Read the March 2007 Blog from Mike

Blue Smoke
A rainbow of blues
by Catherine Scharnberger

If Mike Baker wanted to, he could really sings the blues. Born in Germany, the Maryland-based musician lost the eyesight in his left eye to glaucoma when he was a few months old. Then, in 1988, he injured his right eye in a swimming pool accident and lost his vision completely. Despite having to learn to adapt to being blind, Baker has taken his experiences and turned them into an uplifting career as a blues man who puts on a show filled with variety and upbeat music.

"We do rhythm and blues, soul blues, Delta blues, Chicago blues, New Orleans blues," says the guitarist and vocalist for the band Blue Smoke. "We can switch to folk blues, we can switch to the natural acoustic sound. We can do country blues, Texas swing. We like to mix it up."

Baker is joined on stage by drummer Billy Falk and Dan Milkman on slide and rhythm guitar. Additional musicians rotate in and out of the lineup, including bassists Steve Shaw and Robby Cooper, harmonica player Pat Day and electric fiddler Jeff Holdridge.

Baker says his vision impairment affects his show in many ways. "I have to operate on the sound of the live show. Most musicians cue off each other," he explains. "The band has to cue on me...I go by sound—if the audience is hollering and whooping it up and dancing and moving, then I know what's going on. They respond to me and I respond to them."

He says he wants audience members to hit the dance floor. "There's a lot of dancing. People say, 'Oh, the blues. You can't dance to the blues.' Untrue. Not at all factually founded. We do a lot of up-tempo swing. A lot of people don't realize I'm blind so they just dance in front of me...If I can't keep people dancing to the blues, I'm not doing my job."

Blue Smoke has been together about 10 years, but Baker's musical experience dates back much further. He began playing guitar in the mid 60's. Today, he performs throughout Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, but says the band is only one aspect of his life. Married for 23 years, he's a full-time dad, and he spends his days raising his two children as well as babysitting for three others. "I have to turn down a lot of gigs," he says. "Here are my priorities: health, family, marriage, and music."

When he is performing, however, he makes the audience at each show a priority. "We like to say we're a people's band. We like audience participation and we involve the audience very much." he states. "We're not stuck up musicians. If somebody wants to sing, I usually say, 'Hum me a couple of bars' before they get on stage. If they can sing, we bring them right up, give them a tambourine, whatever they want and let them shake their bootie."

(from the March 1999 edition of Barfly Monthly)

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Blue Smoke Band c/o M. Baker 411 Old Line Avenue Laurel, MD 20724 Phone: 301·604·2901 Email: bluesmokeband@comcast.net

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