St. Louis blues: But not that St. Louis - Kate Voss - Guest Writer
At first glance, it might not seem all that odd that Minard Shattuck is building a growing blues following and carving out a niche for his favorite genre in an historic theater in downtown St. Louis. But Shattuck’s St. Louis isn’t that St. Louis. He’s in the middle of farm country, in St. Louis, Michigan, smack-dab in the center of the mitten. Melding his love of blues music with his entrepreneurial spirit drove Shattuck’s ambitious effort to transform a vacant movie theater into a popular nightspot back in 2007. Inspired by the greats, like B.B. King and Buddy Guy (the latter of whom just performed an excellent set for DirecTV’s Guitar Center Sessions ; more details are on his homepage ) Shattuck is perhaps not wildly unique, but he’s an inspiration to similar spirits across the country who love blues music but live far-removed from the hotbeds like Chicago and Detroit and that other St. Louis that have traditionally driven the genre. The fact that Shattuck...