Johnny Twist Blues Museum looks to educate, raise funds

By Igor Studenkov For Chronicle Media

The Johnny Twist Blues Museum, also known as the Mississippi Delta and Chicago Blues Museum, has been around for almost four decades. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

Blues guitarist Johnny Twist is happy to show visitors around his museum and share his decades of knowledge. Just don’t ask him to do it for free.

The Johnny Twist Blues Museum, also known as the Mississippi Delta and Chicago Blues Museum, has been around for almost four decades. Located in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, it is the only institution in the city dedicated to the history of blues music. It is both a museum and a store, showcasing a wide range of artifacts and selling an equally wide selection of record, CDs and cassette tapes, DVDs and books.

But before one could come near any of that, any visitor needs to pay $5. And while Twist didn’t mind showing the Chronicle around, he said that a proper media interview would cost another $20. Twist insisted that it wasn’t so much about the money as knowing what he was worth. He had the experience and insight that nobody else had, he said — and besides, he and his museum weren’t exactly hurting for media exposure.

While the blues music originated in the Mississippi delta, the Chicago was home to one of the genre’s most influential styles. According to Chicago History Museum’s Encyclopedia of Chicago, the blues musicians from the south were drawn to Chicago in search of economic opportunities. who tried to make it in the city performed at Maxwell Street Market, Chicago’s largest and most enduring open-air market. To deal with the crowd noise, they experimented with electric amplification, which led to a more electric sound.

As the bluesmen got more popular, they found work in clubs, mostly in South Side’s Bronzeville neighborhood, along Indiana Avenue and 43rd and 47th streets. The city’s blue scene started gaining national prominence in the 1940s and continued to flourish in the 1950s. Music by Chicago Blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf inspired British bands such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones.

Yet, in spite of Chicago Blues influence, the city hasn’t done much to recognize that history. Efforts to create historic blues districts along 43rd and 47th streets haven’t fully gotten off the ground. Plans for a large-scale Chicago Blues museum near downtown Chicago came and went for years. Most recently, Crain’s Chicago Business reported in March 2017 that Chicago Blues Experience for-profit organization plans to open a three-story museum on the underground portions of downtown Chicago’s 25 E. Washington St. building. It would feature artifacts, interactive displays and a 150-seat lounge to host live performances.

In the meantime, Twist’s museum has been trying to pick up the slack.

According to museum’s GoFundMe page, Twist was born Johnny Williams. He started playing professionally in 1957 in St. Louis, where he first gained popularity. He and his family moved to Chicago in 1962.

Over the next two decades, Twist started collecting blues-related memorabilia. Sometime in the late 1970s, he opened his first business — the Dud-Twist Variety, Furniture Store and Record Shop — in Woodlawn, in the 900 block of 63rd Street, near the Cottage Grove Green Line ‘L’ station.

In 1981, Twist opened the first incarnation of his museum in Bronzeville, across the street from the Checkerboard Lounge blues club. The club was founded in 1972 by L.C. Thurman and blues musician Buddy Guy at 423 E. 43rd St. It soon played host to musicians such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Junior Wells and Chuck Berry and Robert Plant. Perhaps most famously it was a venue where Rolling Stones recorded “Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981” concert video and live album.

Twist was a regular performer there on Tuesday nights. Between the convenience and its popularity, the location made sense.

In 1985, Guy left the partnership. By 2003, Checkerboard Lounge found itself struggling with building maintenance issues and declining attendance. The club moved in Hyde Park in 2003 and shut down for good in August 2015, after Thurman died of illness.

At some point during that time, Twist moved the museum to Woodlawn, at 6455 S. Cottage Grove Avenue, not far from where his original store was located. For anyone who happened to pass by the intersection of Cottage Grove Avenue and 64th Street, the space is hard to miss. The large, brightly colored hand-painted sign hangs above the door, and the storefront is dotted with equally signs advertising what’s inside and displaying messages such as “hey, hey, blues are cool” and “black love is power.” A large speaker is set outside the door — on some occasions, such as when the Chronicle passed by on a late afternoon of July 23 — it plays blues music for all to hear.

The word “museum” doesn’t quite do justice to what’s inside. The interiors are arranged more akin to an antique store or a used bookstore, with objects filling over a single surface. Gig posters, newspaper and magazine clippings and photographs line the walls. The store has artifacts such as photos of 1920s blue musicians performing at Maxwell Street Market, autographed photos of famous blues musicians, entire issues of newspapers and magazines and vintage guitars and expensive records. Some of the items are unexpected, such a model train model of the 43rd Street commercial district, complete with the model ‘L’ train above the building. Rows upon rows of CDs and cassette tapes are stacked alongside the artifacts. There is an entire section filled with books by African-American authors, and records line the walls and are stacked in boxes.

Twist also mentioned that there were “secret rooms” that he might be willing to share. But that, like a media interview, would cost extra.

As he explained to the Chronicle, he charges for interviews for several reasons. Twist explained that he has been featured in newspapers and magazines plenty of times before, showing clippings and articles from blues magazines and newspapers such as Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Defender. And, as he pointed out, in recent months, he and his museum haven’t been hurting for publicity. The Johnny Twist Blues Museum was featured in a March 2018 “Hidden Chicago” themed issue of Chicago magazine, as well as in the cover story of the May 17, 2018 issue of the RedEye newspaper.

There was also the matter of Twist’s stature in the blues world. While he described himself as a living legend, he emphasized that it wasn’t just him boasting. Twist pointed to multi-page magazine profiles and newspaper features, as well as photos and gig posters where he shared space with Guy and other famous blues musicians. He said that he would be willing to share his experiences and knowledge — but it seemed only fair that he would get his due.

Twist emphasized that the $20 was something that he asked of everyone who wanted to interview him, citing the Chicago magazine piece as an example. And he said that there were some things he wouldn’t allow for any money — no pictures inside the museum and no pictures of him. Twist added that he had no issue with people taking photos of the museum’s exteriors — something that, he said, happens fairly frequently.

That isn’t to say that Twist isn’t looking for money. In March 17, 2017, he launched a GoFundMe online fundraising campaign to raise $10,000 in order to not only keep the museum going but eventually expand it and to open a school to teach young blues musicians. As of July 26, the campaign raised $450. Twist noted that he accepts the donations in person as well, adding that one of his other goals was to keep the admission fee affordable.

Johnny Twist Blues Museum is open on Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and it recently started opening its doors on Sundays, from 1-6 p.m.

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— Johnny Twist Blues Museum looks to educate, raise funds —-