Windy City Blues

Written by Renée Rosen

Narrated by Robin Miles

Length

14h 51m

Rating

4.4 (86 ratings)

In the middle of the 20th century, the music of the Mississippi Delta arrived in Chicago, drawing the attention of entrepreneurs like the Chess brothers. Their label, Chess Records, helped shape that music into the Chicago Blues, the soundtrack for a transformative era in American history. But for Leeba Groski, Chess Records was just where she worked. Leeba didn't exactly fit in, but her passion for music and her talented piano playing captured the attention of her neighbor, Leonard Chess, who offered her a job at his new record company. What began as answering phones and filing became much more as Leeba came into her own as a songwriter and befriended performers like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, and Etta James. But she also found love with a Black blues guitarist named Red Dupree. With their relationship unwelcome in segregated Chicago and shunned by Leeba's Orthodox Jewish family, Leeba and Red soon found themselves in the middle of the civil rights movement, and they discovered that in times of struggle, music can bring people together.