If there is anyone to whom blues' fans in the Champaign-Urbana area owe a debt of gratitude it is Chris Knight, owner of The Blind Pig Company, at 6 Taylor Street in Champaign.
Not since the 70s when blues greats like Sunnyland Slim, J.B. Hutto, Hound Dog Taylor, and even the great Muddy Waters played the clubs around campustown has this area seen such top-quality blues artists. Smokey Smothers was Knight's first blues act a month after opening his club. Since then, the list of performers reads like a veritable who's who in the blues world: Jimmy Rogers, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Junior Wells, James Cotton--hell, these people are legends! And these are only a few of the names that have graced the Pig's stage over the years!
"We were lucky when we started to get some good leads right away in the blues," Knight said. Lazy Lester was his second blues show, and then he brought in blues bands that weren't so well-known. After a while he was able to book bands through Chicago agents. Now he tries to have a blues band once a week or at least every two weeks.
"Blues is the main category of music that brings in the money;
we rely on that more than any other type of music," Knight said. I
think it's fair to say now that we're probably a blues club, although our
music programming is as diverse as we can get."
Knight doesn't neglect local bands either, booking them for the Monday night blues jams or an occasional Friday or Saturday night. But the national acts are his main focus. He tries to bring in a variety of blues artists, mixing crowd favorites like Lil' Ed and the Imperial Blue Flames and Lonnie Brooks, with other bands that haven't played here before - Smokin' Joe Kubek, Debbie Davies, or even gospel like the Blind Boys of Alabama.
But booking new acts can be risky. Chris shies away from newer acts on the scene and books well-known names, and national touring acts that he knows will put on a first class show.
Even with all the acts he has brought in, Knight has a wish list of performers he' would like to feature. Coco Montoya, Rod Piazza, Etta James, Otis Rush, and Koko Taylor are on that list. He says James and Rush are too expensive, while Taylor and Piazza have almost been booked in the past, but conflicting dates killed the deals. He does remain optimistic that he will get them sometime.
Knight, who is from England, came here in 1984 to work at the University of Illinois. Besides owning and managing the Pig, Knight is an adjunct professor at the U of I. He jokes "To those in the know, that means 'not a real professor.'" Chris did turn down a job as an assistant professor in organic chemistry at the University of San Juan in Puerto Rico to remain here and open the club, which he had always wanted to do.
In 1992 Chris bought the building next door, tore down the dividing wall, and doubled the club's size, thereby enabling him to bring in higher caliber acts. Despite some occasional problems and headaches, Knight loves running the club and has dreams of opening music clubs in other cities if the opportunity arises. He has even harbored thoughts of promoting a big blues show at a venue other than the Pig (like the Virginia Theater), but he thinks that might be too risky right now.
Now, about that name. Have you ever told someone that you were going to The Blind Pig, and they responded by asking, "What the hell is a blind pig?" Knight explains that "Blind Pig" was slang for a speak-easy during Prohibition. The name comes from his native England - "blind" is slang for being drunk, and "pig" is a ceramic mug for beer.