The boards covering the windows outside Louie Louie's Piano Bar in Deep Ellum are the battle scars of going through a pandemic, and going dark.
"It was heartbreaking to put the boards on," co-owner Ronnie Wilson said. "It was devastating."
So over the summer Wilson and his Louie Louie's business partner, Joey Hamende, found a way to hear the sound of live music the pandemic had all but silenced.
"It wasn't anything we planned. It just started with the Roomsounds," Wilson explained.
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The Roomsounds, a popular Dallas-based band recorded a video on Louie Louie's dark stage. The bartenders, wait staff, and door staff were the production crew. One video, turned into dozens of videos from 15 different local artists, and the YouTube 'Boarded Up Music' channel was born.
"I really kind of enjoy the fact that I get to brag about my city," Wilson said. "It's kinda crazy to think, we're doing this here and somebody on the other side of the world is checking this out. In the crazy times we live in, that's one of the good things, right?"
Wilson said they've gone from not having an audience due to the pandemic, to having viewers on YouTube from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Indonesia.
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"The only other thing that gives that sense of community is probably church, where people sit next to a stranger and listen and sing music," Wilson said. "So yeah, this is...it's soul food."
They hope to continue Boarded Up Music after the window boards are gone, and the pandemic is over.
"Look how we made lemonade out of lemons," Wilson said.
