The smell of delicious sweets and coffee filled the air as Emily Musolino belted out her original song, “Eye of the Storm.”
Audience members sipped on beers and coffee as they listened to the North Carolina artist sing original songs and covers at the first Ouachita Live event at Miss Kay’s Sweets and Eats.
According to Lila Strode, the president of West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce, Ouachita Live is a free concert series that will be held from March to Oct. on the last Friday of every month.
Strode was very pleased with the turnout of Ouachita Live and said that this event will help the downtown area of both West Monroe and Monroe.
According to Strode, the event was put on by the Downtown West Monroe Revitalization group to help revitalize the downtown area while having fun events for the community.
“Ouachita Live is all about bringing people to downtown West Monroe. Come out, shop, enjoy the atmosphere out here and have fun,” Strode said.
The atmosphere was one of Musolino’s favorite parts about performing in the West Monroe and Monroe area.
“I think this event went well. Many people have shown up, and they seem to really enjoy the music,” Musolino said.
Strode hopes to see more attendance from ULM students as the year progresses and Ouachita Live continues to be held.
While there weren’t many college students at the first Ouachita Live performance, one ULM student, Rebecca Rowland, did go and enjoy the event.
“The musician was great. She had a nice sound. I think more students and people should have went to this event,” said Rowland, a sophomore business administration major.
Musolino’s sound was something that she herself views as a unique trait.
“I’m kind of a country, soul, rock and blues artist. But I think blues is where it really all comes from,” Musolino said.
Musolino was the first artist of the Ouachita Live series. Strode said that they will have different genres of music so everyone can enjoy.
“We will have a blues band, a Cajun band and other artists and bands. We have some outside groups and outside folks that we haven’t heard of before,” Strode said.
Musolino brought every type of genre to the table at Miss Kay’s Sweets and Eats so that every audience member could listen to something they enjoy.
Musolino said she became interested in music around 11 years old and decided she wanted to be a professional musician.
Musolino has three albums titled “EmilyMusolino,” “Jealous Girl” and “The Vault.” She performed original songs from these albums as well as covers.
Staying true to her ever-changing sound, Musolino covered songs from different genres like, “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Walk like an Egyptian” and “Hold On.”