Since 2002, the Red Dragon Listening Room has been Baton Rouge’s haven for singer-songwriters and their fans.
Possibly no one loves the noncommercial singer-songwriter and folk music genres more than Red Dragon founder Chris Maxwell. He’s presented 1,326 shows, beginning at the venue’s original Government Street location and later at the Florida Street address it’s occupied since 2008.
The Red Dragon, by any standards, would be described as an atypical music venue — cinder-block walls, a low ceiling, twinkly lights and patrons sitting in rows of sofas, which Maxwell explained help with the acoustics. Plus, its BYOB policy made for a different vibe. People came, as the name suggests, to listen.
Maxwell and his wife, Liz, announced their retirement from the Red Dragon in February. Their Songwriter Series at the Manship Theatre will continue, but Tommy Prine’s June 19 and June 20 shows are the last scheduled for the venue.
Paul Thorn headlines the next Songwriter Series at Manship Theatre on June 28. He’s among the nationally touring artists who’ll miss the Red Dragon.
“It had a great vibe and welcoming vibe,” Thorn said. “I made lots of friends and memories there that I will always cherish.”
Maxwell booked one his favorite singer-songwriters, Mike West, for the first Red Dragon show in April 2002. The following month, Chuck Brodsky played the second of the venue’s shows.
Maxwell cites the late Guy Clark as his greatest Red Dragon booking. The Grammy-winning, Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee from West Texas performed there six times before his death in 2016.
“Guy Clark put us on the map,” Maxwell said on a recent weekday afternoon at the Red Dragon. “He and Rodney Crowell and Billy Joe Shaver — we got some of the titans, but Guy was No. 1 on my list of who I had to get.”
Clark, delighted about his Red Dragon experience, encouraged Crowell, another artist high on Maxwell’s wish list, to give the tiny venue in Baton Rouge a try. Clark’s pitch to Crowell, quoted on an official Red Dragon T-shirt, was: “Give them a chance — they are nuts but they are harmless.”
Joan Baez, Peter Yarrow, Rosanne Cash and Jerry Jeff Walker were among other famous artists to appear on the Red Dragon stage.
Baez brought her four-date “Baez on the Bayou” tour to the Red Dragon in 2013. Having previously sung at such massive, historic events as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969 and the 1963 March on Washington, Baez and one member of her band, Breaux Bridge multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, entertained a sold-out crowd of 110 at the Red Dragon.
“Bless your hearts,” the folk music star said at the show’s conclusion. “It’s been a lovely night.”
Cash and her husband and musical collaborator, John Leventhal, played the Red Dragon in 2012, the night before they performed for an audience 10 times larger at Tipitina’s in New Orleans.
“Wow,” Cash said when she stepped in front of concertgoers lounging in the Dragon’s rows of couches. “This is a first.”
Maxwell’s programming strategy matched national headliners with local talent as opening acts. He gave Baton Rouge area singer-songwriters an opportunity to perform their original material for an appreciative, attentive audience. Some locals rose to headliner status, and scores more volunteered for the Red Dragon Listening Room’s annual fundraising events.
“The Red Dragon has meant everything to me,” singer-songwriter Eric Schmitt said. “It’s where I heard some of the greats of the folk/Americana world — Guy Clark, Robbie Fulks, Mary Gauthier — in a listening environment where you can hear lyrics and musical nuance. It’s where I’ve met most of my music colleagues and formed relationships.”
“Minus the cape and tights, Chris Maxwell is a superhero,” said Jodi James, who performs in a touring duo with Clay Parker. “His superpower is being armed with an unfailing willingness to do whatever it takes to get people to a show, to get people to fall in love with songs and songwriters, to die on the hill that says this stuff matters.”
Maxwell’s inspiration for the Red Dragon included the 2002 closing of M’s Fine and Mellow Café. Marian Pickett booked singer-songwriters and jazz at her Third Street restaurant and music venue. After growing weary of driving to Houston for music, Maxwell instead brought the music to Baton Rouge.
“I made every mistake that you can make,” he said of his early days as an impresario.
A confluence of events led to the Red Dragon’s closure, including the departure of sound engineer Eric DiSanto and counter person Leigh Ward-Broussard, plus Liz Maxwell devoting much of her time to the couple’s grandchildren.
“We’ve been at this for 24 years,” Chris Maxwell said. “We knew this day was coming, and it doesn’t hold as much fun as it did when my wife and I were together for the shows.”
Talks to sell the Red Dragon Listening Room yielded no credible offers, he added, but there is the possibly that an LLC will revive the venue.
“Whether I’m just attending shows or promoting or helping friends do it, I’ll still have my toe in the music,” he said.