When the River Music Experience opened its doors in downtown Davenport five years ago Friday, it was intended to be a museum celebrating the sounds produced all along the Mississippi.

Interactive wands called up music, video clips and information on blues, jazz, folk, country and rock artists who claim or have claimed any part of the river region as their home.

Visitors were impressed, but they weren’t returning.

“People would only come here so much to see and look,” said Ellis Kell, the programming and education director for the River Music Experience, or RME. “What they would really come here to do was see and hear and experience the acts.

“They’re not going to come back and look at the same pictures on the wall.”

So, in April 2006, the “river wall” was replaced by the Redstone Room, a 250-seat venue on the second floor of the former Petersen Harned Von Maur store building that serves as a performance space, bringing in acts over the past three-plus years that have included such notables as Blind Melon, G. Love and Special Sauce, Junior Brown, Marty Stuart and Siegel-Schwall.

Michael Archer of Rock Island is a fan of the building’s history and enjoys the variety of music played there, attending one or two shows a week.

“Everyone who comes there gets a total, complete spectrum of the art of music,” said Archer, who works for Saint Giuseppe’s Pizza in Moline. “And it gives

you some of the most outstanding, unique artists in this area. It’s so renowned that we even bring in the big names.”

Although the RME has undergone many changes in the past five years — three different people in the organization’s lead role, a change in focus and an increased educational component — the conversion to the Redstone Room has been one of the most successful moves.

“It’s one thing to talk about music and hear sound clips,” said Tom Swanson, the general manager for the past 1 1/2 years and an employee and volunteer for two years before that. “It’s another thing to see music in action. Especially for younger audiences, it’s good to see performances of touring acts.”

Swanson and Kell are both musicians. Swanson is the lead singer for the band Jim the Mule, and Kell is the leader of his own eponymous band as well as a solo performer, and both say they appreciate several aspects of the Redstone and its facilities.

“It’s paid off great dividends,” Kell said. “It’s a world-class showroom. You’d have to go to Chicago or farther to see a showroom of that quality.”

Both men say they can look back at a list of RME projects that have worked — a third annual Rock Camp USA that begins later this month, hosting Polyrhythms’ monthly jazz workshops and concerts, successful sound/recording and music lessons, and a monthly drum circle. There are others that haven’t, including a Sunday gospel brunch, group guitar lessons and Saturday morning music activities strictly for kids.

Like the Redstone Room on its second floor, Mojo’s Coffeehouse on the street level of the RME hosts a variety of local, regional and national acts. There, however, admission is free and performers generally are paid by passing the hat.

“For people looking for economical alternatives for entertainment, that fills the gap for a lot of people in the market right now,” Kell said.

The economy’s struggles have hit the RME hard in the past several months, both said, particularly the Redstone Room.

“People just aren’t coming out like they were six months or a year ago,” Swanson said.

“Anywhere,” Kell added.

“We hear that from national acts all the time,” Swanson said.

Even though the economic woes may hamper people’s spending during their free time, Kell said scholarship funding is available for students who want to take piano or guitar lessons or participate in Rock Camp.

“The kids shouldn’t have to suffer because the economy went in the toilet,” he added. “If we can, we’ll find a way” to get their lessons covered.

Swanson said the RME wants to work even more closely in the future with other nonprofits after having already established successful relationships with the nearby Figge Art Museum, Scott County Family YMCA, Davenport School District and other entities.

“It’s just a matter of building on what we’ve already established,” he said. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress in the last two years or so by letting the community know that this place exists for them.”