PHOTOS OF BIG TIME SARAH BY KURT SWANSON AND SOULFUL IMPRESSIONS
E-MAIL: kurtswanson@juno.com

Big Time Sarah Streeter is an energetic and charismatic vocalist and entertainer. She moved to Chicago from Coldwater, MS, as a child. She initially sang in South Side gospel choirs but at the age of 14 she debuted as a blues singer on stage at Morgan's Lounge.
A regular and important part of the North Side Blues experience for two decades, this lady can sing the blues. But she does much more than that. She transforms your evening into a blues tapestry of experiences - from the raunchy to the sublime. A typical evening at a Club in which Sarah performs might include several volunteers having to go up on stage to help her with a song or two and several men having their faces pressed against her ample chest. She wouldn't have it any other way. This is pre-Eric/Stevie style blues. It tells a story, it laments, and it entertains with superb showmanship.

A veteran of the Chicago blues scene for three decades, this diva knows how to throw her weight around when wielding a mic, to the delight of those who enjoy her charged, raunchy shows. You'd expect no less from a woman who used to be a full-time bouncer.

With two studio albums, 1993's "Lay It On 'Em Girls" and 1996's "Blues in the Year One-D-One"(Delmark Records), Big Time Sarah's tunes are well-known to her fans. "I Don't Want No Man" from "One-D-One" sums up her attitude: "I don't need no man tellin' me this and that/Go drink your whiskey, I'll drink my wine, tend to your business, I'll tend to mine." When you hear her deep, raspy, throat-gurgling voice, you know Big Time Sarah isn't fooling around.

She also knows how to work a crowd. Her signature tune is "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On," when she makes the audience sing along. When she croons about spraying perfume all over herself to win a man, she means ALL over, and her gestures prove it. She often drags the meek onstage to sing along including, once at Roundhouse, Walter Payton's mother (Walter conveniently disappeared when his name was called). It's all part of the Big Time Sarah experience, one that no Chicago blues lover should miss. Big Time Sarah Courtesy CitySearch

Born Sarah Streeter in Mississippi, she came to Chicago with her family in 1960 and began singing in church. By her early teens she had fallen for the blues. Sarah's earliest experience singing in Chicago blues clubs came with influential electric Chicago blues band The Aces, Magic Slim and Buddy Guy also encouraged her by giving her stage time. In the late 70's Sarah toured with famed jazz and blues pianist Sunnyland Slim and then pianist Erwin Helfer, through most of her performing was done in Chicago blues clubs such as B.L.U.E.S., Kingston Mines, and Buddy Mulligan's.[1]

Since 1993 Sarah have been recording with Chicago's, Delmark Records.[2] Streeter's debut album Lay It on 'em Girls (1993), spotlights the band Streeter formed in 1989, the BTS Express. She covers three numbers by Willie Dixon, as well as material from Bill Withers, George Gershwin and Leonard Feather, and displays both a vibrant style and versatility. Followed by Blues in the Year One-D-One (1996), and A Million of You (2001), Sarah's powerful, commanding vocal style and the arrangements of bandleader/guitarist Rico McFarland translate into a disc as exciting as one of her live performances, or as close as one can get without being there. Also with John Hill, Roosevelt Purifoy, Bill Hargrove, and "Curfew" Scott. Highlights include the traditional "Train I Ride," and standards like "Red Dress" and "The Sky Is Crying," all with fine solos from her band, and near perfect singing from Sarah: modern electric blues at its sweaty, steamy best.[3]

Streeter received an W.C. Handy Award nominations, for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year, in 2002 and 2003.[4] She has played at the Chicago Blues Festival, 2002 and 2007, the Efes Pilsener Blues Festival, Moscow, Russia,[5] in 2005, the legendary San Francisco Blues Festival, 2002, Monterey Jazz Festival, 2002[6] and Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival, 2001[7] In a live setting, a crowd pleaser is her Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog", "Hoochie Coochie Man", and her signature tune is "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On," it's all part of the Big Time Sarah experience, one that no Chicago blues lover should miss.~wikipedia.com