DC Minner started singing in church in Rentiesville. At 16 he sang in a vocal group called the Flying Clouds. On returning from service, he picked up the bass. The Black jazz bands in Oklahoma were known as territorial bands because they traveled out of Indian Territory to a six-state area.
As jazz died out, this tradition evolved into the R&B and Blues bands which became known as road bands. D.C. came through this tradition and worked with Larry Johnson's band, The New Breed (Larry is D.C.'s favorite guitarist). This was the top road band out of Oklahoma City throughout the 1960s, and it was at this time that D.C. played bass behind O.V. Wright, Bo Didley, Chuck Berry, and Freddy King (he was Freddy's bandleader for two years and counts him a great influence and friend). The various stars would come to town, the band would back them up, and then the star would hire them to finish the tour of one-night stands - be it for two weeks or two months - hence the term "pick-up" band.

    Later D.C. grouped with Checotah homeboy Tony Matthews (who worked with Ray Charles for 20 years) in Hollywood. Together they studied music and Eastern philosophy.
D.C. retired from music after 18 years as a bass player and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Studying Yogananda, D.C. undertook a verbal fast for 7 months. After this, he moved north to the Redwoods to isolate himself and picked up the guitar. Having played with some of the best in business, he was confident he could teach himself, with time and concentration. He wrote 26 songs and moved back to Berkeley to try them out in the club scene.

    Selby was working in the Bay Area also, as a solo act with an accoustic guitar, and the two were in competition for two years. She was born in Rhode Island and fell in love with Blues at an early age. There was not much Blues in New England then, but there was Motown on the radio, early Rolling Stones albums, James Cotton and Bessie Smith albums.
At art school (the Rhode Island School of Design) there were live concerts with the Chambers Brothers and Roomful of Blues. Finally, it was the gour-hour Janis Joplin concert in the dining hall that made her realize she had to sing - and sing Blues! She worked with Jim Donovan as vocalist for four years and moved west to Berkeley. She took up bass. Finally, with encouragement from friends, Selby and D.C. got together in 1976, formed Blues on the Move, and left town shortly thereafter.

    Blues on the Move toured almost non-stop for 12 years. They established their own circuit from Seattle to Oklahoma, spending most of their time in the Southwest and California. There were also tours to the Northeast. In 1988 they came off the road to open the Down Home Blues Club in the building D.C.'s grandmother built as her Cozy Corner Bar, on the land where he was born and raised in Rentiesville.

    The group has struggled with not being commercially marketable, since they are a racially mixed couple. Not being ones to wait around too long for good fortune to strike, they have carved their own niche in the Blues world.
From booking tours themselves and opening their own night club, they went on to establish Oklahoma's premier Blues roots fest, the Dusk 'til Dawn Blues Festival. Held every Labor Day weekend in Rentiesville, it features three or four world-class Blues acts and showcases the Oklahoma Blues tradition with over 30 bands! The Texas Road Recording label is their latest venture. They are on the Oklahoma State Arts Council, both as touring artists and artists in residence.
The pair opens the club through the summer months and does Blues in the schools, tours and recording in the winter. In February and March of 1994, the band toured Europe, including Belgium, Holland and England.
Check out this Blues master and his bass player - funky, ingratiating vocals - great guitar work - a Blues Sound of their own! For more information contact DC Minner, Selby & Blues on the Move at Rt. 1, Box 311, Checotah, OK 74426, USA, phone: (918)473-2411