‘The White Wall Sessions’ set to begin filming in July

By John Hult, for Pigeon605

The future of “The White Wall Sessions” show was very much in question a year ago.

The first episode for season eight of the local and regional music showcase was set to begin filming in the basement of Last Stop CD Shop on East 10th Street on March 16, 2020. 

“We had 45 bands booked,” said Jeff Zueger, the show’s executive producer.

Four cancellations turned into a canceled season as the COVID-19 pandemic picked up. Zueger wasn’t sure if the show would come back to KELO-TV at all. Ultimately, he opted to package some of the show’s best performances from the past seven years into “The White Wall Sessions Classics” for last fall’s season.

“We’ve recorded a lot of people over the years, so there was plenty to choose from,” Zueger said. “We still got great ratings.”

The spring of 2021 brought news of a vaccine, the lifting of mask recommendations and the slow but certain resumption of nightlife across the nation and in Sioux Falls. That’s good news for fans of “The White Wall Sessions.”

Normalcy hasn’t returned quite quickly enough to film a full season – about 50 bands typically visit the studio between spring and September – but the live performances will resume this summer. 

Zueger expects to film around a dozen acts and fold them into a second season of “Classics,” with the new performances dubbed “Instant Classics.” Tickets for the live performances run $5 per person, with the first shows beginning in mid-July and the last coming sometime in mid-October. 

Zueger and his team are still working out the schedule. Recording dates will be posted to the show’s Facebook page and website within the next few weeks. Full shows, clips and “The White Wall Sessions Radio” audio stream also are available on the website.