Black Music Month 2021

DALLAS – June 19 this year marked 156 years since the last slaves in Texas were officially freed. President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday, making Juneteenth a federal holiday from here on out.

The Dallas Weekly, a Dallas institution since 1954, in collaboration with Michael Clay Productions, concluded the wildly successful CHRCHx Soul Music Festival concert series with a Juneteenth Music Celebration Saturday night at Poor David’s Pub located just south of Downtown on Botham Jean Blvd.

As guests walked into the Pub, they admired the black painted gallery walls showcasing Black art and music all over the place. Waitresses worked the floor offering the food options for the night: crispy flavored wings or burger baskets, with a full bar and coffee station.

The crowd of over 150 people, included women with beautiful giant afros, a handful of fresh jumbo braids, and lots of dreadlocks, men and women.

The DJ played the hits…had the crowd rocking to songs from “The Cupid Shuffle” to Meg Thee Stallion to Big Moe’s “Just a Dog,” an early-2000s Texas classic.

On the stage, under the bright lights, Dallas Weekly’s COO Jessica Washington opened the show, wearing a flowy, peach-colored, floral two-piece skirt set paired with gold strappy heels. She welcomed the audience and let them know that they are celebrating the past, present, and future of Black Music.

Hosts for the night were Chadney Christle and actor JD Williams of Bounce Network’s “Saints and Sinners,” now in its fifth season. They were hilarious, to say the least. They told jokes, most of them seemingly improvised, and even performed a funny duet to “Baby If You Give It to Me” by Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey, followed by a little freestyle battle.

“It’s time to be Black, it’s time to be ghetto,” and “If you’re Black and you’re proud make some noise” are some of the expressions the audience loudly cheered and laughed to.

There were three musical performances of the night, first Marium Echo, then Carvena Jones, followed by the amazing Samoht, who closed out the evening.

Houston native Marium Echo took the stage wearing red hot lipstick and a custom made silk printed dress, or what our people call them, Dashikis or Kaftans.

The 6-member band began playing the tunes of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” as Echo blessed the audience with her soft and subtle yet powerful voice, everyone tapping their feet, nodding, and singing along. Another song she performed was Ice Cube’s “Today Was A Good Day,” where she rapidly rapped the words, drawing oohs from the crowd as they recorded her on their smartphones. 

The final song she sang was a fast version of Faith Evans’ “Soon As I Get Home.” She received a lasting, much-deserved standing ovation.

Before the next artist hit the stage, host Chadney Christle encouraged the three background singers to do a quick solo vocal performance, and that they did!

Next up was Carvena Jones, who competed on season 2 of the show “The Four,” where DJ Khaled described her voice as “powerful” and P. Diddy told her that her “voice is just incredible, you did everything perfect.”

She took the stage dressed in a black shorts-style bodysuit layered with a white ruffled cardigan and black leather platform boots, and we cannot forget the blinged out cross earrings.

In her soft and sweetly therapeutic voice, she began singing “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder as the crowd frequently hollered “whoo” and “yass.” One fan even said “I’m ‘bout to cry.”

She continued her performance with “Lost Without You” by Robin Thicke, followed by Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” where she received a standing ovation then continued to sing with her guitar and no band, Beyoncé’s “Halo” that she dedicated to the crowd.

Carvena’s last song was the Rose Royce classic “I’m Going Down” (or an oldie by Mary J Blige to the younger generations) where she squatted low, got on her knees, and eventually sat down on the stage singing her heart out, totally into the music. Of course, another standing ovation.

Last but certainly not least, R&B sensation Samoht closed the night out. Samoht is a well-established artist who sang the Brandy tribute at the 2019 BMI Awards and was featured on John P Kee’s album I Made It Out.

He and his two-man band dressed in all white and had a few bouquets of white balloons on stage. With roses around his microphone, Samoht energetically performed his hit “Be OK,” and at times slowly grinded to the music, prompting the ladies to scream in awe.

Overall, the night was a true celebration of Black excellence and the crowd left feeling unapologetically Black.

Just what Juneteenth was made for.