This past Friday afternoon, the Follansbee Room of the Eufaula Memorial Library filled not just with guests and folding chairs—but with memory, reverence, and the soul of the blues.

What was originally planned as a musical lecture by the legendary Oklahoma blueswoman Selby Minner became, through fate and fidelity, a powerful tribute, healing ceremony and historical celebration.

The program, titled “History of the Blues,” was presented by writer, playwright, and screenwriter Lenore Bechtel as part of the Friends of the Library meeting. Bechtel, who lives just across the street and serves as vice president of the group, stepped into the role left by Selby’s tragic absence, and is determined to carry the torch of her friend’s life work.

Selby Minner, a teacher, performer, festival founder, and beloved Oklahoma icon, was scheduled months prior to present this very special program. However, on June 9, her life was tragically cut short in a brutal act of violence that rocked the state’s music community and beyond. Her death ended a physical voice, but the music, the memory and the mission endured.

A legacy born in sorrow, carried in song

As Bechtel opened the presentation, she grounded the audience in the deeper context: the blues was not born on stage or in recording studios—it was born in cotton fields, shacks, slave quarters and back-breaking labor.

“It started as hollers,” she said, “as calls across fields, prayers hidden in melody, truth buried in rhythm.” It was a way to survive, to signal and to speak in a world designed to silence.

Through a curated series of audio clips, historical notes and lyric visuals, Bechtel guided the audience decade by decade through the development of blues music. She highlighted artists whose pain gave birth to poetry: Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Etta James, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Keb’ Mo’. Each legend was introduced with a brief story and a signature sound, the echoes from the deep well of American truth.

Projected images included D.C. and Selby Minner performing in the 1990s as “Blues on the Move.” Footage of Selby performing at her Down Home Blues Club in Rentiesville evoked emotional murmurs throughout the room. Her passion was visible, her energy still radiant.

“Selby didn’t just play the blues,” Bechtel said, pausing, “She lived it. She protected it. She gave it a home here in Oklahoma.”

The Spirit of Rentiesville Lives On

That home—the Down Home Blues Club—was the heart of the Minner legacy. It hosted decades of jam sessions, late-night lessons and the internationally recognized Dusk ’Til Dawn Blues Festival, now in its 35th year. Thanks to the Friends of Rentiesville, the festival lives on, stronger than ever, as a place of pilgrimage for blues musicians and fans alike.

But what happened next in the library that afternoon reminded everyone that the blues isn’t only preserved—it is alive.

Two members of the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame were in attendance: Craig “Cat Daddy” Morgan, and Tony Matthews of Checotah. Morgan had been quietly asked to bring his guitar—just in case.

As the final slide in Bechtel’s presentation faded, the moment felt right. Morgan unpacked his instrument and approached the front. With quiet confidence, he tuned and played an original blues number. His performance drew the audience into the music—feet tapped, shoulders rocked gently, a subtle wave of movement rippled through the room.

And then—magic. Tony Matthews, a young man born in Checotah who spent decades in Los Angeles as a studio musician and touring guitarist with the legendary Ray Charles, was seated in the front row. Matthews and Morgan locked eyes. No words were exchanged.

Morgan shifted into “Stormy Monday.” Matthews stood.

A voice from the heart of the Blues

Matthews’ voice was smooth and real, like a back porch guitar on a summer night or the low hum of a riverboat engine heading home. It had the kind of soul that made folks stop what they were doing and listen.

Each word came out like it had been slow cooked over a lifetime of stories, rich, seasoned, and heartfelt. When Matthews sang, it felt like church and a juke joint all rolled into one, a sound that could mend something inside of you.

Matthews didn’t sing to the crowd. He sang through them, past them into the walls and ceiling and history.

The audience remained seated, rapt. No applause interrupted. No phones were raised. Just a quiet river of connection flowed through the room. It was as though time stopped.

What emerged between Morgan and Matthews was not performance—it was communion. Two musicians, sharing a moment that was both spontaneous and spiritual. One didn’t need to explain the blues. They were the blues.

And behind them, above them, and around them, one could feel her – Selby Minner.

A legacy that refuses to fade

The Friends of the Library’s August 15 program did more than honor a genre. It brought the blues home.

It reminded all present that the blues are not simply about notes or scales. It’s about what happens when the world pushes in and a human being pushes back—with music. It is the moan of injustice, the cry of the betrayed, the murmur of broken hearts. It hurts turned harmonic.

The afternoon program was planned by Selby, completed by Lenore, and lifted by Cat Daddy and Tony. It became a living continuation of the tradition Selby devoted her life to protecting. It was also a call: that every voice matters, and every pain can become poetry if given the space, the silence and the song.

No one in that room will forget what they saw or heard.

And maybe that’s the greatest truth about the blues. It may come from pain, but it leaves something behind, something deeply human.

Selby Minner’s story ended too soon, tragically and heartbreakingly. But in that way, it echoed the lives of many blues legends whose music grew out of pain, injustice and personal loss. From Robert Johnson to Bessie Smith, from Johnny Ace to Etta James, the blues has long been both a voice for the broken and a mirror of their struggle.

Selby’s death, like theirs, carries a weight that words can hardly hold. Yet through the sorrow, there remains something that refuses to fade -Hope. Hope that the music will carry on. That her voice will still echo in the walls of Rentiesville. That every chord struck in her memory brings healing.

Her song may have ended, but her spirit continues in the club she built, the festival she founded, and the hearts of those she touched.