Marion County student Jesse Black finding his way in the world of blues and rock

For four days at the end of January, Jesse Black strolled up and down the streets of Memphis around Beale Street, hauling his guitar from club to club, jamming with whoever was playing, meeting new people and generally soaking up all the music he could.

Black, who turned 18 on Saturday, hung out with players from all over the world, never meeting a stranger, though some were old friends from South Carolina, Georgia and Ohio. Wherever he could find a club with an open-call sheet, he signed up to play and jumped on stage whenever he was allowed, playing into the wee hours of the morning.

Sometimes he hung out with his parents, but mostly he stuck close to friends old and new. Black didn’t mind being with his parents but well, you know.

“You know how it is with teenagers and parents,” he says.

A senior at Marion County High School, he was in Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge and, while he could have entered in the Youth Division, he was there to compete in the Solo/Duo adult division by virtue of winning the Blues Challenge put on by the Kentucky Blues Society weeks earlier.