Blues in the Schools Featured Artist: TJ Wheeler

TJ Wheeler is an American musician who has been educating youth on the roots of modern music for decades. He is the first artist/educator brought in to help establish the Blues in the Schools program for Ottawa Bluesfest in 1999. One of the first schools established in Ottawa was Corpus Christi Catholic, now celebrating its 25th year with Blues in the Schools.

Born in 1952, in Bremerton Washington, as a teenager he saw Buddy Guy, & Son House, and instantly became a bonafide Blues Guy. The road was and is his musical university, and seeking out Blues & Jazz greats, his influences have included Booker White, Furry Lewis, Lenny Breau, Arthur Hall, Danny Barker & countless others. Over the decades Tj’s worked, studied and performed with such diverse & notables as Pinetop Perkins, Mighty Sam McClain, Katie Webster, Nappy Brown, Tiny Grimes, Benny Waters, Honey Boy Edwards, Albert Collins, Roswell Rudd, Odetta, Eddy Kirkland, Louisiana Red, Lazy Lester, Tommy Ridgley and Joe Houston. He’s been featured as a performer as well as a master clinician for such top Blues & Jazz Festivals as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, the Ottawa Blues Festival, and the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival.

Tj is currently celebrating his 50th anniversary of conducting Blues in the School programs. Recently he was honored to be inducted into the New England Music Museum, as well as being the Key Note speaker & performer for the NH MLK Coalition 2022 Holiday Commemoration. He’s internationally recognized as a leading proponent of Blues, Jazz & overall roots music, in the school programs. His award-winning Hope, Heroes’ & the Blues, integrated arts, anti-racism program has reached roughly 500,000 students worldwide. From the 1 string slide Diddley Bow, tenor Ukulele, 5 string “Clawhammer” banjo, NOLA style tenor Banjo, on up to the 7 string Arch Top Guitar this Blues Guy 50 years later is still shakin’ it on down and spreading the message that you sing the Blues to lose the Blues. Far from making anyone feel negatively, Tj’s programs create Hope, for ALL, that its Black originators can be certainly considered Heroes’ overcoming a myriad of challenges in bringing their cathartic music to the world.