shows that were typically selling 400 to 500 tickets, selling 200 to 300 tickets. And that’s directly attributed to the funds that people have to spend on doing fun stuff.”
Larue said his business is still recovering after the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. He said Art Co. was closed for 14 months, leading to a 30% loss of their repeat bookings.
“We’re not in a unique position. I think all independent venues are in the same boat that we’re in,” said Larue.
Last summer, the National Independent Venue Association released its first-ever National Economic Impact Study on the state of live music. It showed independent live venues, festivals and promoters contribute more than $86 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product annually. Still, it showed 64% of stages were not profitable in 2024. That’s where Joe Morrison and Corey Pond come in.
“We were looking for a way to give back, where we can kinda get out in the community,” said Morrison, attorney at Mullen & Mullen Injury Law Firm and co-founder of JAMBALOO.
JAMBALOO is a weeklong free music festival that debuted last February with the aim of bringing people back to local venues across North Texas. It returns next month from Feb. 7-15 with nearly 30 free shows across 14 venues. Blues, Americana, country and an up-and-coming Tejano band are a few of the genres to expect at the festival.
“We already have great musicians in this city. We don’t need better ones than we have,” said Pond, co-founder of JAMBALOO. “If somebody in Austin looks at all the stuff going on in Dallas and decides this might be a better place for their career, well then that is a win for what we’re doing and for this entire community.”
Morrison and Pond are big live music enthusiasts themselves. With the goal of wanting to revive the industry, they poured more than half a million dollars into this festival.
“Production costs are covered by the JAMBALOO guys, the talent is covered by the JAMBALOO guys, so we don’t have to rely on selling tickets, which is the hardest part of this job is to sell tickets to shows because there’s a lot of competition,” said Larue. “There’s a whole lot of great stuff going on in our city all the time.”
A Fort Worth music venue was on the verge of closing last summer, but after receiving $20,000 from JAMBALOO, the doors are still open today. That’s music to Larue’s ears, as he’s hopeful his business will prosper for years to come.
JAMBALOO organizers said more than 100 artists performed across Dallas-Fort Worth last year, and venues saw an average 149% increase in February sales. They said this generated nearly $4 million in local economic impact.
