GLT's Talkin' Blues

"Paying your Dues" is a saying heard frequently in blues music. Chicago's Toronzo Cannon has been doing that nightly for two decades ... while driving a CTA Bus during the day. Cannon began his dues paying as a sideman with some of Chicago's big blues names. He later formed his own band and worked his way through the city's club circuit, and eventually to large crowds in Europe and a label deal with Delmark Records.

Peoria's Smokers Blues Band member Hal Duckett recently stopped by the GLT Studio's to talk with Jon Norton about band's debut album, titled "Roads Less Traveled." He also talked about their recent trip to Memphis representing Peoria at the International Blues Challenge. Duckett says his brother introduced him to Blues through his record collection. But he says he REALLY got the Blues ... in his car. He says he was driving home from St. Louis ... and was listening to WGLT on his car radio.

The latest album from Blues/Roots Rocker Peter Karp titled "The Arson's Match" is actually an over decade ago live date with former Rolling Stones member Mick Taylor. In this Skype conversation with WGLT's Jon Norton, Karp details how he and Taylor met, and how as a teenager, he coincidentally found his calling at the "The Bottom Line," the same famous New York City nightclub where he recorded his new album shortly before the venue closed in 2004.

When St. Louis based author, documentary filmmaker, theologian and activist Rev. Osagyefo Sekou met Bay area educator, musician and arts administrator Jay-Marie Hill, they found they shared a common interest in social justice and blues, soul & gospel music. Seven months later they released an album titled "The Revolution Has Come" under the name "Reverend Sekou and the Holy Ghost." Hill and Sekou tell WGLT's Jon Norton via Skype that they met in Cleveland at a Black Lives conference last

A small independent Chicago record label has been documenting Chicago's unsung jazz, blues, and gospel keyboard players since the 1970's. One of the founders of the label is Steven Dolins, who founded "The Sirens Records" as a teenager in the 1970's. After a couple early pressings, he took a long break from recording to focus on his professional life.