Blues Revival Meets History at Austin Town Hall

Two efforts to preserve Chicago’s classic sound are converging this month at Austin Town Hall Park, 5610 W. Lake St., where a new, permanent photo exhibition honoring West Side musical legends will share the spotlight with a free community blues concert promoting mental health and cultural pride.

FOUR Blues Inc., a newly incorporated West Side nonprofit, will host “Blues Music for Mental Health” on Thursday, Nov. 13, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Austin Town Hall Park’s first-floor, east-wing classroom. The nonprofit’s name stands for Further On Up the Road, a song by the musician Bobby Blue Bland that connects to the organization’s mission “to carry this older music on into new generations,” according to its website.

The event will feature Larry Taylor and the Soul Blues Healers, guest R&B singer Arlene Stovall, and spoken-word poets performing between sets. A chicken buffet from Chef Daddy’s will be served, and community organizations are invited to set up informational tables.

“The blues came from the African American experience in the South as a way to share stories and cope with hard times,” said Bonni McKeown, a longtime journalist who serves as FOUR Blues Inc.’s president. “We’re reviving it as a tool for both cultural and economic renewal on the West Side.”

FOUR Blues Inc. was founded by community advocates like McKeown and musicians, including Taylor, a second-generation West Side bluesman. The group aims to revive traditional blues, soul, and R&B in the same neighborhoods where those genres once flourished — using them to spark conversations about mental health, intergenerational connection, and neighborhood revitalization.

---

‘Unsung Austin—West Side Stories’

The concert coincides with the “Unsung Austin—West Side Stories” exhibition, curated by Gregg Parker of the Chicago Blues Museum, which opened earlier this year inside Austin Town Hall’s cultural center. The permanent installation explores 70 years of West Side music history through archival photographs, vintage posters, and stories of legendary artists, including Eddie Taylor, Otis Rush, The Emotions, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

“Chicago is known all around the world for its blues and soul,” Parker told Block Club Chicago when the exhibit opened. “But they just say ‘Chicago,’ and the West Side often gets overlooked.”

The exhibit, free and open to the public during park hours, also spotlights historic venues like the Copa Cabana and Silvio’s Lounge — neighborhood clubs where early blues musicians shaped the sound that would define modern American music.

---

A Larger, Citywide Renaissance

The timing of these efforts reflects a larger citywide push to preserve and elevate Black cultural history. The Chicago Public Library’s Renaissance Project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, is currently hosting fall programs that explore the Black creative legacy across art and music — from building cigar-box guitars inspired by Chicago’s electric blues heritage to illustration workshops honoring Chester Commodore of the Chicago Defender, and a live performance by Vino Louden tracing the journey from Delta blues to Chicago’s electrified sound.

Other programs honor sculptors Richard Hunt and Marion Perkins, beauty innovator Marjorie Stewart Joyner, and physician-organizer Dr. Leonidas Berry, whose “Flying Black Medics” linked medicine with community action.

Together, these projects — from FOUR Blues Inc.’s grassroots revival to the “Unsung Austin” exhibit and the library’s Renaissance Project — are part of a growing movement to restore the West Side’s cultural legacy and reclaim its central role in shaping Chicago’s artistic identity. See the full list of Renaissance Project programs here.