One place in Baton Rouge is dedicated to remembering the history of the city’s musicians, while forging the future of music in the community.
The Buddy Stewart Memorial Foundation is run by Philliper Stewart, who owns and operates the Buddy Stewart Memorial Rhythm Museum & Rock Shop.
Buddy Stewart was Philliper’s father and an accomplished saxophonist and big-band leader in the ’60s who founded The Rock Shop as a record store. It has since changed a great deal. Less record store and more record library, The Rock Shop has a huge quantity of rare and valuable records for sale.
All of the records in The Rock Shop’s substantial collection were purchased by Buddy Stewart, and despite not adding any more records since his death 16 years ago, The Rock Shop still consistently sells its wares.
Now the main goal of The Rhythm Museum is to educate its community on its musical legacy.
“We are here to showcase the history of what we do because many people are not aware of the great musicians that come out of this community,” Stewart said.  
To do this, The Rhythm Museum has many relics from local musicians, including instruments, rare and significant records and memorabilia from local music festivals. The Museum also offers drumming workshops to local children and is looking into starting workshops for a variety of different instruments taught by local musicians.
The Museum also holds a variety of events throughout the year, the most anticipated of which is Rocktober Fest. Rocktober Fest is a music festival the museum holds every October that showcases the musicians from the community while giving local children the opportunity to learn what it feels like to play in front of a crowd.
“The kids look forward to it because the community turnout is great,” Stewart said. “Performing in front of a big crowd like that is great for them because it teaches how rewarding music can be.”
For the many years it has been open, the museum has remained a staple of the community, and Stewart plans to keep it that way for a very long time.
“People from our community come and tell us how important we are to them, and that means a lot to us,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s future plans for the museum include documenting some of the talented musicians who come to play at the museum so that future generations can remember the legacy of these musicians.
“We have had some wonderful jam sessions in here, and we look forward to the future,” Stewart said. “When we get all of these musicians playing in here, we are making history.”
The Buddy Stewart Memorial Rhythm Museum & Rock Shop is open free of admission from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
“We are here to showcase the history of what we do because many people are not aware of the great musicians that come out of this community.”