This week, instead of a blues artist profile, I’d like to address a topic that I firmly believe in; local blues bands are highly important in keeping the blues alive and thriving.

Back in the 1980s in Mishawaka, Indiana, the Center Street Blues Café was the center of the blues universe here in north central Indiana.  The club was located in an aging former brewery complex that housed many businesses, but when the sun went down primarily on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, the blues was presented to eager local audiences whose work-a-day existences and the resulting pressures of those toils, their families, and financial situations, for a few hours at least, were stripped away by the blues men and women and their bands who came out to play.

The club was ideally situated roughly 90 miles east of Chicago, so the city’s great blues artists were often found on-stage plying their blues trades.  Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials, The Legendary Blues Band, Dion Payton & The 43^rd Street Blues Band, Sugar Blue, Melvin Taylor, Phil Guy, Eddy Clearwater, Junior Wells, Jimmy Johnson, Joanna Connor, Jimmy Dawkins, Steve Freund, The Kinsey Report With Big Daddy Kinsey (from Gary, Indiana), John Watkins, Professor Eddie Lusk, Pinetop Perkins (who was living just west of the area at the time), and Valerie Wellington, among so many others all performed to rapt club onlookers.

And within the bands of certain of these front men and women were heavy hitters in support roles the likes of which included O.C. Anderson, Johnny Dollar, George Baze, Eddie King, Lester Davenport, Criss Johnson, Michael Robinson, Leroy Brown, Gloria Hardiman, and Karen Carroll, to name only a few.  And, The Legendary Blues Band brought a bona fide sense of collective blues star power with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Louis Myers, Billy Flynn, Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, Jerry Portnoy, and Lovie Lee.

In addition to the Chicago contingency of blues artists, national touring acts were also the norm at the Center Street Blues Café.  Those artists included The James Harman Band, Roy Rogers, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, The Paladins, John Hammond, Luther Allison, Luter “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, Anson Funderburgh And The Rockets With Sam Myers, George Bedard, Steve Nardella, Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters, Eddie Kirkland, Lonnie Mack, Roy Buchanan, Ron Thompson & The Resistors, and Duke Tomato, again amid so many additional great groups, each also including fine sidemen who were great on their own merits.

The club was also in close proximity to an outdoor venue out back where blues festivals were held, and the roster of blues stars who played there included Son Seals, Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Duke Tomato, with even Albert Collins scheduled for a slot that was ultimately cancelled because of a ferocious storm.

Even Creedence Clearwater Revival great John Fogerty was, for a while, a regular at the club while he was dating his eventual wife who was from a neighboring city.  Fogerty is fondly remembered by many as having sat-in with Wells and Tomato, with him becoming so impressed with Tomato’s work that he ended up producing a “live” album for him.  This writer recalls coming face-to-face with Fogerty and exchanging pleasantries and finding him quite excited by Center Street’s vibe and consistent on-stage talent level.

I am sure that there are so many blues men and women that I am omitting here that will someday render me committed to doing a whole overview of the club and its goings on.

But just as important as the Chicago and national blues stars were to the ongoing operations of the Center Street Blues Café, so too were the labors of the local blues bands and artists who regularly took the club’s stage.  Bands and artists such as Southside Denny And The Skintones, The Bulldog Blues Band, The Moore Brothers Blues Band, and The Tunney Watkins Band, along with Dennis Donnelly as a solo acoustic performer, Southside Denny as an acoustic solo act, and Dennis Donnelly and Southside Denny as an acoustic duo, amid many others frequently performed there. 

And when the local blues bands took the club’s stage, they oftentimes presented other highly talented local blues performers who while sitting-in delivered sterling performances to great excitement of the collected audiences.  One such artist who immediately comes to mind is George Thomas, an engagingly gifted saxophone player and vocalist who regularly appeared on area stages with various local bands.

These local bands were the backbone of the blues scene in the greater Mishawaka, Indiana area during the late 1980s period I use as a reference point above, as without their efforts, in between the times when the “name” blues acts were rolling through town, they were the ones keeping the local blues fan base excited and thirsty for the music, playing the local clubs, festivals, and fund-raisers year-round.  They were known to their fans as their neighbors, co-workers, educators, social workers, and other area trades people and professionals by day, but on specific nights, they were up on-stage playing mostly blues covers, perhaps some R&B, plus some rockabilly and early rock-n-roll; but no matter what was presented, these local men and women were fanning the local blues flames of interest.

I guess my point of all this is that while the above romanticized late 1980s Mishawaka, Indiana blues scene was a glorious mix of local, regional, and national blues talent, nothing has changed as to the importance of the efforts of local blues bands and their capabilities.  Such as it was then is as it remains today.  Here in north central Indiana, without the determined energies of local and close-by regional aggregations including Little Frank And His Premiers with Tom Moore and Jr. Combs, The Whistle Pigs, Terry & The Heartbeats, The Rollin’ And Tumblin’ Traveling Blues Review, Q sonics, and The Resurrection Blues Band, amongst others, at venues including Mishawaka’s famed blues venue The Midway Tavern & Dancehall, for instance, the flames of blues interest could flicker much lower.

The talent and passion for the blues that these local and nearby regional blues artists bring night-after-night are true labors of love, as playing in local clubs and at local events is typically low-paying, at best, so the shows become a time where yet again folks can get out and shed their pressures-of-the-day to see old friends, enjoy a drink, dance, and just flat-out have a grand time for a while.  For the bands, with members who long ago fell under the sway of the blues and its deeper meanings and pulls, the shows become outlets to share those passions and drives while, of course, experiencing the joys of providing the audience their respites from life’s weights.

I shudder to think what would happen to the interest in the blues, on a larger scale, if local and close-by regional bands were not out playing their gigs on a regular basis.  If one person goes to a show and hears a local blues band play, say, some old time-worn blues song like “Sweet Home Chicago” that was introduced by the band as being one of Robert Johnson’s standards, and that person decides to go to Amazon.com seeking Johnson’s recordings and purchases a collection of his music, then that purchase, as an example, perhaps helps forge a newfound blues fan and/or further cements within that person’s mind an ever-growing interest in the blues. 

Far-fetched?  I don’t think so.  Many times I have heard a local artist on stage mention a particular blues song’s origin, and then have someone lean into my ear and ask, “Who was that by again?” knowing full well that they were going to do some research on the artist named and their music with the possible and most likely probable intent of buying a collection of that blues artist’s music.

Local and regional blues bands bring likeminded people together in the clubs, groupings of individuals who have formed long friendships and associations, many times over periods of decades.  These events become very important for the participants, in local venues well-known; comfortable taverns, bars, and clubs where histories made together matter, with the blues as the background in making these memories.  The blues has always been there while they were.  And when the venues bring in, at least here in north central Indiana, Chicago or national touring blues acts, the same bands of local folks congregate to once again enjoy fellowship and good times with the blues, as always, being the soundtrack to their nights out.

Get out and support local blues in your community.  As is often said, part with a bit of your hard-earned cash to keep, on a local level, the blues alive, because in a very real trickle-down manner, blues on a larger scale also reaps the rewards.  The blues is an ever-evolving music, and let’s do all we can to keep it thriving.