Learn more in our Baton Rouge Blues InfoGuide!
You'll find the Blues in the Digital Library!
Enjoy concerts from Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Dr. John and more through Qello Concerts!
On Kanopy, you can listen and learn with these documentaries:
Stream or download free blues music from Freegal!
If all this gets you inspired, try your hand at learning to play the blues guitar with step-by-step lessons in ArtistWorks!
The Baton Rouge Room Archive contains materials that reflect historical actions of local governments, businesses, residents and institutions of the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. These items include but are not limited to photographs, manuscripts, periodical publications, documents, audio and video recordings and memorabilia.
The Advocate has put together a self-guided driving tour featuring a variety of important and interesting sites around Baton Rouge!
How many have you been to?
Baton Rouge African American History Museum
Buddy Stewart Memorial Music Foundation & Rhythm Museum
Henry Turner Jr's Listening Heritage Museum
Rockin' Tabby Thomas, Chris Thomas King's father, opened Tabby's Blues Box, Home of the Baton Rouge Bluesmen, on North Blvd in 1979.
The iconic juke joint became a beacon for the blues with it's late-night Hoodoo parties, jam sessions and strings of Christmas lights.
While the original building was demolished for a road widening project, its legacy and cultural impact on Baton Rouge blues lives on.
You can read stories about Tabby's in The Blues.
Here's an excerpt about "The Last Real Juke Joint".
The Folklife in Louisiana Program , is designed to identify, document, conserve, and present the folk cultural resources of Louisiana.
The program has initiated many programs to preserve folklife culture including Baton Rouge traditions , Swapping Tales , and The Louisiana Voices Folklife in Education Project.
In The Blues , Chris Thomas King brings up the history and importance of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. As the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, who rises to heights in French society, King calls him the "Jimi Hendrix of Enlightenment Age France".
On April 7th, 2023, a movie is being released about him!
Here's the trailer: