Children's music duo Wendy and DB talk about new album "Back Home," which continues the mission of educating youngsters about the blues

 

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

 

On its new album "Back Home," Chicago-based children's music duo Wendy and DB is continuing the mission of educating young people about the blues.

The album, released in July, is the follow up to 2022's "Into the Little Big House," which was nominated for a Grammy for best children's album.

 

That album featured an all-star cast of Chicago musicians including Grammy-winning drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, Anne Harris, Billy Branch and Mike Wheeler.

Those same musicians along with others are on "Back Home," which also features blues musicians from Memphis, Tennessee  – the original home of the blues – as well as from Austin, Texas.

The duo traveled to Memphis to collaborate with blues music award-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter Doug MacLeod along with traditional Delta blues vocalist Libby Rae Watson and multiple Grammy nominee Shardé Thomas and her Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band.

Thomas ​​is the ​granddaughter of Otha Turner, one of the best-known exponents of the African American fife and drum tradition. The band is devoted to preserving the vanishing Mississippi Hill Country fife and drum blues tradition and presenting it in combination with other blues, jazz, hip hop and R&B stylings.

In Austin, Wendy and DB recorded with three-time Grammy nominee Ruthie Foster. "Back Home" is produced by Grammy and blues music award winner Michael Freeman and Wendy Morgan.

The duo will perform songs from the album and other songs from its catalog during its appearance at the The Mix on Main Street Music Festival in downtown Wheaton on Sept. 21.

Wendy and DB will perform from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on the family stage. Admission to the festival is free.

VIP access tickets will also be available for purchase. More details about the festival, which will be held Sept. 21-Sept. 22, is at downtownwheaton.com/the-mix-on-main.

I had the chance to talk to Wendy Morgan and Darryl Boggs about the new album.

Q – Great to talk to the both of you again. Of course, your last album, “Little Blue House,” was nominated for a Grammy for best children’s album. Did you feel any pressure in following up the album?

Wendy – No pressure. We have another album that we're working on that's not a blues album.

But I felt it was important to follow up the blues album with another blues album. 

Q – The fact that it was nominated for a Grammy must make you feel pretty good. What do you think made the album stand out?

Darryl – One of the things that I think made it stand out is the fact that nobody had really ever done a blues album for kids. You can kind of look through the history of family music and not really see anything like that.

We used real blues musicians. A lot of people have done things with a blues flavor. It's not the same.

Q – “Back Home” is your sixth children’s album and your second blues album for families. What goals did you have for the album?

Wendy –  I think we're exposing people to traditional blues, which is a different kind of style. We got to work with Ruthie Foster, who is amazing. 

We traveled. We went to Austin, Texas. We went to Memphis.

We got out of Chicago and spread our wings. Our producer made us aware of Shardé Thomas, whose grandfather was Otha Turner.

 

He was a fife player back in the day. She is following in his tradition.

It was amazing. It was hard to get them, but we got them.

Q – Of course, this is introducing that type of music not only to kids, but also their parents.  

Wendy – It was really fun to have them join us. We didn't know until the last minute that they were going to make that session.

Q – In another tie to Memphis, you are donating 10% of the proceeds from the album to the Blues Foundation, which of course is based in Memphis. Part of the mission of the Blues Foundation is to preserve blues heritage and expand worldwide awareness of the blues.

 

I know that you have done this with your past albums and given a portion of the proceeds to nonprofit organizations.

 

Why do you think it is important to do that? 

Wendy – With the Blues Foundation, they are teaching people about the blues. They go into schools and that's super important, because it's underrepresented in schools.

Q – It seems like every song on "Back Home" carries a message. For example, it seems like the song “Moving Mountains” is about how one can achieve and overcoming any obstacles in your way. There are references to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks on the song.

 

 

Wendy – Sharing their stories I think is important. In one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, he talks about how he has been to the mountaintop. 

My favorite line in "Moving Mountains" is how Rosa Parks took a stand without standing up.

 

Q – Darryl, I understand your dad was part-owner of a blues club and you got to see Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed when you were 5 or 6 years old.

 

Darryl – The club was just outside of Chicago. It was in the south suburbs.

 

At that age, you don't know the importance of Muddy Waters. You don't know the importance of Jimmy Reed or Howlin' Wolf.

 

And yet you're sitting right there on the floor watching them perform and playing these great songs. That was a great experience.

 

A lot of musicians would come over to our house. That's how I found a lot of my musical gifts.

 

I would just sit around and play on the drum set and on the piano. They told me I might become a musician someday.

And here we are today.

Q – Is that where your love for the blues started?

 

Darryl – I feel my love for the blues started right there. Blues, jazz and R&B were played in our house all the time, almost nonstop.

So I knew those genres real well. The musicians who played in our house were mostly blues musicians.

Q – Did Koko Taylor ever stop by?

Darryl – No, not that I know of. She may have played in the club.

That is a possibility, because I saw a lot of different people there.

Q – Are you already working on your next album?

Wendy – That is a four-year project. That album started in 2021.

It won't be a blues album. It's more pop. It also has some folk music in there.

Darryl – The album definitely leans a little bit more towards the pop-rock thing. 

Q – Is it also a children's album?

Wendy – Yes. It's probably going to come out in 2025.

It's called "Sunnyside Up." We've been performing some of the songs live.

One of the songs is called "Talk About It." That's one of my favorite songs.

It really speaks to what's going on right now. 

We need to listen and be able to hear and understand each other.