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Des Moines Musicians, Venues Play On Despite Stacked Closures

by Amy "frankie" Felegy and Genie Hien Tran

A digital illustration of two musicians performing for an abstract audience with green and red colors throughout.
Photo Credit: Genie Hien Tran
"I want to see artists be able to survive, thrive, and go as far as they can and make a living knowing that there's many challenges," says musician Emmett Phillips Jr. "EP The Path."

Iowa artists take to the mic on their self-sustaining music scene—and why it needs more support.

The Des Moines music community has been hit hard lately. 

Locals are mourning the loss of “legacy venues” like Lefty’s Live Music, the Vaudeville Mews, Gas Lamp, and Java Joe’s. The Des Moines Social Club shut its doors in 2021. And the Des Moines Music Coalition recently dissolved, canceling last year’s longstanding 80/35 Music Fest.  

The pandemic may have been the first domino. In 2024, over 60% of all independent venues nationwide weren’t making money. But Des Moines locals also say ticket resellers, arena venues owned by Live Nation, a saturated music market, and competition from other entertainers like Netflix are big pressure points. There’s also rising costs across the board and folks are less interested in buying alcohol. 

Six musicians on stage performing.
Photo Credit: Mark Lage courtesy xBk
Artists perform with xBk’s Monday Night Live series house band. “If we still want people to create music, and to have people who dedicate their time and their energy and their efforts to art, we have to find ways to support it,” owner Tobi Parks says.

“The environment for independent venues—not just Iowa, but across the country—is getting much more dire. And I think it’s much harder to operate,” says Tobi Parks, who owns xBk Live in Des Moines.  

She opened the cozy venue in 2019, six months before COVID shutdowns entered the scene. But Parks says she’s been able to “make it” for a few reasons: She works elsewhere as a lawyer, she owns the building, and sees hefty community support. 

“Everyone from our general manager to our booker, to our sound tech, to the bartenders, to everybody that’s there . . . they’ve created their own little family,” says Parks. 

A five-member band smiling and flashing peace signs in front of a live audience.
Photo Credit: The Finesse
The Finesse’s Madison Ray, center back, stops on stage for a crowd photo at Wooly’s in Des Moines: “What is it missing?” he asks of the local live music scene. “It’s not the artists. We have great artists. We have great resources. It’s a matter of how are we connecting it to the people? How can we make that somehow easier?”

That family includes performers like Madison Ray. He’s the lead singer and songwriter of Des Moines soul band The Finesse. 

“Musicians don’t know how to be quiet, so we’ll always find spaces to make noise, whether it’s in a corner of a cafe, at a friend’s house . . . we’ll make it happen one way or another. We don’t know how else to exist, right?” Ray says.

Two men holding microphones and rapping to each other.
Photo Credit: Photo by Mirroright Media courtesy Emmett Phillips Jr.
“Des Moines doesn’t necessarily have a specific sound. I see that as an opportunity for growth and originality,” says EP The Path, left, pictured with Andre Davis at Iowa’s Middle Of NOWhere Rural Art & Music Festival. “Other people are like, ‘Chicago sounds like this, or St. Louis sounds like this.’ I’m like, ‘Des Moines should sound like who you are.'”

It’s a question of, he adds, “Do we have the facilities to support that, or will it be an act of rebellion against whatever legislation’s going on . . . whatever red tape is keeping us from being able to have these spaces together?”

To artists like Ray, what the Des Moines music scene needs, plainly, is money. He’s talking about arts-supportive legislation, fair wages for musicians, government funding and incentives, and possibly a dedicated arts district.

But in the meantime, other musicians say the people have the power to keep the live shows’ lights on.

Emmett Phillips Jr., or EP The Path, is an educator and multi-talented artist. He, like Ray, grew up in Des Moines and wants to see musicians and show-goers “activate.”

“Invest and support these artists because it changes their lives and it’ll change your life as well,” Phillips Jr. says. “So almost see it as like a civic duty. Like, ‘Okay, I do my taxes, I take care of my children, and I go to local shows because I’m a good steward.’”

Independent art is essential to Iowa’s economy: The live entertainment industry’s “economic output” totaled over $580 million in 2024. When art thrives through resources and support, so do our communities.  

“The numbers are there. It’s an economic driver of retention in our city,” Phillips Jr. says.  “Show up for these artists. Show up—you know what I mean?”