The Queen of St. Louis Karaoke: Margaret Moore Packs ‘Em In
Margaret Moore wants to be the next female country music superstar. Make that the next black female country music superstar. Next? You may ask. Was there a first? Well, yeah there wasâÂ?¦.uhâÂ?¦Charley Pride? No, he was a guy and that was way back in the 70’s. In the past, the stereotype of your average country music fan has traditionally leaned toward hard drinking, pickup trucks, doing time in prison, and confederate flags. If that perception has changed, then it’s morphed into going to church, family values, and watching Larry the Cable Guy on the Blue Collar Comedy tour. There’s not a whole lot of cultural diversity within the confines of country.
But Margaret thinks that it can be done, and to a small, but dedicated, audience around town hope springs eternal. Right now, Margaret, who is tinged with a little bit of international flavor, having grown up on an Air Force base in Germany, is doing the Karaoke tour here in St. Louis. I caught up with her recently at a little bar called The River City Pub on Gravois, near Affton on the South Side.
The River City Pub is one of the last vestiges of the neighborhood bars that used to dot practically every street corner in the city. Small, crowded, and smoky, the bar serves no food, but it’s ok to order a pizza and have it delivered to your table. I made the mistake of sitting down at the bar and asking if they had a Guinness while I was waiting for Margaret to arrive. The bartender asked me what that was. I couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Inquiring about a Sam Adams got pretty much the same response.
She pointed towards the wall and all of the signs advertising Bud Light, Budweiser, and Busch beer. I should have been ashamed of myself; a native of south St. Louis, going into a bar and asking for anything but an Anheuser Busch product. Hell, you could practically see the brewery smokestack and smell the hops from the bar.
At the front of the place was a pool table, dartboard, and a modernized jukebox. A big screen television hung on the wall over what appeared to be some audio equipment. A small television and a couple of mike stands were shoved over into the corner. Around 9:30 the Karaoke DJ, Ali Babb a, arrived. Ali is a short, dark Israeli guy with a fairly thick accent and a great personality. It’s his job to keep everything moving and the audience entertained as the Karaoke singers make their way to the microphone. A couple of times he recruited someone from a nearby table for an impromptu dance.
The first singer was middle-aged with a slight paunch and a ponytail tucked underneath his baseball cap. He warmed everybody up with Bob Seeger’s “Against The Wind.” As he sang, the lyrics floated across the screen of the big TV, changing color to keep the time. Next up was a younger fellow who asked everybody if they liked country music. A smattering of yeses came back from the audience.
He did a Johnny Cash tune and a David Allen Coe number about running into Hank Williams while hitchhiking down the highway. Next it was Margaret’s turn. She was wearing a black sequined dress with high-heeled patent leather boots. As she launched into a rendition of “Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” followed by “Let’er Rip,” the reaction came back from the audience as it always does: “Man! What is she doing here? “She can really sing!!”
Growing up, Margaret would sing along with her father on the base in Germany. Her father, Claude Chambers, was a Tech Sergeant in the United States Air Force. He passed away in a car accident in 2002. Margaret wrote a song about the loss of her father called: “Taken Away”. ” I receive my inspiration from my father and my brother, who has also passed away. They would always encourage me when I was younger, and told me to never give up on my dream of being a singer.” She says. She particularly liked Reba McEntire, Patsy Cline, and Charly Pride when she was growing up.
Even though she moved to the Midwest after Germany, she developed a southern accent. She says that it’s probably from listening to so much country music. She has collected over 500 Karaoke CD’s and has sang at practically every Karaoke bar and contest in the region. A lot of the time she comes in first. She won the WIL Survivor Series Talent Contest at the UMB Bank Pavilion, getting a chance to meet and a positive nod from country music star Trace Atkins at the event. She also beat out Ozzie Smith’s son at the Backstreet Jazz and Blues Club in St. Louis.
Although there have been a couple of pitfalls along the way, (she ran into a manager in Nashville who tried to get her to sign a contract for fifty percent of everything she made), Margaret remains positive about the future: “I posted a question on the Internet asking if a black woman could rise to the top in country music, and out of some 28 responses in the first hour, only three were negative.”
Recently Margaret has been working at Mountain Peak Studios in Kirkwood, recording a demo and writing some songs. She has the obligatory entertainment attorney and business manager. She eventually hopes to get a backup band together and start playing out around the area.
“I’m not trying to create a new “black” country music genre.” Margaret says. “Classic country is my love, my heart and my soul. My dream is to sing a duet with Reba McEntire. I just want to be the best singer that I can possibly be.”
