A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Here's a pop music pop quiz. What do these musicians have in common?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL")
BB KING: (Singing) Let the good times roll.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GIVE ME ONE REASON")
TRACY CHAPMAN: (Singing) Give me one reason to stay here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAPE OF YOU")
ED SHEERAN: (Singing) I'm in love with your body.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOOLISH GAMES")
JEWEL: (Singing) These foolish games are...
MARTÍNEZ: B.B. King, Tracy Chapman, Ed Sheeran and Jewel all began their careers as street musicians, busking for spare change. A new book explores a hundred years of busking history through interviews with musicians, both famous and obscure. It's called "Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music," and it's written by veteran music writer Cary Baker.
CARY BAKER: I grew up in the Chicago area in the suburbs. In 1972, my father told me he wanted to take me to Maxwell Street, which I'd heard of but didn't know much about. Turns out it's a flea market south and east of the Chicago Loop. And we barely parked the car when I started to hear a slide guitar. And I said, Dad, we got to check this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARVELLA GRAY SONG, "JOHN HENRY")
BAKER: It was this guy - I read about him - his name is Arvella Gray. And I was just hooked in that moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOHN HENRY")
ARVELLA GRAY: (Singing) Well, the foreman said to John Henry. He said, what can you do? Line a track, and I can carry a jack. I can pick and shovel, too. Lord, lord.
MARTÍNEZ: What attracted you to this scene? What was it about it that kind of like a siren song drew you in?
BAKER: There's something about the street that's spontaneous. You kind of don't know what's going to happen. There can be honks of horns. There can be sirens. I just found it fascinating. And everywhere I went, there seemed to be street singers. Certainly, Nashville, Beale Street in Memphis, Clarksdale, Mississippi, the birthplace of the blues, Los Angeles, where I came across Harry Perry, who was a man with a turban and roller skates playing electric guitar. And I felt right at home.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HARRY PERRY: (Singing) Time travel freaks dance out of control. Work the beat into a new era.
MARTÍNEZ: How did busking start? Is there a history to it where people one day decided to start singing on the street corner?
BAKER: Busking goes way back - back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome. That goes through Shakespeare in the park. And for that matter, Benjamin Franklin, an orator, inventor, early politician, founding father and, as it turns out, occasional singer.
MARTÍNEZ: Let's talk about some of the lesser-known musical gems you discovered. So tell us about George Coleman.
BAKER: Well, I have a lot of singer-songwriter-guitarists in my book, but George Coleman was clearly the only oil drum player. And I don't mean calypso steel drums. I mean an oil drum. And he would set up on the River Walk of San Antonio and became a fixture, almost a tourist attraction in San Antonio.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WISH I COULD SING")
BONGO JOE: (Singing) I'd go out and make a record, and it'd be the best of everything. I'd make a record, boy. The best of everything.
BAKER: He was eventually discovered by Arhoolie Records, a respected blues, folk and Norteno label that signed him and put him on the map. He went under the name Bongo Joe.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, another gem is Tuba Skinny. Tell us about Tuba Skinny.
(SOUNDBITE OF TUBA SKINNY SONG, "I'M GOING BACK HOME")
BAKER: Tuba Skinny was almost too busy for me to interview. They are a neo-Dixieland band, and they certainly learned from generations of great Dixie land bands that played the streets of New Orleans. They love to busk, and they try to do it whenever they can - whenever they're off tour.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GOING BACK HOME")
TUBA SKINNY: (Singing) When I was at home I was rested and at ease. Now you got me here, you try to mistreat me. I'm going back home. I'm going back home. I'm going back home where I know I get better care.
BAKER: Once upon a time, it was all about throwing quarters into a guitar case, and it's still that, although hopefully, people throw some dollar bills in as well. But nowadays, buskers have told me that the technology has changed. They have a QR code. They have PayPal and Venmo, and maybe people are leaving 5, 10 or $20 instead of 25 cents or a dollar.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you mentioned how you've been to many, many places in the United States to see this and hear this in action. Is there anything that you've noticed that is a common thread between all of these people?
BAKER: For me, I think that it certainly has improved all of their venue performances. One of my favorite stories, Fantastic Negrito, a three-time Grammy winner, was signed to Interscope Records. Everybody who signs to Interscope becomes a star, right? Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg. But somehow, Xavier, which is what Fantastic Negrito went by at the time, Xavier did not become a star. So he went back home to Oakland, California, opened a pot farm and also began to busk under the name Fantastic Negrito and found a whole new sound. No more rapping, maybe a little more blues, folk and rock. So busking helps artists find themselves.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I HOPE SOMEBODY'S LOVING YOU")
FANTASTIC NEGRITO: (Singing) I hope somebody's loving you in the deepest ways. I hope somebody's loving you every night and day.
MARTÍNEZ: One of my favorite things, Cary, to watch on social media is when a busker is covering a song. And then the artist whose song it happens to be is walking or driving by and then winds up joining them. There's a viral video on YouTube - it has over 18 million views. A busker is on the corner of Hollywood and Highland, right in the heart of Hollywood. And he's singing this song called "I Got A Feeling." It's by the Black Eyed Peas.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEVI MITCHELL: (Singing) That tonight's going to be a good night, that tonight's going to be a good, good night.
MARTÍNEZ: Right behind him, the singer Will.i.am pulls up in a very fancy car, gets out in the middle of traffic. And then, after a couple of minutes, he grabs the microphone and joins on in.
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MITCHELL: (Singing) Where is the love?
WILL I AM: (Singing) What's wrong with the world, Mama? People living like they ain't got no mamas. I think the whole world's addicted to the drama, only attracted to things that bring the trauma. Overseas, yeah, we're trying to stop terrorism...
BAKER: Oh, that's a great story. There's several busking sites on Facebook. And in general, videos and social media have conspired to give busking a bit of a boost.
MARTÍNEZ: So the next time, Cary, someone is walking to work or walking to go get dinner, and they see someone busking on a corner, what do you hope they have in mind?
BAKER: Well, I, for one, will always stop and listen to a busker. I don't care if it makes me late for what I'm going to do. I love to watch buskers. Even when they're playing covers, even when they can't carry a tune, I stop, I listen and I support buskers. And I continue to be a fan.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Cary Baker. His new book is called "Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music." Cary, thanks.
BAKER: It was a pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOHN HENRY")
ARVELLA GRAY: (Singing) Well, the foreman said to John Henry. He said, what can you do? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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