Clayton feels most alive when he's with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen -- he can't wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton's mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that's no way to live. Armed with his grandfather's brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping...

The author gives a tip of the hat to B.B. King in an ode to the blues and babyhood.

Moving in with his uncles in a different town after he and his mom lose their housing, Danté misses his friends and neighborhood until his Uncle Ron teaches him to play the saxophone, showing him how to turn his blues into his muse.