Discovery Museum showcases Libertyville bluesman’s memorabilia

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Steve Peterkort, of Hawthorn Woods, looks over blue's memorabilia Saturday at the Discovery Museum in Wauconda. | Joe Shuman~For Sun-Times Media

‘The Blues: From the
Heart and Soul’

Lake County Discovery Museum, 27277 N Forest Preserve Road, Wauconda

10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday

$2.50-$6

(847) 847-968-3400, www.lcmuseum@lcfpd.org

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Updated: February 21, 2012 8:10PM

When Barrelhouse Chuck was a young man living
in Gainesville, Fla., he learned that blues guitarist Bo Diddley lived just 15 miles away.

So, he picked up all his Bo Diddley records, drove over Diddley’s home, introduced himself and talked blues. It was the beginning of a long friendship, one of many to come, with several blues artists.

Local bluesman

Bluesmen tell the best stories and you can hear and see Libertyville’s own Barrelhouse Chuck’s stories through Aug. 19 at the Lake County Discovery Museum in an exhibit called “The Blues: From the Heart and Soul.”

Chuck Goering, dubbed Barrelhouse Chuck by blues harmonica player Little Joe Berson for the way he played the song “Barrelhouse Woman,” has been playing blues piano for decades and with some of the greatest blues musicians, some well-known and some unknown.

Goering, 53, has been amassing, without the intention of collecting, blues memorabilia since the time he began listening to music, starting with record albums.

On exhibit in “The Blues: From the Heart and Soul” are the autographs, posters, microphones, harmonicas, keyboards and more he’s accrued in a lifetime of blues. Every item has a story or leads to a story.

Goering came to Chicago in 1979, when he was 21, to immerse himself in blues piano after years of meeting blues musicians when they rolled through town in Florida. He played with some of them, but decided he needed to dedicate himself to his craft by heading to the source.

When he arrived, he went directly to BLUES on Halsted to watch Sunnyland Slim perform. From then on, Sunnyland Slim, and other blues pianists including Blind John Davis, Big Moose Walker, Detroit Junior and Little Brother Montgomery, offered their tutelage, which Goering hungrily accepted. When they played, Goering concentrated on their hands.

“I’d steal one lick a night,” he said.

Little Brother Montgomery’s personal effects, which include jewelry and clothes, are some of Goering’s favorites in “The Blues: From Heart and Soul.” The two formed a father-son type of relationship, with Goering sometimes living with Montgomery and serving as Montgomery’s caretaker when he fell ill in the 1980s.

“I took care of him all the way until the last day of his life,” Goering said, adding some of his favorite times were when Montgomery, Sunnyland Slim and other pianists would play together.

“All of us would be together every Friday in Hyde Park,” he said. “We would all play piano over there.”

Goering’s network expanded and his resume grew to include Pinetop Perkins, Honeyboy Edwards, Buddy Guy and many others. His work also drew the attention of Kim Wilson, singer and harmonica player for the Fabulous Thunderbirds and his own Kim Wilson Blues Review.

Wilson asked Goering to join him in recording the soundtrack for “Cadillac Records,” the 2008 film based on the rise of Chicago’s Chess Records, which featured the work of Howlin’ Wolf.

Goering also worked and toured with Hubert Sumlin, who died last December.

Tribute concert

On Feb. 24, Goering will play piano in the house band behind Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Dr. John and Susan Tedeschi at the Apollo Theater in New York City. The concert is in honor of Sumlin and proceeds will benefit the Jazz Foundation of America.

“All of these great musicians that he loved are playing in this show,” Goering said.

The blues pianist, who’ll soon embark on recording an album with Wilson, will make occasional appearances to perform at the Discovery Museum throughout the exhibition’s run.

He’s happy to share his stories, which he considers tributes to the musicians he’s worked with. But, he warns with a laugh, “I have a thousand stories and they’re all different degrees of what can’t be put in the newspaper.”

He added, “I’ve been fortunate to do lots of cool things in my musical life, and I’m tucked away in this little Libertyville.”