Oklahoma blues musician, educator, and cultural champion Selby Minner passed away on Monday, June 9, 2025, at her beloved home and music venue the Down Home Blues Club in Rentiesville, Oklahoma. She was 75.
Born Friday, Nov. 18, 1949, in Providence, Rhode Island, Selby began her journey as an aspiring visual artist, studying at the Rhode Island School of design.
Then one night some friends took her to a Janis Joplin concert in the school dining hall. That night her path shifted to music, a passion that would define the rest of her life.
She picked up an acoustic guitar and left Providence in 1971, with guitarist Jim Donovan. Together they formed the acoustic Blues group Home Cookin’, hitchhiking across the United States, touring the coffeehouses of Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, before joining the vibrant San Francisco Blues scene.
Her life and legacy deepened in 1969, when she met Oklahoma bluesman D.C. Minner, a Rentiesville native who had played bass with Larry Johnson and the New Breed and behind musical legends including Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and O.V. Wright.
By 1976, Selby and D.C. began performing together, and Selby switched over to playing bass.
In 1979, they were married in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
As Blues on the Move, they toured the country for more than a decade, sharing the spirit of the Blues.
In 1988, they returned to D.C.’s hometown of Rentiesville and transformed his grandmother Laura’s former speakeasy, the Cozy Corner, into the Down Home Blues Club. In 1991, they co-founded
Nov. 18, 1949 – June 9, 2025
the Dusk ‘til Dawn Blues Festival. Over the years the 3-day Labor Day weekend celebration has brought artists and audiences together from all over the world.
Held in one of Oklahoma’s remaining historically Black townships, the festival has become a cornerstone of American Blues culture.
In 1999, together with D.C., Selby received the “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award in Education from the International Blues Foundation.
She was inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in 2006.
In 2014, she received the Music Legend Award, from Bare Bones International Film, Arts and Music Festival.
In 2024, she received the Community Service Award from Kevin Stitt during the Governor’s Arts Awards, honoring her decades of leadership and volunteerism in Oklahoma’s cultural communities.
Recently she received notification that she was awarded $50,000 from the Oklahoma Historical Society Oklahoma Civil Rights Trail Grant Program. Selby was featured in Living Blues Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
She performed with artists including Little Johnny Taylor, Albert Collins, Hubert Sumlin, James Peterson and many others.
She was a lifetime student and servant of the Blues whose work resonated across generations and continents.
In her final weeks, she remained deeply engaged in planning the 35th Annual Dusk ‘til Dawn Blues Festival, tentatively set for August 29–31.
Selby’s impact reached far beyond the stage.
Among her proudest accomplishments was teaching youth to love and play the Blues. Whether introducing children to the electric guitar or mentoring aspiring musicians in the classroom, Selby believed in the power of music to uplift, heal, and connect.
Her students loved her, and she loved them back just as fiercely. She was more than a musician. Selby Minner was a matriarch of the Blues, and a radiant light in every room she entered.
Her music was raw and real. Her presence was unforgettable. And her love for community and culture will echo through generations to come. Selby was preceded in death by her parents, Louis J. and Dortha (Selby) Guenther and stepfather, William Mershon, her husband, D.C. in 2008; sons, Tony L. Minner and Relfus “Bobo” J. Haynes, III; and daughter-in-law, Linda Colbert.
Left behind to cherish her memory are her siblings, Jena Guenther and husband Rev. Robert Stuhlmann of Burlington, Vermont; Louis Guenther, of Muskogee, Oklahoma; Hilary Conley and husband Ronald, of East Providence, Rhode Island; daughter, Sheila Huntington of Norman, Oklahoma; daughters-in-law, Dalcia Ortiz Minner and Angela Craig Minner Kastel and Susan Chandler Harrison.
Also, grandchildren, Clifford Johnson (Melissa), Erica Franklin (Bennie), Micaela Minner (Darcy Thompson), Danielle Minner, Brandon Minner (Lana), Jonathan Minner, Benjamin Kastel (Samantha), Tony L. Minner, Jr., Christopher Minner, Jason Chandler (Kristi).
And, great grandchildren, Deyton Jackson, Darius Burnett, Destree Burnett, Clifford Johnson II, Jamiah Johnson, Rayven Johnson, Daisha, D’Kayla, D’Keja, Dahlera, Raleigha Minner; Calyx Kastel, Violet Kastel, Ariah, Aliya, Aiyana, Mitchell and Nash Chandler.
Selby is also survived by a wide and loving circle of friends, collaborators, mentees, and admirers around the world. Services celebrating Selby’s life were held Saturday, June 28, 2025, at the Checotah Public Schools Performing Arts Center.
A private family burial followed at Honey Springs Cemetery.
You may share online condolences with Selby’s family at www.garrettfamilyfuneralhome. com The family of Selby Minner entrusted her care, services and burial to John & Kim Garrett and the dedicated staff of Garrett Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services 311 SW 2nd St. Checotah, OK 74426.
