“Barrelhouse Bonni” McKeown’s stage name recalls the old upright pianos in the juke joints that once peppered southern cotton fields and lumber camps. Her left-hand rhythms lay the groove for her low, smoldering voice. She brings back some toe-tapping boogies plus slinky songs from the classic 1930s blues divas, throwing in some 1960s soul ballads and her own 21st century originals including train-riding songs “Travelin’ On” and “Green Line Blues.”

Bonni plays as an acoustic solo or piano-saxophone duo for parties, clubs, restaurants, senior homes and small festival stages. Featured in West Virginia’s Arts in Education directory 2005-06, she has taught blues classes and workshops for all ages, from preteens on Chicago’s West Side to adult continuing education students at Shenandoah University in Winchester Va.

She plays an acoustic piano whenever possible, but adapts to modern surroundings with her 88-key electric piano and sound system. “The old uprights have a great percussive sound,” she says. “Having 88 keys, you can be a whole band!”

Bonni learned to barrelhouse from the Uppity Blues Women of Saffire—Ann Rabson, Andra Faye Hinkle, and Gaye Adegbalola--at Augusta Heritage Center Blues Week in Elkins, in her home state of West Virginia. She played many venues in the Shenandoah Valley, including the Handley Library in Winchester, VA.

Bonni got the blues first hand by spending time on Chicago’s rough West Side, home to the nation’s best blues and soul musicians. In 2004, she and singer/drummer Larry Taylor, stepson of early Chicago guitarist Eddie Taylor, co-produced the Larry Taylor Blues and Soul Band’s first vocal CD, They Were in This House, featuring top-notch West Side musicians. The Chicago Sun-Times called it “one of the year’s best blues albums.” She and Larry appeared in January 2004 on Joe Dobbs’ “Music from the Mountains” WV Public Radio show and performed in the 2005 Fund for the Arts Blues Brews and BBQ Festival in Charleston WV. .

Besides playing keyboards and managing Larry Taylor’s band, she also shared the stage with traditional Chicago blues men and women: vocalist Shirley Johnson; all-around sax veteran Jimmy Ellis, Howlin’Wolf’s sax players Abb Locke and Willie Young; Larry Taylor’s brother, guitarist Eddie Taylor Jr; guitarist-playwright Fernando Jones, and harp aces Little Arthur Duncan and Harmonica Hinds. Bonni has helped West Side musicians gain national exposure by interviewing them for Big City Rhythm and Blues magazine.

Returning to West Virginia in January 2006, Bonni made her home in Charleston, the state capital, where she is often found playing in downtown venues like Taylor Books, Vandalia Lounge, Café de Paris, and Empty Glass. She has played for the Charleston Woman’s Club, the Women’s Health Center 30th anniversary, Macy’s grand opening, and Team for West Virginia’s Children 20th anniversary at the Governor’s mansion. She helped found the Charleston WV Blues Society and often does shows with local musicians such as blues and r&b singer-songwriter Lady D (Doris Fields) and saxophonist Dugan Carter, a veteran of the 1980s Coasters and Drifters.

“In blues, sometimes the words in our songs deal with serious trouble,” she says of her songwriting, “ but the music always makes you feel good.” On her 2003 CD, Barbershop Blues, you can hear seven of her original tunes. Adding a backroom flavor on several traditional songs are her guests, three acoustic bluesmen from the Archie Edwards Heritage Foundation barbershop in D.C.: Jay Summerour (Warner Williams’ harp man in Little Bit O’ Blues), guitar/bonesman Mike Baytop and Delta guitarist N.J. Warren.

“African-Americans created the blues to help them survive,” says Bonni. “We need to give them the credit for this wonderful art form. All folks can enjoy the blues, appreciate one another, help each other, and survive.”