Swanton's legendary venue, Griffin's Hines Farm Blues Club, is back

Listen Up Toledo  |  06/17/2014

“When I listen to the blues now, to a lot of the songs that I knew my dad loved, it’s a whole different feeling. And I’ll sit here all day long and listen…and work and work and work, because it’s all I got left of him,” Steve Coleman tells me, as a tear rolls down his cheek, while we sit at the bar of the Griffin’s Hines Farm Blues Club. His father, Henry Griffin, bought the property in 1978, two years after the original owners ? the ailing Frank and Sarah Hines ?closed it down in 1976, bringing an end to more than a three decade run. Griffin poured himself into the upkeep of the place and continued its tradition of booking some of the most renowned blues acts in the country. But, the Farm fell into trouble once again after Griffin died in January of 2013, mainly, it seems, because it was held up in Probate Court because of disagreements within the family until October of 2013, which is when Coleman, who is hellbent on continuing the legacy, was able to start renovating it. And he says it wasn’t a pretty scene: “A friend of mine put in the alarm system. When he got here, he said, ‘Oh. My. God. This place is a disaster.’ I told him that by June this place would be running. He said there was no way. I said, ‘You want to bet? Just watch. You’ll see it happen.” 

Sure enough, there we were, sitting in the room that B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Count Basie all played in, on the last Saturday in April ? only six months after they opened the doors to a busted-up ceiling, 622 linear feet of plumbing that all had to be replaced and an array of electrical issues ? and the place looked exactly like the pictures from the early-1960s. With the exception of the HD flat screen TVs mounted on the walls, of course. This came at no small price, physically or monetarily, as Coleman, a stocky, articulate 36 year old, who seems to be incapable of sitting still, has been working 16-20 hour days, not to mention the $146,000 that has been invested in it’s reopening. 

But, on that day, he had some help. As we sat talking inside, more than 50 people were scattered throughout the Farm’s grounds, raking leaves, carrying bricks, painting and doing whatever else needed to be done, marking the first community cleanup day since Coleman took over. Delta blues blasted over the speakers and their seemed to be a ubiquitous sense of optimism floating through the air. Not a bad turnaround for a place that was recently and quickly sliding into disrepair directly before one of the worst winters in the last 30 years, but a personal connection can obviously drive a person to almost insane levels of dedication. 

“For me, this has always just been the farm…my dad’s place. And then, after he passed, I see all of this outpour from the community,” Coleman says. “I knew a lot of the history of this place, but I started to do more research. They were artists that played here that were’t even named, that weren’t released to the public. Stuff like that. I didn’t realize the real history.”

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Frank and Sarah Hines officially opened the Hines Farm Blues Club ? as it stands now ?in 1957, but its history is much deeper than that. They moved to rural Swanton in 1937, married in ’38, and shortly after started holding suppers and parties where blues records were played, then, as those became more popular, the couple started hosting traveling musicians. In 1950, they built a juke joint ? an outdoor, barn-like venue that was the site of entertainment in the warmer months ?in the woods, which, amazingly, still stands today. The property is more than 30 acres, including the land that Frank and Sarah farmed. Like most of the African-American community that lived in rural Swanton at the time, Frank and Sarah migrated from the South, at about the same time that country-blues ? which originated in the Mississippi Delta and Piedmont regions ? started to creep up the United States, landing in Chicago, Detroit and other cites, and eventually sparking the electric blues. 

“While the Mississippi Delta and Chicago get most of the attention in relation to blues music, it is awesome that here in Northwest Ohio we have something special and unique as well that neither of those two areas have,” says Matt Donahue, a Bowling Green State University professor and author of I’ll Take You There: An Oral and Photographic History of the Hines Farm Blues Club.  “In many ways, the Hines Farm Blues Club was a combination of both…the country vibe of the Mississippi Delta and the city vibe of Chicago.”

When the electric blues were in the peak of their popularity in the late 50s and early 60s, the Hines Farm Blues Club was in it’s prime. And as rock n roll was creating a music money machine that the world had never seen before, the old Gods ? the blues musicians that the Jimmy Pages of the world looked up to ? were still playing venues the size of the Hines Farm Blues Club. John Lee Hooker used to stay in the extra bedroom above the club for weeks at a time during the summer months. B.B. King, who has spent decades playing venues all over the world, still fondly remembered Hines farm years and years after the last time he played there. And local legends like Art and Roman Griswald, Big Jack Reynolds and Blind Bobby Smith were the glue that held everything together. Musically speaking, at least. 

“From the blues players who played out there, to Frank and Sarah Hines ?the original owners ? to the late owner Henry Griffin, to myself writing my book and working on the documentary, it really comes down to having a passion for what you do and seeing things through; not for the money, but for the fun of it,” says Donahue. 

In some ways, passion can only go so far though, and like most music scenes that don’t make much money, the odds were stacked against the one in Swanton. By the end of the 1960s and into the early years of the 70s, there were several factors that started to suffocate the Hines Farm Blues Club. Airport Highway broke up Route 295, making it harder to get to the farm. “Urban revitalization” ran some of the clubs on Dorr Street out of business, weakening Toledo’s clout within the blues community. The auto industry suffered, which affected the economy and the population. But, all things considered, the most powerful strike was the increasing popularity of rock n roll, a genre with a foundation built on the scales, chords and lifeblood of the blues. 

But, the Hines Farm Blues Club lived on. It never again reached the level of popularity as it did during it’s peak, but it stayed alive. Those glory days were a special time as much as a special place. And that period can never be replicated, but it can be preserved. Which is exactly what Henry Griffin was trying to accomplish when he bought the Farm in 1978.

“Frank Hines wanted to sell me the place,” Henry Griffin is quoted as saying in I’ll Take You There. “His son didn’t want to take it over. Hines just got tired of it, it was too much work. Hines offered it to me, because everybody who got ahold of the place ran it down. He boarded the whole place up; the pipes froze up and busted. The inner ceiling went, the roof went and just poured water. Everything just went to hell.  I started refurbishing in 1978. I just had to take the place over because I had some of the best times of my life here. I never made any money off the events, in some cases I have taken a beating. But I do it; I set up these events because I just want to see a smile on people’s faces.” 

Like father, like son. 

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“You’ve got to use your imagination, but that’s going to be Henry Griffin Field, with a baseball field over there and dodgeball over there and a volleyball court right there,” Steve Coleman tells me, as he points to a large, open grassy area that rests away from the road, behind the Blues Club. 

It’s June 13, only a week and a day away from the club’s first big show since Coleman has revamped the place, as Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang are set to play on June 21. A blues jam, which he held at the end of May to test the waters, attracted 576 people, a record for an indoor show. Shaw will play at the outdoor stage and Coleman’s expecting ? or hoping for? somewhere around 1,000 in attendance.

But, today he’s not really concerned or nervous about the upcoming concert. Something that stuck with me during our first conversation was him saying that after his father died he starting digging into The Farm’s past, learning the “real history” of the place. 

What he discovered had nothing to do with music. It was something else, entirely different and kind of unexpected: the assortment of family-friendly activities that the Farm once provided. While he says “people normally recognize it for blues, booze and racing,” Frank and Sara Hines once held baseball games, skating, mini bike races and an various other things that kids could participate in or enjoy. 

“That was one of the things that was important then, that we are trying to carry on now,” Coleman says.

His goal is to provide a place where parents can bring their kids to play sports and socialize. Nothing is set in stone, but he anticipates that it will be a $1 per person, per day to come out to the Farm’s recreation area. 

Shorty after, we walked over to the juke joint, which looks incredible for a small wooden open-air venue that was built in 1950. And although it’s been repainted and repaired, the juke joint somehow only requires minimal upkeep. There’s a rugged and rustic aspect of it, which radiates its historical significance, but despite terrible winters, the thing still stands with the sort of pride that only a competent owner can maintain. Standing inside Coleman said something about the juke joint that could easily apply to the entire Farm, something that really does make the place feel like a trip back in time:

“A lot of it is as original as it was in the beginning.”

For the music schedule, to buy tickets or for more information, visit http://www.griffinhinesfarm.com.