Mississippi Blues artist Brian Ballou makes his mark

• The rising musician, now a fixture on Mississippi’s blues scene, has big plans for 2025.

Blues artist Brian Ballou’s rise from playing open-mic nights to sharing stages with established performers like Chapel Hart and Tab Benoit may appear swift, but as with most “overnight successes” in music, he’s put in the work to make it look easy.

For the better part of a decade, the Jackson-area musician toted his guitar all over the Capitol City and beyond in hopes of getting a shot on stage. “I was just sitting in with bands and trying to bust my way into the music scene, playing open mics and open jams every chance I got,” he says. “It just blossomed from there.”

Ballou kept at it, building his chops and learning the basics of performing live while networking with other musicians and learning the lay of the land. He earned his place as a regular at Blue Monday, the weekly blues showcase hosted by the Central Mississippi Blues Society at Hal and Mal’s, and got to jam with Grammy-winning blues and soul singer Bobby Rush on one of the late nights he spent at Farish Street fixture F. Jones Corner.

All those experiences made an impact on Ballou’s music career, but none has proven more influential than the vinyl records his parents played at home while he was growing up. At the Ballou household, the voices of blues legends like Muddy Waters and B.B. King left an indelible mark and set him on a path he couldn’t ignore.

“As soon as I heard [King’s] ‘The Thrill Is Gone,’ just the way he sang it and that rasp in his voice — that’s how I wanted to play guitar and sing,” he told wireless provider C Spire in a 2024 video and commercial about the Mississippi Blues Trail that featured Ballou.

Although his musical tastes evolved over the years, the blues always called him back. Watching artists like Rush, as well as King Edward, Jesse Robinson, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram at clubs and festivals, deepened his understanding of the music. Those influences are all present on the original tune “Broken City,” his first single, released on streaming platforms in 2023. 

Lex Luga, a promoter based on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, discovered Ballou from the C Spire clip, albeit in a circuitous way when people kept mistaking him for the blues singer they saw on television. “By the time that the third person asked me about him, it made me go look him up,” Luga says. “That’s when I learned everything else about him.”

Impressed by his songcraft on “Broken City” and the momentum he had created, Luga booked Ballou to open a show at Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi in September 2024. “They loved him,” Luga says. “He has a magnetic personality and a great spirit, and it shows through in his playing. You can see his love for the art.”

That night, Ballou performed a solo set with an acoustic guitar. But after the gig, he knew it was time to assemble his own band. Ballou and the Bears — rounded out by bassist Marcus Lilly, pianist Cam Brown, drummer Justin Brown, and guitarist Charlie Robbins — made their debut in late 2024.

“Having your own band changes your mentality,” he says. “When you’re playing by yourself, the rhythm and phrasing and everything are just on you, and it’s free form. But when you’re in a band, your mindset changes. You’ve gotta make sure that each part is falling together and all the puzzle pieces fit.”

Ballou kicked off 2025 by winning a pair of awards at the second Soul Music Awards, held at Ground Zero in Biloxi, for Solo Musician of the Year as well as Soul Music Tour Performance Honoree. He has a slate of shows booked at clubs and festivals in the region, including an April 12 performance at the Rockin’ Railroad Festival in Hazlehurst, and also plans to release his debut EP later this year.

“It’s just been blessings on blessings on top of blessings, man,” he says. “It’s crazy.”