Leela James on What Makes St. Louis’ Music at the Intersection Festival Special [Exclusive]

No one does soul music like Leela James. The South Central Los Angeles native has familial roots from the South via Texas and Louisiana as her family migrated west before her birth, and it’s evident in her deeply textured tone.

PopCulture was able to witness the magic of James’ vocal ability and stage presence during her performance on the main stage at the annual Music at the Intersection Festival (MATI) in St. Louis on September 14. During her one hour set, she took attendees on a journey from heartache to love, pain, and of course, Black pride. Her music is a connector, and she uses it to heal. But it’s also a throwback to a time where true soul music thrived, in an era where singers with such ability are few, far, and between.

She’s currently on her own tour, promoting her latest project 2BHonest, but took time out to perform at MATI. When PC asked her why St. Louis was special, and music festivals of the like, her answer was simple.

“I think St. Louis is a melting pot, a mixture of cultures and people. So, I think it’s important to have festivals like this for moments like this to bring people together, especially in a time like we are currently living in,” she told us. “So I think it’s important because music is a form of therapy and healing, so again, it can bring folks together and pretty much take your mind off of some of the troubles of the current times in the world, period. So, I think it’s important to have festivals of this sort.”

James says St. Louis is the centerpoint of blues, so her being on the bill was fitting. “St. Louis is definitely a staple in real rhythm and blues,” she told a group of journalists. “So when I think of St. Louis, I think of the real deal, real when it comes to real music.”

James uses healing as both personal therapy and to help her listeners. “I definitely think when I write and record, that my goal is a combination, but I know that if it heals me it’s gonna heal somebody else,” she asserted. “So a lot of my music is therapy for myself, and it just happens that it touches others, and that’s the blessing. It’s not just about me. While I’m here on this earth, you know, I wanna be able to help somebody in my own way with the gift that God gave me.”

James is always creating music, and maintains a level of anonymity in the digital age where everything is plastered on social media. Not much is known about her personal life, but she did dabble in reality television for a brief time with her stint on TV One’s R&B Divas Los Angeles. 

“I’d do reality television again, real reality. I think it just expanded my audience and brought more people into my world,” she says of her time on the series. “Some people knew me and, and some people probably thought they knew me and then some people didn’t know me. So it just gave people more of an insight on who I was as a person, as an artist.”