ABOUT Bonni
City-Country Bridge
Whether reinforcing the wild wonderfulness of her home state of West Virginia or helping re-invigorate the underappreciated West Side of Chicago, “Barrelhouse Bonni” McKeown uses her talents of writing, music and organizing to bring people together to enjoy life through local arts, history and business. Besides her newspaper and book writings, she is known as a founder of the Charleston WV Blues Society, 2006 https://chaswvblues.org/ and the Chicago nonprofit FOUR Blues in 2024
She has also been a leader in citizens’ transportation movements to save the Amtrak Cardinal train and to stop the unneeded, destructive four-lane Corridor H highway from bulldozing the forests and farms of West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands.
Like many American artists today, Bonni freelances as a jill-of-all-trades. She edits manuscripts, leads singalongs and blues history classes, and helps folks organize household files and archives.
Nonprofit FOUR Blues helps regrow music in the community
Reconnect generations
Barrelhouse Bonni and the new nonprofit, FOUR Blues Inc. NFP, are striving to re-grow more better blues to benefit disinvested neighborhoods where the music once thrived. Blues can help reconnect generations, give people outlets for their feelings, create a sense of history and community, and attract tourists and locals for economic development. See Austin (West Side) Weekly News story HERE and The Culture newspaper podcast HERE Learn more and donate https://fourbluesmusic.org
Need Bonni to Edit Your Writing?
Over 40 years experience a journalist, copyeditor and fiction writer--Bonni knows a thing about words, and can help you use them to tell your best story. Email her for info. Developmental and line/copy editing for short stories, novels, memoirs, and pieces to promote your business.( No porn or graphic violence; too much of that around already.) Rates are roughly $25-35/hour, total job quoted before we start. Read here to learn What's an Editor Do?
Professional Sites
“Bonni plays her pure heart...honestly.” - Gaye Adegbalola, blues singer songwriter