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Our Non-profit Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc.  - includes SPONSORSHIP, SIGNAGE offers
 
 Press Room  Contact Us   
(918)855-0978,
      dcminner@windstream.net
"to preserve & develop African American Music(s) through education & entertainment"


Founder

D.C. Minner
1935 - 2008


Rentiesville blues Fest Dates for 2013 August 30, 31, Sept 1st

FESTIVAL MAIN Page Schedule- 2012 not 2013 Maps, Directions & Motels
      PERFORMER'S    BIO'S Photo Gallery History & Past Festivals
Activities PRESS Room Contact

Selby Minner
 

               FREE GUITAR LESSONS - beginner and intermediate
 - start January 10th at the Checotah Library - every Thursday Jan til May at 5 pm - FREE!!
for info call (918) 855-0978      PS New CD Coming SOON!

RENTIESVILLE BLUES CLUB open First Sat  of FEB and
THEN REOPENS with the
St Patrick's Weekend Season Opener BLOWOUT Macrh 16, 17
 - 5 bands all day and night Saturday and Sunday . . .
and restarting in March open with the WEEKLY SUNDAY JAM SESSIONS
thru the Fest over Labor Day Weekend. . .  just like the last four years!!

Look who is coming to Rentiesville Labor Day Weekend for the Festival!
Tee Dee Young!--- check him out!

www.reverbnation.com/teedeeyoung

www.kentucky.com/2012/07/06/2251120/after-45-years-in-music-tee-dee.html

www.facebook.com/pages/Tee-Dee-Young/130085303802184?ref=hl



     
Selby and Dan just back from recent tour, here at St Elmo's in Bisbee AZ - photo: Richard Byrd                                                    
                     
THANKS to one and all for supporting the blues and our Festival!!

                                                                           
                                       

                                   
                            
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=dcminner%40windstream%2enet&lc=US&item_name=2012%20Dusk%20to%20Dawn%20Advanced%20Ticket%20Sales&amount=10%2e00&currency_code=USD&button_subtype=services&shipping=5%2e00&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF%3abtn_buynowCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

         
                                              
                     
                                    Clutch, Miss Blues,  Dan Ortiz DD 22, Sept 1, 2012

 


LABOR DAY WKND Aug 31, Sept 1, 2 2012
  
WHAT:

Three days and nights, Three stages, indoors and out...  35 bands, over 200 musicians, workshops, kid's arts and music activities, bar-b-que. We call it the 'world's largest back yard party' and it is a fun time that attracts some 3,500 people to the historic rural Black Township Rentiesville, the birthplace and home of OK Blues Legend and founder D.C. Minner.

WHEN:

2012- Labor Day Wknd, Fri Sat Sun

WHO:

a showcase of 18 regional groups and 5 nationally acclaimed headliners. We are a family event with two outdoor stages and lots for kids to do throughout the three day Festival. Plus the Juke Joint which goes after hours indoors (21 only)

What's Cool, What' Not:

Bring chairs or blankets unless you come early. No coolers or pets.

HOW MUCH:

Tickets are $10/day, $15/day at the gate (about $1.50 a band!)
KIDS under 12 FREE! Volunteers FREE!

CONTACT (918) 855-0978    dcminner@windstream.net, www.dcminnerblues.com, 701 D.C. Minner St Rentiesville OK 74459

Volunteer Option:

It takes a lot of people to do this - we have a great deal for volunteers! The Volunteer Option: help us out for 3 hours, get your $15 for that day BACK and ½ off on a T-shirt! Click here for details.

WHERE WE ARE:

DC Minner's Down Home Blues Club in Rentiesville, OK (pop. 66)  is in the rural township of RENTIESVILLLE OK. Just off of US 69, follow the signs into Rentiesville to DC Minner Street and you are here....Rentiesville is 15 minutes South of Muskogee, 70 miles SE of Tulsa, 1 hour West of Fort Smith, 2 hours East of Oklahoma City -- 2 exits north on  US 69 from I-40;  Click for maps.

MOTELS:

We recommend any major chain in Muskogee, 15 minutes up US 69. Travel Lodge, Bacone Inn, Motel 6, Super 8, Ramada Inn. There are new motels in Eufaula, 15 minutes south near the lake.... In Checotah the motel we recommend is America's Best across from the truck stop, near Wal-Mart.

CAMPING:

Parking is free across the road. Also primitive camping. Or Lake Eufaula State Park, first come first served, as it is a holiday weekend. There is a KOA East of Checotah on I-40

SPONSORED BY:

SPONSORS help make this happen...OK Arts Council, VSA Arts, The Current,  Yaffe Metals, Love Bottling,  James Hodge Ford in Muskogee, the Muscogee Creek Nation Casino, People's National Bank in Checotah, The Current, Budweiser, Coke, The Blues Festival Guide,  KMOD, Jammin' John Peters,  KGOU, Preview, Tulsa World, The Muskogee Daily Phoenix,  SW Blues, BareBones Independant Filmmakers, Blues Society of Tulsa, OK Blues Society (www.okblues.org), lots of friends who come early and help...!

HOSTED BY:

OKLAHOMA BLUES HALL OF FAME, FRIENDS OF RENTIESVILLE BLUES INC. (a 501 c 3 not-for-profit corporation) together D.C. and Selby Minner founded it in 2003 so that the Fest could grow into the new millenium.  Our mission is "to preserve and develop African American Music through education and entertainment".

 

MAPS:


RENTIESVILLE
 
70 miles SE of Tulsa – BA Exp, Hwy 51 South to 69
125 Miles E of OKC


We are 2 exits south of Muskogee and 2 exits N of I-40
off US 69
on Rentiesville Honey Springs Rd,
2 miles in Rentiesville Road to DC Minner St and you are here.!! 



(918)855-0978,
dcminner@windstream.net

 



    
Shiron and Oscar Ray Darkwood  Productions . . . Barebones Film Fest Muskogee

                  Debbie Beanez Blackwell

               
   


      
       

                                  
Knut Roppesadt from Norway brings his band Shiverbone!! Back by popular demand.. Selby

       
Festival and Band  Founder D.C. Minner

AND totally new to RENTIESVILLE
DADDY MACK-------------SUNDAY

Daddy Mack
When people say, “Memphis blues ain’t what it used to be,” they haven’t heard the Daddy Mack Blues Band.  All of its members at one time or another played in the Fieldstones, one of the most talked-about urban blues bands since the 1970s.  Led by Mack Orr on lead guitar and vocals, this four-piece group is down-home and funky, and the best band around for cuttin’ loose on a Saturday night.  Their raw approach to blues is something too often missing in contemporary blues.  Since 1998, they have been the house band at the Center For Southern Folklore on Beale Street, where thousands of tourists from all corners of the world have experienced their natural and soulful musical blend.  They have also toured across the country, from Huntsville to Las Vegas, and played in Europe.

Howard Stovall, executive director of The Blues Foundation, was a special guest at the 1999 CD release of Daddy Mack’s 1st CD, Fix It When I Can, and isn’t shy about expressing who he thinks is carrying the torch in Memphis blues. At a Foundation party in April of 1999, Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ron Wood sat in with the band and, as the story goes, they were able to keep up musically, but no one was shouting to hear “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” either.

Daddy Mack’s new album, Slow Ride, has been released recently to critical acclaim.  It is a new twist on the old adage that rock and rock came from the blues.  On Slow Ride, Daddy and the band perform blues versions of rock hits, from Eric Clapton’s “After Midnight” to Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman.”  His recent success at the Chicago Blues Festival is a testament that he might be on to something here.
  
From barbecue dives in Mississippi to Paris, France, Daddy Mack has “been there done that.”  He isn’t too shy to play a party for a gathering of governors from all across the United States or to walk right into the middle of a crowd with his wireless and play guitar licks while his sweat drips right onto the shoes of hollerin’ blues fans.  Daddy Mack is not only doing his part to keep the blues alive for the 21st Century, he’s not compromising what he thinks blues is supposed to be – fun, and with the right balance of showmanship and good music.

 

Meet Selby Minner
1.)  Playing slide guitar on her Republic 'national steel' guitar
         

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4172523979

Selby and her late husband DC Minner started the Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival 20 years ago in his hometown of Rentiesville, OK. With 3 stages and over 30 bands playing for 3 days plus live streaming on JukeZoo.com, BBQ, dancing, play area for the kids, it's the place to be on Labor Day Weekend. Camp out or stay in a hote...See More
Length: ‎4:50

2012
                                           
       
          special page:   Hall OF FAME 2012  

                                                
                                                     


Read all about the St Pat's party we had  in the Phoenix!!:
  http://muskogeephoenix.com/features/x1690519482/Blues-club-goes-green
this was a great weekend of music and reunion of sorts for those of us who do the festival...raised some money :-) all good! thanks to all who played and helped -          
      
Mojo SonataMiss Blues   

 ALL AGES –  FREE BEGINNER GUITAR –  FUN WITH MUSIC!                
PLUG IN . . TUNE UP, , PLAY!!   

            

 FREE
GUITAR & BASS CLASSES
CHECOTAH       LIBRARY

5 – 6 PM Thursdays, Jan. 19 til May
call 918 855 0978 for info  

             THANK  YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

UPDATE FROM RENTIESVILLE
:

    FESTIVAL:  Bulldozers are knocking down historic juke joints every day but Rentiesville had a great year with Festival number 21 very well attended. We are getting close to the half a million mark in the dollars paid to musicians since the festival began in 1991 (!), with the help of the Oklahoma Arts Council and other sponsors; Yaffe, Love, the Phoenix, the Current among them. We put $10,000.00 state of the art electricity across festival field and upgraded the club with French doors and a larger deck.
 
           EDUCATION:  The simplicity of the Blues makes it user friendly to play and a great ‘gateway music’ to playing all genres of music. We completed the ‘From the Garage to the Stage Series’ – 11 events of workshops and coffee house night performances were a rousing success as music students of all ages studied, practiced and performed together.   This program was funded in part by a grant from the OK Arts Council

          ARCHIVE:  Both the OHS and the OJHOF have come to Rentiesville to study the Archive of 60 photo albums and numerous unreleased songs penned by Minner.
       The book on Minner’s life being written by LaNelda Hughes  is nearing completion; we have editing help from Sareca Wilson and a lead on a publisher.
       The photo exhibit ‘From Black Town to Blues Festivals’ – with a grant from the OK Humanities Council - has shown at the OMHOF 2 weeks, the Checotah and Eufaula Public Libraries 2 weeks each and the OJHOF (who improved it) close to 7 months. It is slated to be at Connors State College this February.

                                                                                 

                           

Selby Minner and the Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc.                     David

    
      Bluefish will play The Festival this year!!!            Salty Dog!!

                                                       
RENTIESVILLE
 70 miles SE of Tulsa – BA Exp, Hwy 51 South to 69 –
Stay on 69 thru Muskogee to the Rentiesville Oktaha Exit.
Turn right 4 miles, then Left (E) onto Rentiesville Honey Springs Rd,
2 miles to DC Minner St and you are here.!!  125 Miles E of OKC
(918) 473-2411,
dcminner@windstream.net


            
 

             
Big Geo Brock Jr.Detonators & Jimmy Preacher Ellis    dancers Roland Bowling Band

             
Johnny Rawls "when my old lady asks me for something I say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!
and Selby sure knows how to throw a party!!!    POOCHIE  AND EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES

       
                          D.C. Minner and Selby Minner  Fest Founders

WHAT A GREAT NITE WE HAD!!!
The Big Nite for the OK BLUES Hall of Fame at the OK JAZZ Hall of Fame Depot - 1st and Boston in Tulsa, was SAT the 2nd!
 

 The lineup was huge - Selby Minner and 18 OK  Blues Hall of Famers brought the school of Blues out of which D.C. Minner sprang, celebrating his life and legend, to the Tulsa Jazz Depot.  The Blues Hall of Famers brought in 7 complete bands - Dorothy 'Miss Blues' Ellis and the Blue Notes; Steve Pryor; Chuck Blackwell with Junior Markham ...; Leon Rollerson; Selby Minner presented Rudy Scott, Little Miss Peggy, ET Tanner, Frank Swain and James Walker  with her band - with Torrence 'Big Daddy Time' Cushinberry on traps.  Walter Watson and Pure Silk; Sonny Hill, Wes Reynolds and Harry Williams performed with The Pat Moss Band; Lem Sheppard was there as well as Harold Aldridge. Other performers included  Daniel McBride who sat in with Miss Blues.

Eight hours of BLUES rocked the Depot, bringing the famous good energy of the Rentiesville Blues Festival to town! Tulsa turned out and partied. Great BBQ and a gorgeous version of the Exhibit from Black Town to Blues Fesivials. It will be in the main hall for two months, thru the Rentiesville Blues Fest which is slated for Sept 2, 3,& 4 at the home / family farm -turned - venue of D.C. Minner, 70 miles SE of T -Town.

Many thanks to 'Selby Minner Presents' and  Jason McIntosh, Jeff Koss,  Jacob, Chuck Cissel and the entire staff at the OK Jazz Hall of Fame Jazz DEPOT!

                                                                       
                                            
       
 

               The latest and the greatest - HEAR SELBY AND THE BAND!       Just go to
http://www.ktul.com/global/category.asp?c=189716&clipId=5423331&autostart=true

OR                            Blues Fest FUN!
 www.ktul.com      . . . channel 8 TV in Tulsa... click on
'Good Day Tulsa'  . . . and then go to
VIDEOS                   . . . and then do a a search on
Selby Minner         . . . and ---viola! 6 minutes of the  news from Rentiesville and MUSIC!!
                       

                               
                                  
   window under construction:

                                      


Selby MinnerThe talented Selby Minner comes to rock the house. Inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of fame, recipients of the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive Award and founders of the Rentiesville Dusk till Dawn Blues Festival, Selby and her late husband D.C. have been the hub of the blues scene for over 20 years!

Selby has performed on stage with Albert Collins, Drink Small, Hubert Sumlin, Lowell Fulsom, Big Bad Smitty, Larry Davis, Smokey Wilson, Little Johnny Taylor, Tony Mathews, Harry and Debbie Blackwell, Lucinda Williams and countless others. She has worked tirelessly to develop the community and spread the good word about Oklahoma Blues. She is now back on the bass as she was for 28 years in the D.C. Minner band, and is funkier than ever, carrying on D.C.'s Minner's music - with lots of his originals, deep in the good time Texas-Oklahoma Hotbox style.
        Don't miss this opportunity to experience true Oklahoma Blues by Selby Minner.

                         


                    n.b..: 300 dpi versions of this postcard on the photo exhibit here:
Press Room
                                      
                                     
                                         I got to be a judge at the Muskogee Azelia Fest Parade!!!

    dddd          ddd          
                                       Harley 'Cowboy' Hamm
 
     

 

T

                            

Blues is the language of African American history. It is a living language; capable of describing this history as it happens in the present as well as the past. It expresses not only events, but the reactions and feelings of the people who live through the events of their lives. D. C. Minner was and is one of the greatest speakers of that language in Oklahoma. He taught it to his wife Selby and together they determined to pass it on to the next generation.


            
 - Rudy Scott Keyboard.
Also Torrence Bear Cushinberry (drums, )


nice quote from the Oklahoma State Arts Council
:
"Very nice line-up. Unique festival in an isolated and underserved area of the state.
This is an incredible example of a little money going a very long way.   
70 miles SE of Tulsa – BA Exp, Hwy 51 South to 69 –
Stay on 69 thru Muskogee to the Rentiesville Oktaha Exit.
Turn right 4 miles, then Left (E) onto Rentiesville Honey Springs Rd,
2 miles to DC Minner St and you are here.!!  125 Miles E of OKC
(918) 473-2411,
dcminner@windstream.net
                   
Some festival shots:   main stage dance floor and Kid's Village stage






the DC isms Tee and fans incl Ladydee

     

  
       
Congrats to Johnny Rawls performs in Memphis
and with Selby and his Soul Album of the Year trophy!!
On this year's  Blues Fest each night!!! Thanks Johnny!

Festival!! thanks Frank
  Zora and Koko Taylor!

 
                                         

OK BLUES HALL OF FAME

Hall of Fame - click thru
INDUCTEES 2010


 
                                        
                               All Hall of Fame Inductees
                                
                   
                                                   DC gets inducted by Tony Mathews and Miss Blues

                           

        
                     

 

 


HEAR & Buy MUSIC |
SELBY MINNER       TAKE ONE         918-855-0978   

 Just in -a great vote of support from  the State Dept of Tourism Director
 for DD number 20!!

  
  
Bil Wax XM Bluesville and me!
 

 

 

 
 

 


CONTACT: SELBY
at  dcminner@windstream.net    918-473-2411    918-855-0978 




Selby with D.C. won the KBA in Education
for the work in the schools - work she continues to this day,
most often with the help of Cryout. Music and Fun!

 

 

Meet  BLUES ON THE MOVE:

             Selby                

 
 

  SELBY’S BAND  WITH LIL' ED!            
 SELBY MINNER & BLUES ON THE MOVE

 

     

          Hear and Buy Selby and D.C.'s CD's >
  GIGS COMING UP
SELBY & BLUES ON THE MOVE
 
 


 

   
 

                                    RENTIESVILLE
 70 miles SE of Tulsa – BA Exp, Hwy 51 South to 69 –
Stay on 69 thru Muskogee to the Rentiesville Oktaha Exit.
Turn right 4 miles, then Left (E) onto Rentiesville Honey Springs Rd,
2 miles to DC Minner St and you are here.!!  125 Miles E of OKC
(918) 473-2411,
dcminner@windstream.net
 

 
Selby gives guitar and bass lessons at the blues club on Monday afternoons - $15/ lesson, call for an appointment.  918 855 0978         Plug in, tune up and play!!
                                Andrew Tolow 16 Miller
Sunset in Rentiesville - unretouched - truth is more intense than fiction!
 

Check out archives of this jam session on  www.JukeZoo.com! ! calling all blues players. .  SUNDAY - JAMS!!    

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                     
Ray Tubbs, a friend  who played keyboard and who also worked tirelessly to keep the Festival going. We know you are with us Ray, and we will play  a lot of music to help send you on your way . Selby and crew.
He just won the Ray Tubbs Keeping the Blues Alive Award; Lifetime Volounteer
 

 

  Published: May 08, 2009 09:02 pm      print this story     

For the love of the blues - Rentiesville

By Dave Ruthenberg, Columnist (from Detroit originally)
Ruthenberg is copy editor at the Enid News & Eagle. He can be reached at daver@enidnews.com

Recently I have found myself feeling a little homesick for the blues, and, let’s be honest, while Enid has a lot to offer, blues is not among those offerings. Live music in Enid is somewhat akin to the punch line in the “Blues Brothers” movie when Jake and Elwood stroll into Bob’s Country Bunker Saloon and the bartender tells the boys not to worry because the bar has “both” kinds of music: “Country AND Western.”

So, off I went in search of some genuine live blues in Oklahoma and let me tell you, the pickings were rather scarce. So imagine my relief when I found a juke joint in a little town called Rentiesville. Better yet, the club was bringing in Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials, one of the top blues acts out of Chicago. But a pretty cool thing happened along the blues highway; I not only found some great blues but also found a genuine love story.

Rentiesville is a small community about 75 miles southeast of Tulsa. It’s so small it does not even have its own post office, but it is the epicenter of Oklahoma blues. It’s also one of only 13 towns remaining out of an original 40-50 communities that were founded in eastern Oklahoma by freed black slaves following the civil war with an eye toward making the area the nation’s first all-black state. Obviously that never materialized.

Rentiesville also is the home to D.C. Minner’s Down Home Blues Club which is run by Selby Minner, the charming, engaging and talented widow of the late D.C. Minner, a member of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame who, aside from being an established blues star in his own right, played alongside musical greats like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Freddie King. And for Rhode Island native Selby Minner, who has called Rentiesville home since 1988 when she and D.C. moved here after spending several years touring the nation, with a heavy emphasis on the West Coast, this has become a true labor of love in every sense of the word.

Together, D.C. and Selby (they married in 1979 after meeting in California) became the first couple of Oklahoma blues when they made the decision to renovate the property where D.C.’s grandmother operated a “corn whiskey house” several decades earlier. “It was a place with a jukebox and where people came for entertainment and bootleg whiskey,” Selby told me while taking me through a tour of the blues club. “They also made and sold choc beer,” which I learned was good old-fashioned home-brew.

The blues-loving couple completed renovating the house a few years after moving back home. “D.C. did all the work by hand,” Selby explained. But it didn’t end there.

Together, the Minners established the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in 2004. “That’s what D.C. wanted — he understood he wasn’t going to get wealthy playing blues, but at the end of the day what made it worthwhile was the recognition by his peers. We wanted to share that.”

The couple went on to organize the three-day outdoor “Dusk Til Dawn” blues festival which takes place every Labor Day weekend on the grounds of the blues club and, in 1999, also were recipients of the prestigious “Keeping the Blues Alive” award.

Selby continues to do more than her part in “keeping the blues alive” through the “Blues in the Schools” program as well as offering young people a place to perform on the first Friday of each month (the club is only open the first weekend of each month), with a coffeehouse atmosphere where the bar is closed off and young people are invited to perform during their “Java Jam.” (NB: the club will also be open EVERY Sunday for jam sessions 2 pm - 2 am beginning June 7th)

On this night, Selby’s band, “Blues On The Move” opened up for Lil Ed and Selby’s engaging stage presence, on guitar and vocals, demonstrated how her love of the blues, and for D.C., (who passed away last year at the age of 73) clearly keeps her going. She sang some of D.C.’s original material — apparently there is a veritable treasure trove of unpublished D.C. Minner-penned tunes — and then later jammed onstage with the headliner.

This funky little juke joint seemingly in the middle of nowhere is not, however, just about the blues. It stands as a living, thriving testament to the enduring bond between Selby and D.C. that remains today. You can see it in her eyes and feel it in her words when she speaks about D.C. and, most of all, you feel it in her music.

We should all be so lucky to have such a passion and purpose in life.

Those of us who love the blues are fortunate to have Selby Minner.

"Dear Selby – This is so sweet and wonderful.  It is also very deserved.  I hope it brings you many patrons.Thanks for all you do for the the blues."
                                   ------
Bill Wax, Proprietor of Low-Fi's Bar and Pool Hall in the heart of XM Radio's Bluesville.

 
                       

Selby's guitar class at the Checotah library
 

FRIENDS OF RENTIESVILLE BLUES INC.


FESTIVAL !
It's hard to believe it went by so fast. It was a beautiful festival with many people working to make it happen and LOTS of WONDERFUL music!  PHOTOS COMING SOON!! we transformed Downtown Checotah and they seemed to like it as the banners stayed up a few extra days after the Festival...
           

                                    
   
 


          VERNON GARRETT: When Something Is Wrong With My Baby
Debbie Blackwell and W Slim here in R'ville ,                                     Randy McAllister, Vernon Garrett

         
Debbi Blackwell             Harps & Kidz         Eric Alan S
     
  
Wes Reynolds                Miss Blues in her Finery        lby in Tulsa, Cimarron
    

2009 Inductees    Bill Davis    Wes Reynolds    Earnest 'E.T.' Tanter    Chester Thompson    Walter Watson and Pure Silk    Mike Kern - Education      Media Award    Jammin John Peters     Volunteers of the Year:     Donna & Lee Mayo
 

                                                                    DC
  

new!!- Some Neat Viewing, courtesy of Kit love Robertson:     
www.myspace.com/dcminner   http://www.youtube.com/dcminner

http:/www.myspace.com/selbyminner

and a neat link from Jarrell of Checotah: 
www.checotahokla.com

Sherri's photos of this year's Fest are at slrtulsa.com - great!!
AND...check out...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7607147@N05

 photos by Dr David Jones of Muskogee

OK ARTS COUNCIL LINKS
(on two rosters; Teaching and Touring Arts )
http://arts.ok.gov/Oklahoma_Performing_Artists/Selby_Minner.html


AND...
www.nevasphotography.com for Neva's take on the fest--!

             

e     new!!- Some Other Neat Viewing:      www. myspace.com/dcminner     
new!!-
     
www.myspace.com/dcminner   http://www.youtube.com/dcminner thanks to Kit
and a neat link with us on it about Checotah:  www.checotahokla.com  thanks to Jarrell

http://www.youtube.com/dcminner
and a neat link with us on it about Checotah: 
www.checotahokla.com
     
web
     t             

     remember - we have things for kids to do thru the entire fest in the Kid's Village  - free!!
I know we made D.C. Proud this year. Thanks to all who helped!
 
(links at top of this page, lineup now complete)
  
RENTIESVILLE is 70 miles SE of Tulsa – BA Exp, Hwy 51 South to 69 –
Stay on 69 thru Muskogee to the Rentiesville Oktaha Exit.
Turn right 4 miles, then Left (E) onto Rentiesville Honey Springs Rd,
2 miles to DC Minner St and you are here!


DC and Selby statue by Selby Minner we hope to recreate lifesize for the corner here at the
Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame!

             ..Jahruba's Drum Circle                                                  friends  

          
 
                                                              The Muries and the car they won from us in 2006
2008 was our biggest fundraiser yet, keeping the music alive by paying the musicians!!!,  put together by GOlf Committee: Domenica Lovera, Tiki & Janie and Selby

 
            
 

State blues legends honored by hall of fame 2008

Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame co-founders D.C. Minner and wife Selby perform together at last year’s Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival.
 
 

Click for BLUES HALL OF FAME bios, photos!

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
5/21/2008
Last Modified: 5/21/2008  2:35 AM


 

When it comes to playin' the blues, well, "nobody does it to get rich," said OK Blues Hall of Fame co-founder Selby Minner in a recent telephone interview from her home in Rentiesville.

Indeed, eight of this state's most noted blues performers will be honored Saturday in a Hall of Fame founded by the legendary bluesman D.C. Minner himself as a way to give back to the music community.

"We realized that, when D.C. was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and later the Spot Music Awards Hall of Fame, that he could stop pushing so hard," she said.

"To be recognized for a lifetime of dedication is a huge achievement in itself."

In years past, the event has run concurrently with the Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival, an event also founded by the Minners, in the heartland of Oklahoma blues — the tiny town of Rentiesville. D.C. Minner recently passed away at age 73.

While he was growing up in Rentiesville during the Prohibition years, his grandmother owned a corn-whiskey hall.

In 1988, the Minners reopened its doors as the Down Home Blues Club. It's now renowned for its all-night blues showcases and preservation of the uniquely American
 
genre of blues.

 

                                        

 

The 2008 Fest was be a tribute to D.C. who we lost in May:

The day of the funeral was a beautiful day and we all thank those who attended, sent flowers, made donations to FOR Blues inc or sent us their thoughts and prayers.

      
                                                                          D.C. Minner photo by Michael Wyke, Tulsa World

                
     
                                                                 

Blues festival founder, educator dies at 73

in the Daily Oklahoman
 
By George Lang
Assistant Entertainment Editor
D.C. Minner, who founded and operated the Dusk 'Til Dawn Blues Festival in Rentiesville for 17 years, died Tuesday. Minner played the blues with the same passion that he brought to running his festival, and those who heard him play guitar remember a man with a big heart and endless determination.

“He had such a soulful feel, and you can't separate his vocals from his playing,” said Jim Johnson, program director at KGOU and host of the station's weekend blues programming. “He was the full package.”

Born in 1935 in Rentiesville, Minner and his wife, bassist Selby Minner, founded the Down Home Blues Club in 1989 at his grandmother's former home, where she sold whiskey and homebrewed Choc beer to local residents. In 2005, Minner said that his grandmother's do-it-yourself philosophy provided the building blocks for his life's work.

“She said anything you like, you should learn how to do yourself,” Minner told The Oklahoman. “That doesn't mean you have to cook every sweet potato pie yourself, but you need to be able to do it yourself.”

Minner was a respected sideman who played bass for Bo Diddley, Freddie King and Chuck Berry while living in California. But when he returned home, he also became a blues educator as well as entertainer.

D.C. and Selby Minner created the Blues in the Schools program through the Oklahoma Arts Council, performing music in classrooms and talking to students about the music.

The Minners won both a W.C. Handy Award and the Blues Foundation's Keeping the Blues Alive Award for their efforts. D.C. Minner was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999.

“D.C. Minner had so many accomplishments in the world of the blues, but I most remember him as a gentle man that loved blues music and loved spreading his music to everyone around him, especially children,” said Joann McCarty, president of the Oklahoma Blues Society.

Johnson, KGOU, said Minner, who had faced several illnesses and underwent dialysis, would often manage his festival via walkie talkie from his bed.

“He was such a wise man, a gentleman,” Johnson said. “He was just a sage, you know?”

Services are pending at Ragsdale Funeral Center in Muskogee.

 

(click here to: watch video of the Inductions held here May 26
 - click on the above link or go to www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=_0_mFg7eq1I )

ekvcate wants to share another video with you:

Video Description ---- Promo video for Dusk 'til Dawn Blues Festival in Rentiesville, Oklahoma, Labor Day Weekend, 2007. 30 seconds.

 

 

          

D.C. Minner knew the Blues is life

By James Beaty
Senior Editor

McAlester News Capital

“The blues ain’t nothin’ but a good man feelin’ bad.” — Leon Redbone

Oklahoma music legend D.C. Minner has died, following a long career making people happy by playing and singing the blues.

Minner, 73, died on Tuesday. The cause of death was not released.

Minner, and his wife, Selby, have hosted the annual Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival in Rentiesville, near Checotah, for the past 17 years.

Locally, they brought their Blues in the Schools educational program to McAlester and once served as the featured concert act at Hard Times Day Festival in Hartshorne. During his career, he and Selby toured and played at hundreds of concerts and festivals across the U.S.

McAlester News-Capital Editor Matt Lane has some personal memories of Minner.

“For the Lane family, D.C. was not only a great bluesman, but a great and dear friend,” Lane said.

“His house of blues was less than a mile from my family’s old home place on Pumpkin Ridge.

“D.C. was good friends with my grandpa, Virgil Lane, and especially good friends with my uncle, Curtis Lane.

“Our family, like many families, held get-togethers during the summer. D.C. and Selby would often come and perform,” Lane said.

“At one particular occasion, I thought I might sit in on keyboards with D.C. and Selby.

“After playing about one measure of a familiar blues tune, D.C. turned around and shot me a withering glance that drove me from the stage,” Lane said.

After that, Lane just looked on and enjoyed the music of one of the country’s best bluesmen.

John Peters, who hosts Jammin’ John’s Boogie Down Blues Show on McAlester Radio’s 105.1 FM station from 6-8 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday, said Minner will be missed by the blues family.

“He was the blues when it came to Oklahoma,” Peters said today, citing Minner’s work with the schools and with his blues festival.

“He taught us all. He brought so many young musicians and he gave people a place to play.”

“He was Mr. Blues. We’ll miss him.”

D.C. and Selby Minner were honored with numerous awards, including the Handy People Award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tenn. for their Blues in the Schools music education program.

D.C. Minner is also a member of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. The street outside the Down Home Blues Club has been renamed in his honor.

Born on Jan. 28, 1935, and brought up by his grandmother, Lura Drennan, Minner grew up hearing acoustic blues played at her juke joint in Rentiesville.

He later moved to Oklahoma City and played bass guitar with a band known as Larry Johnson and the New Breed.

With that band, Minner played behind such future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, as well as the great Texas-Oklahoma bluesman Freddie King and soul singer Eddie Floyd.

After moving to California, he started playing lead guitar and met Selby in a club in the Bay area, where she played acoustic blues.

They toured together for 12 years, with Selby now playing bass guitar, before D.C. moved back to Rentiesville in 1988 and reopened his grandmother’s old place as the Down Home Blues Club

In 1991, he and Selby started the Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival, which has become a Labor Day weekend tradition for many lovers of blues music.

Funeral services are pending with Ragsdale Funeral Center in Muskogee.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

 

last year's poster...plans under way for 2008 August 29, 30, 31...please check back soon!

 
300 dpi version in
Press Room

  

OKLAHOMA ROCK.COM newsblog wrote:
D.C. Minner Dead at 73

D.C. Minner, blues musician and co-founder of the annual Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival, passed away Tuesday. He was 73.

Born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma in 1935, Minner would later say he knew he was going to play music for living when he was a preschooler.

After serving as an Army medic in the Korean War, Minner lived in California, where he played bass for Larry Johnson and the New Breeds, which backed up O.V. Wright, Freddie King, Chuck Berry, Eddie Floyd and Bo Diddley. He would also meet his wife, Selby, while she was playing acoustic blues in northern California. D.C. switched to guitar and the couple toured as the blues duo Blues On The Move for 12 years.

In 1988, the couple turned Minner’s grandmother’s prohibition-era corn-whiskey hall, The Cozy Corner, into the after-hours club, The Down Home Blues Club. In 1991, they would start the annual Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival.

The Minners would later create the Blues in the Schools program through the Oklahoma Arts Council, performing music in classrooms and educating students about the blues. The couple won a W.C. Handy Award and the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award for their efforts.

D.C. Minner was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2003.

 

“If you play blues to get rich, then you really are making a mistake. So we don’t do this for the money. What we do do this for is for the love of the music.”
- D.C. Minner

 

“Music has lost a great blues man today in the passing of D.C. Minner. All of us involved with the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame extend our sympathy to (his wife) Selby and his family, and our gratitude that D.C. left us all the gift of his music.”
- Sue Harris, Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame President

“D.C. Minner had so many accomplishments in the world of the blues, but I most remember him as a gentle man that loved blues music and loved spreading his music to everyone around him, especially children.”
- Joann McCarty, Oklahoma Blues Society President

“He had such a soulful feel, and you can’t separate his vocals from his playing. He was the full package.”
- ‘Hardluck’ Jim Johnson, host of “Weekend Blues” and program director at KGOU-FM 106.3

“He was just a fine fellow. I met D.C. eight or 10 years ago when my son was in high school. One of Minner’s deals was educational outreach. He encouraged young people to get involved in music, So he toured the region and gave workshops. He made music available to everyone.”
- Mike Jett, Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame board member

“He knew music can do a lot for people and that people can do a lot for music.”
- bassist Earnest ‘Bronko’ Carr

“He was the blues when it came to Oklahoma. He taught us all. He brought so many young musicians and he gave people a place to play. He was Mr. Blues. We’ll miss him.”
- John Peters, host of “Jammin’ John’s Boogie Down Blues Show” on McAlester Radio’s 105.1 FM station


D. C. Minner
1935 - 2008 (this includes the accurate list of awards etc. )


 

D. C. Minner, founder and operator of the Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival, quietly left us on May 6th, 2008. The only child of Clarence and Helen Pearson Minner, he was raised by his grandmother, Lura Drennan, in Rentiesville, OK where he grew up hearing acoustic blues played at her juke joint called the “Cozy Corner”. D. C. received his education in Rentiesville. He joined the U. S. Army and during this time he married Miss Doris Haynes. D. C. later moved to Oklahoma City where he played behind such future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, as well as the great Oklahoma Bluesman, Freddie King and soul singers O.V. Wright and Eddie Floyd. After moving to California, he spent a winter wood shedding in Humboldt County, where he taught himself guitar and wrote twenty-eight songs. Needing a workshop to try out his new material he returned to the Bay area and met Selby in a club where she played acoustic blues. They married and toured together as “Blues On The Move” for twelve years, with Selby now playing bass guitar, across the U.S. and overseas. The couple returned home to Rentiesville, in 1988 and reopened his grandmothers old place as the “Down Home Blues Club”. D. C. had a gift for working with young students in Oklahoma Schools and across the nation doing Blues in the schools. Oklahoma Arts Council Director Suzanne Tate said D.C. was a highly esteemed artist included in both the Council’s Touring and Teaching Rosters. His tremendous efforts to promote the magic called the Blues have made him an Oklahoma favorite. He will be greatly missed, said Tate. D.C. received many awards and citations including the Governor’s Art Award in 2006, W.C. Handy Award- the KBA (Keeping the Blues Alive) Award in Education,  induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, the Tulsa World Hall of Fame and numerous other awards. On September 1st, 2006 , Gov. Brad Henry declared “D.C. and Selby Minner Day”. May 17, 2008, was declared D.C. Minner Day in Muskogee. But his favorite honor was when the town of Rentiesville renamed part of the Texas Trail that runs along the Blues Club D.C.Minner Street.

D.C. founded the Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc. as a non-profit to oversee the continuation of the Festival and the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame at the Family Home / Blues Club in Rentiesville. He was very committed to seeing these things into the future. With the help of friends Selby will be keeping a band together, working through the OK Arts Council as an educator and performer and "keeping Rentiesville hopping" with the Festival and other upcoming events.



ALSO: The BLUES CLUB is OPEN each 'first Saturday' Nite of the month.... $4 at the door...Selby and Blues on the Move and 
IT's A  JAM!
Pat Moss, Tiny Davis and more!
JAM BAND (open opportunity for learners) NOW 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 4 - 6 PM please call before you drive 918-473-2411


The E-Zine from Blues Festival Guide reported on our 2007 inductions:

                             

June 8, 2007

www.bluesfestivaleguide.com

Vol 2 Issue 20

 

OKLAHOMA BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTS HONOREES
              

                             


DC and Selby Minner and the Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc. hosted the 2007 Inductions into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame Saturday May 26th. This was the first time the awards have been given at an event separate from their annual Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival, and it was a rousing success! There were performances and jams by inductees Miss Blues, Watermelon Slim, Tony Mathews, DC and Selby Minner. Also youngster (age 12) Blue Fire Foley performed, as well as Sunset and Sunshine. A full slate kept the time worn juke joint DC inherited from his family rocking until close to daylight!

Media awards were given to writer and managing editor Jack Fowler of the McIntosh County Democrat (the Checotah paper) and the Muskogee Phoenix. The
Phoenix has created and inserted the Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival program into their general circulation since the festival's infancy in 1993. The editor of the Weekender, Leif Wright, received the award for the Phoenix .

Baskets and trophies went to the inductees. Their photos are now on the Hall of Fame wall in the Blues Club. Selby Minner said "At some point we hope to build a concert hall upstairs which will be the true Hall of Fame, complete with exhibits of our inductees. We work to honor musicians and others with a lifetime in this music and
Oklahoma roots. We are starting with inscribed bricks people can order which will create a walk of fame in from the corner. The corner of DC Minner Street and John Hope Franklin Blvd.
"

Minner is an Oklahoma blues legend who started his career as a bassist working in the bands of Chuck Berry, Bo Didley, OV Wright and Freddie King....He started singing and writing songs and switched to lead guitar in the early 70's. DC grouped with his wife/bassist/vocalist Selby Minner in
California in 1976. After 12 years living on the road performing the couple settled back in Rentiesville and has been on the OK State Art's Council Touring Arts and Artist in Residence rosters since the early 90's.

Having been included in 5 halls of fame around the state himself, Minner is proud to share the spotlight and honor other worthy players - while they are alive, if possible. The Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc has been created to keep the Festival and Hall of Fame moving forward well into the future.

                                                 Blues Club chair
 

Main Menu

    

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Black Town Tour info  
more quick links below right: 

                

            Selby Minner
      
D.C.  photo Jim Beckel in Oklahoman on Sunday Feb 20

 
Tony M Domenica, Janie

Checotah HS Jazz Band


James Walker, Harry Blackwel
l

 
the Blues Fest is a Centennial Event
 918 473- 2411
918-855-0978
dcminner@uslogon.com

DC  Minner:

Lifetime Achievement Award; OK Blues Hall of Fame
OK STATE GOVERNOR'S ARTS AWARD 
Special Recognition, 2004
OK Music Hall of Fame 2003


OK Jazz Hall of Fame
, 1999

 

OK BLUES HALL OF FAME 2006
Lifetime Achievemant


Oklahoma Arts Council link:

http://www.arts.ok.gov/
artists
/otp/folk/dcselby.html

http://www.arts.ok.gov/
artists/air/music/
bluesonthemove.html

Touring and Artists in Residence Rosters since 1990

DC & Selby Minner DAY Sept 1, 2006 -Gov. Brad Henry


KBA
(Keeping the Blues Alive) Award from the Handy People at the Blues Foundation in Education 1999

www.blues.org
The Blues Foundation

Member


Oklahoma Blues Society

Member

  


My Steel Guitar and other
guitars from our Donor of the Year
www.republicguitars.com 



Nightflyng  - great calendar, from AR

 Blues Soc. of Tulsa
    
click below:
 
 www.bluessocietyoftulsa.co          
                     
www.bluesfestivalguide.com .








Selby: OK Blues Hall of Fame 2006,
KBA (Handy) in Education 1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     918 - 473 - 2411

 

OKLAHOMA BLUES HALL OF FAME
RENTIESVILLE OK 
2006 inductees: Elvin Bishop, Jr. Markham, Selby, Steve Pryor, Frank Swain, James Walker & D.C. Got Lifetime Achievement


DC ends set at OK MUSIC Hall of Fame
 Induction to a standing ovation!         
Photo: Beth Seim

 
Click for HALL OF FAME bios, photos!
we had a GREAT TOUR. 


Tom& Cheryl Yearnshaw
Blues Festival Guide  - see their review of Fest from the Blues Fest E guide below

SPONSORS include:



VSA arts

 



  Labor Day Wknd, Fri-Sat-Sun
Click for complete D-D details



   

         

 

          
          DC performs at his Rentiesville Blues Festival; photo Fred Marvel

 NB:  NEW e-address: dcminner@windstream.net

 


Now open first Sat. of each month! $5, ladies FREE!
Click for details!



Quick
Links to All the News ON THIS SITE:
...

    
    (click for details)
PRESS ROOM - NEWS - stories from the press and High Res photos, logos etc.!  GOLF TOURNEY CAR GIVE AWAY ....Dusk Til Dawn Fest info here as well
 (opens slowly) 
Click for complete details! on OUR 18th 
DUSK TIL DAWN BLUES FESTIVAL

coming up
August 31, Sept 1, and 2
All About Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc; 'F.O.R. BLUES' events
NEWSLETTER Down Home Blues Club OPEN 1st SATURDAYS and more  for jams! 
FOR Blues' OKLAHOMA BLUES HALL OF FAME
DC inducted into OK Music Hall of Fame
Black Town Tour info  
Join our Mailing List or better yet - email us dcminner@uslogon.com 
Don't Miss our PHOTO GALLERY..packed full of  pics 
ALL FESTIVAL STARS - and at 300 dpi, too!!
NEW CD:  Full Moon over Rentiesville and all the CDs, hats, more
Link to our OK Arts Council Artist in Residence ROSTER listing:  www.arts.state.ok.us/Pages/rosters/airroster2003/music/bluesonthemove.html
       Link to our OK Arts Council Touring Arts ROSTER listing:
http://www.arts.ok.gov/artists/otp/folk/dcselby.html

http://www.arts.ok.gov/artists/air/music/bluesonthemove.html
   
     
      
BLUES in the SCHOOLS  click  ABOVE on Main Menu

Blues performer D.C. Minner sits in the middle of his 16th  annual Dusk To Dawn Blues Festival in Rentiesville, on Sept. 2. Minner returned to his Oklahoma hometown in 1979 and stayed.
MICHAEL WYKE /
Tulsa World story: 
Black Town Tour info  

 

  FEST REVUE
Great review in the Blues Festival Guide's E -Zine!
quote:

ON THE BLUE HIGHWAY WITH

 TOM AND CHERYL

It’s Just A Family Affair… 

The 16th Annual Dusk Til Dawn Blues Festival was held over this past Labor Day weekend in the Rentiesville, Oklahoma back yard and home of founders DC and Selby Minner, .  Back yard and Home???   That’s Right!!!  But there’s a story here.  Tradition, too. 

Years ago, DC’s grandmother ran a “corn whiskey house” on this hallowed site in rural Oklahoma.  When DC and Selby decided to take some of the “move” out of their road-weary band, “Blues On The Move,” DC grabbed Selby and headed “back home,” where they moved into Grandma’s old place, settled into the ‘quiet life in the country’ (HA!!!), and set part of their house aside to be ‘The Down Home Blues Club’.

Dusk Til Dawn -- that’s 5 PM to 5 AM, folks, ‘cause it’s usually warm in Rentiesville in the daytime -- grew from its origins as an annual event at the club.  A few years back, as the show got bigger, DC and Selby converted their unofficial not-for-profit child into a full fledged, official 501(c)(3) non-profit ‘teenager,’ including many from their dedicated ‘family’ of volunteers on the Board.

Everything about Dusk Til Dawn is a ‘family’ affair.  The Minners are still very dedicated and integral to the show, taking the lead role in organizing and presenting the event and in performing twice nightly for the three-day show.  Their extended ‘family’ includes 12 Board Members, over 100 volunteers, and thousands of dedicated fans.  Many of these folks have been returning each year since the very beginning.

Several weeks before the show, volunteers, some who come several thousand miles to help, begin to work the magic that transforms the ‘back forty’ into the festival site.  Three-foot tall grasses are mowed into a comfortable ‘lawn.’  Power is run so vendors can sell t-shirts, jewelry, barbeque, fried fish, candy, ice cream, and even ‘fried pies.’  The Kid’s Village sprouts up around an old school bus (the Kid’s Village is just too much and gets a paragraph of its own below), and a circus-sized tent miraculously appears before the main outdoor stage to complete the ‘mirage.’  The “Down Home Blues Club,” which is now in semi-retirement and only open once a month, gets a quick dusting, some posters and lights to liven its interior, and its Festival time. 
DC, Tony Mathews, Selby Minner

This year’s show presented 30 bands on three stages over the three-day run.  The mix, as it has been from the beginning, was rich in the Oklahoma blues tradition (James Walker, Tony Matthews, and Barry Harris – to name just a few) but also included national and regional acts such as Rory Block, James Peterson, and Johnny Rawls.  The line up even included several groups of young blues musicians from as far away as Dallas, and to keep things moving between acts, a rich variety of acoustic blues was presented throughout the evening.

In keeping with DC’s and Selby’s active participation in the Oklahoma school system through their innovative ‘Blues in the Schools’ programs, the Kid’s Village has also been a big part of the event.  Face painting, costumes, ‘dragons’ (a la Chinese New Years parades), clay pottery, and puppet shows are made lovingly available by a group of exceptional volunteers.  These are all hands-on activities, keeping young minds occupied while the hypnotic sounds of blues slowly soak into the young minds that will be the future of the blues.  This Kid’s Village is unlike anything we’ve seen before!!! 

Around 5 AM Monday morning, the mirage begins to fade.  The corner of Rentiesville Road and DC Minner Road slowly begins its transformation back to a peaceful country corner, the echoes of 30 great bands being slowly absorbed into the still Oklahoma dawn.  The Down Home Blues Club lets out a slow sigh as it slips back into the comfort of semi-retirement, and the grasses are already starting to grow back.  But this is truly a play land with a once-a-year mission to spread its owner’s vision of The Blues far and wide.

There are fitting footnotes to this story and to DC and Selby Minner’s long devotion to the blues tradition.  Over the weekend, Selby Minner (along with Elvin Bishop, Junior Markham, Steve Pryor, James Walker, and Frank Swain) was inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame, DC Minner received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame, and September 1, 2006 was declared DC Minner Day throughout Oklahoma by Governor Brad Henry.  ‘Congratulations’ are indeed in order for all.

After saying goodbye to our new found family in Rentiesville we’re back on the road in Blues Country and will keep you posted.

--  Tom and Cheryl  Yearnshaw               

 

      

                                                                
In 1935, Blues legend D.C. Minner was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma, on the spot where the Down Home Blues Club now sits and where his family has operated a business since 1911. 

For years he traveled the nation as a bassist with Blues legends Freddie King, O.V. Wright, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley.  He then started his own band and met his bassist and wife, Selby, who was living and singing in Berkeley, California.  They toured for 12 years non-stop as the Blues on the Move; AZ, NM, CA, WA, OR, RI, MA, etc.

In 1988, they returned home to re-open his Grandmother's Cozy Corner as the Down Home Blues Club, which is gradually being transformed into a living Blues museum.  The couple founded the annual Dusk 'til Dawn Blues Festival in 1991.Their friends came on Board as Friends of Rentiesville Blues Inc in 2003.
Go to "About DC and Selby" for more bio info.

 
 

          
      

    You can join! $15 - call Selby at (918) 473-2411 
 details of membership:
Friends of R'villes Blues
or email dcminner@uslogon.com 



Our mission is "to preserve and develop African American Music through education and entertainment".



 

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