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| Famous blues piano player, Otis Spann was buried in an unmarked grave near Chicago after he died April 24, 1970. Thanks to Steven Salter, and his Killer Blues Headstone Project, Spann now has a gravestone. (Photo: Courtesy Steven Salter via WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.) |
WHITEHALL, Mich. — What started out as a simple passion for a
Michigan man ended up evolving into a pilgrimage as his love for the
blues is making sure some of the country's greatest musicians will never be forgotten.
Many blues artists died before any of their music earned
any money, which means several of the nation’s greatest blues artists
are buried in small towns and cow pastures in unmarked graves.
To Steven Salter, of Whitehall, Mich., that’s grossly
unacceptable. He has spent the better part of the last 20 years
providing headstones for blues artists, thanks to a niche non-profit
organization he and four others created called “Killer Blues Headstone
Project.”
“It’s something I never envisioned doing,” said Salter, who
says he’s been a true lover of blues music his entire life, and has a
lifetime of blues memorabilia to prove it.
“I call it the Killer Blues Garage,” Salter said. “Most of the stuff, I’ve picked up on my travels.”
He’s transformed his garage into a shrine of blues
collectibles. All four walls are layered with treasures he’s collected,
photos of famous blues artists, hundreds of records and autographs. He
even built a mini stage in the garage, complete with microphones and
guitars.
This blues sanctuary isn’t just a place to house his collection. It’s also the place where Salter goes to work.
“To me, knowledge is food,” Salter said. “It all started
out with me liking a blues song, then wanting to know more about the
artist and all the band members.”
Salter’s research into these musicians is deep and thorough.
“Along the way, I became fascinated about trying to find the
dates they were born, the dates they died, and where they were
buried,” Salter said. “During this research, I discovered many of the
greatest and most revered blues artists never received a headstone.”
In 1997, Salter drove to New Orleans for a big blues
festival. During the trip, he said, he made a point of stopping at
cemeteries to visit graves of famous blues artists because he wanted to
pay his respects.
On his way south, he stopped in Chicago where many blues artists are buried.
“The first grave I went to was Muddy Waters, and I was
surprised to see that he only had a small stone,” Salter said. “The
gravestone was only one foot by two foot.
“Muddy Waters is the biggest name in blues, so I was shocked to see that his grave marker was so small.”
Salter left that cemetery and decided to visit another one
in the Chicago area in search of the gravesite for Otis Spann, who
happened to be Waters’ piano player, and was a huge influence in the
blues industry.
“I arrived at the cemetery, walked out to the plot where
Otis Spann was buried, and all I saw was grass,” he said. “There was no
grave marker.
“I then went to the cemetery office and told the caretaker I
couldn’t find the grave, and they said it’s because he doesn’t have a
stone.”
The lack of a gravestone for Spann never left him during that trip.
“When I got back from New Orleans, I decided to contact a
prominent blues review magazine, wrote them a letter to notify them
that Otis Spann is laying in an unmarked grave, and something should be
done,” Salter said.
Through the backing of the magazine — which published a
story — a fund was launched and people from all over the world donated
money. A marked gravestone was eventually placed for Spann, thanks to
Salter's letter to the magazine.
“Through my research, I had found so many other blues
artists who were also laying in unmarked graves, but the magazine
didn’t seem to have any further interest in helping.
“That was when I realized if anyone was going to get it done, I was going to have to do it myself.”
In 2009, Salter, along with four others, gained 501(c)(3) non-profit status for the Killer Blues Headstone Project.
“Thanks to donations, we’ve been able to place 68
headstones on the ground for blues artists,” said Salter. “If all goes
well this year, that number will rise to 77 stones placed.”
Salter and his group have placed gravestones in 12
different states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.
If the finished stones are delivered to Salter’s home in
Whitehall, he will travel to the state where the artist is buried and
place the markers himself. Most of the time, the stones are made by a
monument company in the city where the musicians are buried.
“If we can’t travel the long distance ourselves, we ask the
cemetery sextons to place the gravestones, and once they’re officially
on the ground, they take a photo, send it to us, and then we cross
that artist off our list,” Salter said.
Killer Blues Headstone Project has recently discovered more
than 50 additional blues musicians’ gravesites that are unmarked. The
plan is to place a stone for each one, but the organization relies
exclusively on financial donations to make that happen. Donations can
be made at their website.
“The reason I do this is to honor these individuals who
brought such great music to the world,” Salter said. “It makes me feel
good when we get a stone down on the ground.
“When these blues musicians died, we lost them; but if we
don’t know where they’re buried, it’s like they’re lost twice, and
that’s something I find very difficult to live with.”
Ashcroft, Brent. "Man Honors Blues Artists One Grave at a Time." Standard-Times. Accessed August 22, 2016. http://www.gosanangelo.com/entertainment/music/390478331.xhtml.
