Blues music's Marquise Knox is wise beyond his years

Marquise Knox recorded his debut blues album, "Rise Up Now," when he was 15 and now, at age 20, he's on his third record with the new "Here I Am."
The St. Louis musician, who has performed worldwide and opened for the likes of B.B. King, Clarence Carter, Willie Clayton, Honeyboy Edwards and War, is one of the headliners of this weekend's Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival. It will be his third year performing at the festival.
"I got a whole bunch of tricks lined up," promises the young performer, who comes off much older than he is. "Nobody can believe I'm 20 and can sing the blues in a traditional way, that I'm not changing it up, keeping it the way (early blues performers) did it."
While Knox recorded 2009's "Man Child" with fellow blues artist Michael Burks' band, resulting in an album he says sounded like he was playing with Burks, he recorded with his own players on "Here I Am."
"It was my band and my sound," he says. "I got a chance to do it on my own."
He says his musical progression from his debut album to now is evident.
"When I hear 'Rise Up Now,' I hear that kid everybody was talking about, though at the time I didn't hear him," Knox says. "With 'Man Child,' I see the progression, and with 'Here I Am' … it's like you start as a baby and then you're talking and walking on your own."
Personal experiences have made their way into Knox's music. He had a son at age 16, and he mourned the death of his grandmother and two favorite uncles, including one who was like a father to him.
"I lost all of them, and I put that into 'Here I Am,'" Knox says. "It opened up my door to expressing myself a whole lot better, putting my pain into the music."
Knox wrote "Tears Feel Like Rain" from "Here I Am" for his grandmother and uncle.
"I remember standing at their bedsides before they died, and all that went into the song," he says. "I was even crying when I was (recording) it. It's nothing but emotion in that song."
The new album also has Knox covering three songs from one of his heroes, Muddy Waters: "Two Trains Running," "Feel Like Goin' Home" and "I Can't Be Satisfied."
Knox, who is helping promote the upcoming National Blues Museum in St. Louis, believes it is his mission to bring the blues to a younger audience.
"I feel like if we can't understand the blues, we can't understand anything," he says.