Cary Baker, "Down On The Corner: Adventures in Busking & Street Music" (Jawbone Press, 2025)

Sep 5, 2025

Cary Baker, a veteran journalist and music publicist, delves into the world of street music in his latest book, exploring its rich history from the 1920s to today. He shares captivating anecdotes from his journey through Chicago's vibrant blues scene and discusses the cultural legacy of iconic locations like Maxwell Street. Baker highlights the resilience of street performers, the impact of legal battles on busking, and how technology is reshaping the art of street performances, blending activism with music in a uniquely compelling narrative.

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ANECDOTE

Maxwell Street Discovery

Cary Baker describes discovering Maxwell Street's blues scene as a teen after hearing slide guitar and following the music.
That moment led him to interview and document street singers and start his writing career.

INSIGHT

Busking's Deep Cultural Roots

Busking has ancient roots and served as news dissemination and public soundtrack before mass media.
Urban migration and cultural change shaped modern busking traditions, especially with Black southern migrants.

ANECDOTE

Recording A Street Singer

At 17 Cary Baker organized studio time and drove Blind Arvella Gray to record an album after finding him on Maxwell Street.
He acted as driver and informal producer to capture Gray's street repertoire for posterity.

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This is the story of music performed on the streets, in subways, in parks, in schoolyards, on the back of flatbed trucks, and beyond, from the 1920s to the present day.

Drawing on years of interviews and eyewitness accounts, Down On The Corner (Jawbone Press, 2025) introduces readers to a wide range of locations and a myriad of musical genres, from folk to rock'n'roll, the blues to bluegrass, doo-wop to indie rock. Some of the performers he features--Lucinda Williams, Billy Bragg, The Violent Femmes--went on to become international stars; others settled into the curbs, sidewalks, and Tube stations as their workplace for the duration of their careers. Anyone who has lived in or travelled through a city will have encountered street musicians of one kind or another. For the first time, veteran journalist and music-industry publicist Cary Baker tells the complete history of these musicians and the music they play, from tin cups and toonies to QR codes and PayPal.

Born on Chicago's South Side, Cary Baker began his writing career at sixteen with an on-spec feature about Chicago street singer Blind Arvella Gray for the Chicago Reader. His return to writing follows a forty-two-year hiatus during which time he directed publicity for six record labels (including Capitol and IRS) and two of his own companies, working with acclaimed artists such as R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, The Smithereens, James McMurtry, The Mavericks, Bobby Rush, Willie Nile, and more. Prior to his PR years, Baker wrote for the Chicago Reader, Creem, Trouser Press, Bomp!, Goldmine, Billboard, Mix, Illinois Entertainer, and Record magazine. He has also written liner notes for historical reissues from Universal, Capitol/EMI, Numero Group, and Omnivore. He has been a voting member of the Recording Academy since 1979. He lives in Southern California.

Cary Baker’s website.

Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and Frank Zappa's America (LSU Press, 2025). He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM and is the director of its music film festival. His forthcoming book is U2: Until the End of the World (Gemini Books, October 2025).

Bradley Morgan on Facebook and Bluesky.

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