How Chicago's powerhouse blues scene was supercharged by Great Migration arrivals –– including the grandparents of WBEZ's Arionne Nettles.
In 1955, my grandparents started a recording company called Bea & Baby Records. This compilation album includes songs originally released from 1959 through 1971.
“Your grandpa was a hustler,” Whiteis says. “He wasn’t a gangster, but he was a hustler. He was out there making that money, and that was the name of the game.”My grandparents worked tirelessly to keep their lounge successful: my granddaddy was the colorful face of the business while my grandma worked behind the scenes.
She and her sisters would sneak downstairs at night to take a peek at all the action: the performers, the dancing, the shows. But to really get to be with the music —“Just like the kids are rapping now, we knew the words to these songs because these were the songs we heard and this was the expression of who we were,” she says.
Today, you can still find blues in Chicago, but the blues scene is different from the one that my grandparents knew.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
It’s Grandparents vs. Parents in the Battle Over Kids’ ScreensGrandparents have long indulged their grandchildren with sweets, toys and late bedtimes, often to the dismay of the parents stuck in the middle. But concerns about screen time and cellphone usage are creating a whole new set of issues.
Read more »
These grandparents are dropping everything to fight climate changeA growing number of older Americans say climate change has created an all-hands-on-deck moment for humanity, a call they are compelled to answer.
Read more »
A Skittles factory helped shape a small-town economy and shows how US cities are attracting big companiesThis Wrigley factory brings tax benefits and six-figure salaries to a 19,000-person town in Illinois.
Read more »
BNY has quietly started working with a marijuana ETF — and it’s about to be the first major bank to help the world’s largest funds invest in the booming industryInstitutional investors have previously avoided investing in cannabis because no federally-chartered banks would hold the stock. BNY has changed that.
Read more »
Factbox: Big Democratic field taking shape for 2020 U.S. presidential raceThe largest Democratic field in the modern U.S. political era is lining up to se...
Read more »
Inside the Shrinking Newsroom of the Paper That Shapes the PrimariesInside the shrinking newsroom of the paper that shapes the primaries
Read more »
Here’s how negotiations are shaping Sudan's political crisisSudan’s military council, which came into power after ousting former president Omar al Bashir, seems to have reached an understanding with the leading opposition group Freedom and Change Forces.
Read more »
Multiday sentencing starting in Chicago terrorism caseCHICAGO (AP) — A multiday sentencing hearing focused on whether undercover FBI agents egged on a teenager to participate in a terrorist plot knowing he was mentally ill begins Monday in Chicago.
Read more »