BTS Express w/ Shirley Johnson concerts

About BTS Express w/ Shirley Johnson

BTS Express w/ Shirley Johnson is a Chicago blues and soul-blues bill built around a band formed for Big Time Sarah and the Virginia-born, Chicago-based vocalist Shirley Johnson. The detail that earns attention is institutional as much as musical: Blue Chicago says BTS Express has remained part of its house-band fabric for over 30 years, carrying the initials of its original frontwoman into a later generation of singer-led engagements.

A band named for Big Time Sarah

BTS means Big Time Sarah. Sarah Streeter formed the BTS Express in Chicago in 1989 as her working band, and the earliest documented lineup is best understood as Sarah up front with the ensemble serving her Chicago-club repertoire; Blue Chicago says lineups have shifted across the years while a core group has continued. Their first major recording appearance arrived as Big Time Sarah & the BTS Express on 1993’s Lay It on ’Em Girls, her Delmark debut. Johnson’s route into this circle runs through a different Chicago blues path: church singing in Virginia, a move to Chicago in the early 1980s, then work with Little Johnny Christian, Artie “Blues Boy” White, and pianist Eddie Lusk.

Records behind the bill

The BTS catalog begins with Lay It on ’Em Girls (1993, Delmark), a Big Time Sarah record credited to the BTS Express. Its significance lies in putting Sarah’s club band on record at the beginning of its long association with the Chicago scene. The follow-up, Blues in the Year One-D-One (1996, Delmark), preserved the same partnership and pushed its material toward a live-set feel: Bear Family describes the sessions as largely first-take performances, with Sarah and BTS Express moving through mostly uptempo, funky contemporary blues. “Long Tall Daddy,” Sarah’s nod to Sunnyland Slim, captures the band’s grounding in Chicago blues lineage.

Johnson’s recorded story supplies the other half of the current bill. Looking for Love (1996, Appaloosa) introduced her album work; Killer Diller (2002, Delmark) made her first Delmark statement, pairing Chicago electric blues with classic soul material. Its credits place Johnny B. Moore, John Primer, Maurice John Vaughn, Robert Ward, and Rockin’ Johnny on guitar, an indication of the local players around her sessions. Blues Attack (2009, Delmark) continued that direct, singer-centered approach with originals and blues-and-R&B standards. Her latest album, Selfish Kind of Gal (2025, Delmark), collects ten tracks and revisits titles from that earlier period, including “I’m Going To Find Me A Lover,” “Blues Attack,” and “The Blues Is All I’ve Got.”

Chicago players, Chicago labels

The collaboration story is rooted in Delmark and in Chicago’s working-musician network. Robert G. Koester and Steve Wagner produced Killer Diller; the album also credits horn arrangers Kenny Anderson and Willie Henderson, plus guest guitarists Moore, Primer, Vaughn, Ward, and Rockin’ Johnny. Those names matter for a BTS Express date with Johnson: the billing joins a durable club band to a vocalist whose recorded work has regularly been framed by Chicago blues personnel, horns, organ, and guitar-led arrangements.

What the live record shows

The clearest guide to this show is Blue Chicago itself, at 536 North Clark Street in River North. The club identifies BTS Express as a band originally assembled for Big Time Sarah and says its core has played Blue Chicago for over three decades. Its August 2026 calendar lists BTS Express on six dates from July 24 through August 30, with Shirley Johnson featured on August 21, August 22, and August 30. That repeat booking points to a resident-style Chicago engagement, with the vocalist changing across the calendar. For scale, a 1995 Mix report put Blue Chicago’s capacity at 140, while a later account described the Clark Street room as holding about 160 on a crowded night. Seating and standing conditions can vary, yet both reports describe a compact club room suited to close-range blues listening.

On the calendar now

The most recent release connected to this pairing is Johnson’s Selfish Kind of Gal, issued August 15, 2025 through Delmark. The immediate run stays in Chicago: CrowdMate dates place BTS Express with Johnson at Blue Chicago on Friday, August 21, 2026; Saturday, August 22, 2026; and Sunday, August 30, 2026. Blue Chicago’s own calendar confirms all three dates, alongside the band’s other late-summer appearances with singers including Laretha Weathersby and Demetria Taylor.

Start here

Start with “Long Tall Daddy” for Big Time Sarah’s Sunnyland Slim tribute and the BTS connection; “The Blues Is All I’ve Got” for Johnson’s Chicago electric-blues voice; and “Selfish Kind Of Gal” for the current Delmark-era repertoire.

Sources

1. BTS Express w/ Shirley Johnson — Blue Chicago
2. Big Time Sarah — Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews — AllMusic
3. Big Time Sarah — Bear Family Records
4. Shirley Johnson: Killer Diller Tracks & Reviews — AllMusic
5. Shirley Johnson — Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews — AllMusic
6. Selfish Kind of Gal — Apple Music
7. Blue Chicago Home and Schedule — Blue Chicago
8. Hootie & The Blowfish on Tour — Mix Magazine
9. When in Chicago ... — Axis Imaging News