[By Mitchell B Johnson]The Blues was born down South, as slaves and descendants of slaves turned their field hollers and spiritual chants into this legendary music. As African Americans and other Southerners began to move out of the South the Blues tagged along. The Blues hitchhiked up through Memphis to Chicago pretty early on and the players in the Chicago Blues bars began to make a crazy new thing happen called Chicago Blues. Well, a lot of Blues has gone down since then, but Chicago still has a very vibrant Blues scene. If you find yourself in The Windy City, check out these spots.

Buddy Guys' Legends Blues Club

Owned, of course, the king of Chicago's electric blues scene, Legends is one of the most popular blues clubs in Chicago. This club is all-blues-all-the-time, open seven days a week, lunch sets Wednesday to Sunday, and open to 2AM during the week and 3AM on Friday and Saturday.

The blues music here is a top-notch mix of local acts and international players. They hold an open blues jam on Mondays. Buddy plays several shows (maybe 15-16) every January. Check out the blues photos, instruments, and other memorabilia.

The cover here is $10 weekdays and $20 Friday and Saturday. The food is Southern Cajun Soul Food..

Kingston Mines

The club that brought the blues to the North side, Kingston Mines has two live bands on two stages play continuous blues until 4AM every night and 5AM on Saturday!

The cover is $12 Sunday-Thursday and $15 Friday and Saturday. There is often an early acoustic set on at least one stage and the Chicago Blues cranks up on the two stages around 9 or 10.

In business at various locations since 1968, there is a full barbeque menu at "Doc's Rib Joint"

Rosa's Lounge

Self-styled "Chicago's Friendliest Blue Lounge," this Southside bar has been around since 1984.

Blues happens here from Tuesday through Saturday, with a wide variety of styles and acts.

Rosa's features authentic Italian dishes, the house specialty being Pasta Nonna, baked pasta with eggplant.

Blue Chicago