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PAUL:
What do you get when you mix entertainment and activism? A meaningful experience happening right here in Jackson. Hey, it's Paul Wolf with a front-row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul shine. On today's show, my colleague Yolanda Clay-Moore talks with Yolanda Singleton of Xperience JXN, a promoter, community advocate, and trendsetter. The two Yolandas talk about upcoming concerts, weekly music, and the recent Southern Soul declaration.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
It is such a pleasure to talk to THE Yolanda Singleton, President, CEO, COO of Experience Jackson. How are you doing today?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
I am wonderful. I am.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
You are just kind of an entertainment guru. From concerts to line dancing and the whole gamut, but you seem to have kind of found your niche market in Southern Soul. Would that be a true statement?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Yeah. I mean, and I, and I still will say that I'm a trendsetter. So I am, you know, all the time looking for new and innovative things to do and ways to bring exciting events to Jackson.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
We appreciate all that you do to bring entertainment to Jackson because that’s a very important product of our tourism market. So we do appreciate that. How long have you been doing this?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Even though I am a registered nurse by trade, I've been doing this for over 30 years in some capacity. And it's just really grown over the years. And it's something that I enjoy because I see the joy that it brings to people. People love having fun. So that's one of the reasons why I continue to do it and want to make sure that it's done well.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
And you do a good job of that. I like to say you have a big concert coming up in October. You want to tell us a little bit about that?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Yes. So this is our, “we outside, but inside” party. We're actually putting this together also as a get out and vote push as well. This particular concert, we want it to be a very fun concert. It's LJ Echols, it's Big Yayo, it's FPJ, Frank Johnson, Kandy Janai, Breeze Mr.Do2Much, and oh, Jake Carter. Definitely, this is a great show. This is one that is, you know, we try to find events where we can definitely give back and make really affordable. We have tickets like $50 and $35 for General Admission. So this is one that everybody can come out to.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
Yeah. Yeah. Now you said something pretty significant. One of the things that you're trying to do is voter registration. It ties into what's going on right now, which is a celebration of freedom summer when in 1964, they were doing the same things, trying to get people to register to vote with a little bit more risk then than now, but still very, very important.

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Even with that, we want to encourage people not only to register to vote, but we want to make sure that they actually go to the polls and vote. So we'll be following up with another concert on November the 1, which will be our final push just to get out and vote. I just want people to be informed, educated, and active in the process. You know, so many people have lost their lives, so many people have just done so much for us to have this right, okay? We got to exercise it. Our vote counts. Our voice needs to be heard. And I know a lot of promoters and people don't embrace this. kind of stay away from it, but this is one of the things, you know, I'm about the community as well. So I want to make sure that we embrace the community and the things that we do and be socially conscious about the things that we do and how we do them.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
Yes, very, very important, especially in this day and time. You have something very significant that you're a part of that happened on May 14th. You want to tell us about it?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Yes. So that was the passing of the Southern Soul bill, which was really designating Mississippi as the birthplace of Southern Soul, which is huge for the state of Mississippi. I think Mississippi is the birthplace of all music and other people have just taken the claim, you know? So, but this gives us the opportunity to actually preserve it as it should be and move on it.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
I don't want to cut you off, but it's something that we probably missed the opportunity to do in so many other genres. So what gave you the charge to push this forward?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Actually, De 'Keither Stamps was one of the people who saw this opportunity and had been working on it for a long. My push in it has really been the exposure and promotion of the music, supporting the artists, educating the people, like getting them out there. And that's one of the reasons why on every show that I do, I always try to introduce a new artist, someone who the audience may not be familiar with. So they can put a name with a face and their music so they can go back out. It’s kind of like the ant bed effect, you know, so they can go back. Here in Jackson, they hear this great music from this fabulous artist and they take it all the way back from wherever they come from. And the ant bed effect has started to happen.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
I like that. I like that analogy. You know, speaking of opportunity, this is sparked another event. So tell us about, you know, what happens on Tuesday nights now.

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
We have basically an artist showcase, a Southern Soul artist showcase which allows people to come in, Southern Soul artists, to come in and showcase their talent. So from 5-7 pm on Tuesdays at the M-Bar. Artists can come in and perform. So it's like a win-win. It gives people in Jackson, you know, in the surrounding areas, the opportunity to come in and listen to some great live entertainment. And it also gives the artists an opportunity to perform. Some of them, you know, need the opportunities to kind you know, build up their courage, their stage presence, you know, so we're going to do it in a loving environment. We family around here, right?

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
Right. Right. And, know, it's a great opportunity even from the perspective of the restaurant. It gives them more business, gives them more exposure. So, you know, that helps us from the tourism perspective and as well as the entertainment perspective, giving us another facet of entertainment on a Tuesday night. Now talk the difference or the bleed between Southern Soul and blues.

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
So Southern Soul really came from the blues. It's just a more upbeat kind of genre of music. You know, the blues was just that kind of sometimes bluesy, depressing, you know, “somebody that took my baby” kind of thing. Whereas now the Southern Soul, we're talking partying and having a good time and all of these kinds of things. Like I said, we outside. That's the term that the young folks use. You can definitely tell the difference between blues, traditional blues and Southern Soul.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
Southern Soul has kind of taken the city, the state by storm. I'm hearing more and more concerts, events that are surrounded by Southern Soul music.

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
Yeah, you want to spread your wings a little bit further. It's taking the nation. I was speaking with a national booking agent and he said, tell me about this Southern Soul thing, you know, and he's, you know, in New York and he really has a true interest. So he will probably be here for the October 12 concert to get a feel as to what Southern Soul actually is. He wants to experience it firsthand.

YOLANDA CLAY-MOORE:
I mean, that is exciting and from a tourism perspective, we like to have the activity and the entertainment in the city and we appreciate all that you do. One last question. Why Jackson?

YOLANDA SINGLETON:
I have a true infinity love for Jackson. Hence my name, Xperience Jackson. That should tell you everything. You know, so often people say it's nothing to do in Jackson. Well, I'm telling you something different. All you got to do is come Xperience Jackson.

PAUL:
That's Yolanda Clay-Moore in conversation with Yolanda Singleton. Her Xperience Jackson platform has her making things happen all over the city. So if you want to stay in the know, you'll find more in our show notes at visitjackson.com/soulsessions. Our podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Ricky Thigpen, and I'm our managing editor. You can learn more about the great work we're doing to make Jackson a better place at our website. It's visitjackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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