Originally published in Big City Blues magazine
(Dec. 2019 – Jan. 2020 issue)
By Dave Beardsley > Updated since 2020
My path to the National Blues Museum (NBM) was never a planned one. I’m a St. Louis blues music lover, supporter and promoter, and things just evolved naturally. If there was a starting point, it was probably in 2000 when I launched STLBlues.net and the live music calendar, which caught the attention of the Blues Foundation and earned a 2008 ‘Keeping The Blues Alive’ award along the way.
In 2010 I had began working with producer Mike Kociela on his new Bluesweek event. A previous collaboration of ours had brought live blues to his Taste of St. Louis event that attracted 400,000 people to Downtown St. Louis.
Here’s a look at the 2011 festival poster!
See the 2013 Bluesweek sizzle reel 🙂
Bluesweek was truly a week of Blues events, including panel discussions, music workshops, a Blues pub crawl, and a weekend music festival. By 2013, there were 50,000 people in the streets to see all our amazing St. Louis talent, and guests like Super Chikan and Bobby Rush!
During this time the Downtown MX District near the Gateway Arch was undergoing a renaissance. The business, civic, and music promoters of St. Louis aligned, and the idea of a blues bar on Washington Avenue morphed into a St. Louis blues museum, and then into the NBM project. Two earlier attempts to launch a NBM, one in St. Louis and the other in Clarksdale, had failed. After learning that Bob Santelli – then executive director of the Grammy museum – had been interested in the earlier St. Louis project, a phone call was made. He expressed his interest, so it was off to Los Angeles to meet him. Santelli’s reaction was “if it’s the National Blues Museum, then I’m in”. And in he was!!
A 501c3 nonprofit was incorporated in 2010, and the inaugural NBM board of directors began raising the $14 million needed. Gallagher and Associates, a global museum design team, was hired and began drafting plans and gathering the artifacts to tell the story of the Blues.
Taking it to the Streets
Being it was the National Blues Museum, getting the word out in St. Louis and beyond soon began in earnest, starting with the very festival that had started the NBM spark…Bluesweek!
Thanks to the team at Pro Expo, the NBM soon had a state of the art booth display, and began the informational rollout!
Following Bluesweek, the NBM presence was soon seen at major Blues gatherings in the Midwest and beyond, like the Juke Joint Fest in Clarksdale MS, and the King Biscuit fest in Helena AR.
Six years later, April 2, 2016, and it was here, opening day! A crowd had gathered to watch the Normandy High School marching band lead the parade to the museum, as a line of visitors stretched down the street and around the corner.
Dignitaries at the ribbon cutting included Dion Brown – inaugural executive director of the NBM, Mayor Francis Slay, NBM board members Barbara Hammerman & Scott McCuaig, and NBM chairman Rob Endicott. Bobby Rush and Big Lou of Bluesville were also on hand, along with Amanda Gresham of Delta Music Experience, Michael Frank – longtime manager of Honeyboy Edwards, and Lynn Orman Weiss of Orman Music & Media.
Since it’s opening in 2016, the NBM has become an International cultural attraction, with visitors from over 100 countries. During a visit, you get to engage with the digital interactives like the Jug Band room. You can also ‘Become a Blues Legend’ digitally by creating a stage name, lyrics and adding harmonica, guitar and piano in the style of your choice. Then, you can mix it in an editing room and email it home, all made possible by the generosity of Detroit rocker and blues lover, Jack White.
Having guided countless groups through the museum, I always enjoy hearing “I didn’t realize I’ve loved the Blues all along”. It was really fun taking touring musicians like Curtis Salgado, Albert Castiglia, William Bell, Adrianna Marie and Bonnie Bramlett through the museum, and witness their excitement.
A partnership between the NBM, Gateway Arch Park Foundation, and the National Park Service resulted in “Blues at the Arch.” On Friday nights in August the free concert series brings renowned blues artists and fans to the Arch grounds. The NBM is also a private event space for everything from weddings to holiday and business events.
The museum maintained its focus on education with events like Family Days, Blues in the Schools, music workshops, and more. In 2019 the NBM partnered with the St. Louis Public School system for their ‘Great African Americans’ art contest, and legendary blues artists were the subject.
The ‘Sittin’ on the Porch’ jam begins…
The ‘Sittin’ on the Porch’ Jam is both a feel-good story and a testament to the importance of our volunteers. It was the brainchild of Dion Brown and NBM volunteer Jesse Lopez, who is also a gifted musician and band leader.
Lopez has Parkinson’s disease and didn’t think he would ever play again. He will tell you it was a 2017 trip to Mississippi home of David and Sharon McConnell Dickerson (artist/Cast of Blues) that changed everything:
“I played music on her front porch with Mark ‘Muleman’ Massey and Johnny Riley on a guitar signed by Honeyboy Edwards, that had also been played by Bobby Rush, Hubert Sumlin and Jimbo Mathus. I was so moved. I thought we should do this at the museum. So. ‘Sittin’ on the Porch’ had to be the name. Since its start nearly two years ago there’s always a crowd and twenty or more local musicians showing up. So, do touring artists like Lucius Spiller, Amanda Fish, Billy Crooks, Jimmie Bones, Dave Medd, Greg Kihn, Muleman Massey, Bonnie Bramlett and Bobby Rush. Now, the jam band is invited to play around St. Louis, at festivals and venues. The jam changed my life and brought me back.”
The NBM jammers of 2016-2019!
Photo credits Charles Johnston
The NBM has been a destination for so many blues fans! Please come visit soon, catch a concert, and ‘like’ the NBM on Facebook to help share awareness of this international attraction.
To close, let’s hear from a St. Louis musical and broadcast legend, the NBM Executive Director, Bernie Hayes, pictured here in the Lumiere Place Legends Room with jam band leader Jesse Lopez.
Bernie is an inductee in the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame, the St. Louis Black Radio Hall of Fame, and the Stax Record Company Hall of Fame.
Interview with Bernie Hayes
You were involved in the NBM as a board member before coming on as Executive Director. What led you to get involved with this project?
“My love of the music and a shared vision of expanding the genre. I grew up listening to the music on the South Side of Chicago. My parents and neighbors loved the music and although I was more into the R&B sound of the 40’s and 50’s, the blues was a part of my everyday life.”
You bring a long background of experience in radio, TV, and music. Tell us a little more about that.
“I have 60 years in media as a radio and TV announcer/executive and as newspaper columnist. I’m also a communications instructor at Webster University and Harris-Stowe State University. I’m also a former recording artist for Stax and Bright Star Records. Bright Star included Tyrone Davis, Jr. Wells and Buddy Guy. The Stax label included Albert King, Little Milton Campbell, The Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, The Dramatics, The Barkays, Johnnie Taylor, and many others.”
The National Blues museum is a mix of educational efforts. What are your favorites, and how do they educate and motivate students about the Blues?
“Visiting the schools and the live public events at the museum. The children seemed amazed at the stories they hear and the visuals they observe. It educates students and their families to the genre and motivates those interests in music perhaps to choose an instrument and begin taking lessons. They see and hear professional entertainers that began as young children. It is inspirational. Some of them express their desire to become professional entertainers.”
The Lumiere Place Legends Room is the live music venue of the NBM. What does that mean to you?
“It is an outlet for the public, especially blues lovers to be exposed to the musicians that play at the museum. Many national and internationally known performers frequently visit the room, bringing widespread attention to the venue.”
The Thursday night ‘Sittin’ on the Porch’ jam session has become enormously popular. Is it open to anyone?
“The JAM is a sponsored event, proposed and coordinated by one of our volunteers, Jesse Lopez, a musician and blues enthusiast, who pours his heart and soul into the project. People sign up when they arrive and Jesse selects the order of the participants, but everyone is welcome. It is widely known that if you have talent and want exposure, then show up at the JAM.”
The National Blues Museum turns four years old on April 2nd, 2020. What are your goals, and how can music lovers help the National Blues Museum?
“Our goal is to reach more fans, locally and internationally. We need members, and if we continue to grow as we plan, our base will expand. That will gather the support we need for sustain growth and recognition. The blues is played locally, nationally and internationally on local radio stations and podcasts and most of the artists at one time or another mention that they are regulars at the National Blues Museum, and that is good for the facility and for the metro area.”
A few words from Bruce Iglauer
ALLIGATOR RECORDS
“I loved attending the jam. Like all jams, the music was of variable quality; the best players and singers were very good. I also loved the atmosphere—everyone having fun and encouraging the musicians, people of all ages (including some kids), black and white people enjoying and participating in the music together (it’s too rare to be in a really racially mixed audience at a blues event), and a great sense of community and pride in the city’s musicians. Kudos to the National Blues Museum for creating this weekly event. If I lived in St. Louis, I’d be there every week.“
In closing, by Dave Beardsley of STLBlues.net
It was quite a ride, my NBM years from 2009-2019. It was exciting to have been involved as co-founder, and in such a variety of roles. It was quite a team back in 2010 – Rob Endicott came on as Board President, Dawne Massey was project managing, and of course there was NBM co-founder Mike Kociela. We sure had a long list of goals to accomplish: a 501c3 start-up, recruit Bob Santelli of the Grammy Museum, inaugural board recruitment, oh, and raise 14M…..the list was long but it was done in museum warp time. I’m honored to have been a part of the NBM starting team from 2016-2019.
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I especially enjoyed being involved in projects that tied the NBM to the local STL scene, like the NBM jam band playing fests around town, all the Howlin’ Fridays and Soulful Sundays concerts, Blues in the Schools, the ‘Meet the Artist’ events, and working with the Big Muddy to produce tribute shows honoring our local treasures. Here’s just a few……..
Blues in the Schools, w the Fab Foehners
A record 1,800 in attendance!
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It’s now 2024, and I’m back to my roots at STLBlues.net and STLBluesTALENT.net, where this amazing Blues journey began for me, promoting as many artists and events as I can.
The National Blues Museum jam sessions are still rockin’ on Thursdays from 7-9pm with Kasimu Taylor at the helm, and of course you’ll find live Blues every night of the week here in the STLBlues Live Music Calendar.
If you’re in STL, find out just how amazing and deep the Blues culture of St. Louis is. Wherever you call home, get out and support your local live music!
