Family of Blues legend preserving music history, legacy following May tornado

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) -The son of a St. Louis music legend is ensuring his father’s historic music career lives on after last month’s tornado caused a tree to fall on the family home, making it now unlivable.

Alonzo Townsend’s father, Henry Townsend, is considering a legendary Blues singer, guitarist and pianist, who recorded music in every decade from the 1920s through the 2000s, culminating in a Grammy win awarded posthumously in 2008 after Townsend’s death in 2006.

“He is the fingerprint of St. Louis Blues,” said Alonzo Townsend. “He is the patriarch of St. Louis blues. Recorded in every decade since 1929, the longest American recording artist of roots music.”

Townsend grew up with his father living in North St. Louis. By age nine, he was helping with his father’s checkbook. As a teenager, he re helping to negotiate contracts.

“Everything I know about business I learned from my dad,” he said. “With a lot of the things he went through in life, it not only hardened him, but it also made him understand what it takes to survive and to thrive and he instilled those same things in me.”

Born in Mississippi, Townsend fled from his home as a young child and eventually made his way to St. Louis. Here, he recorded numerous albums, including music that has never been released.

“As the heir to his estate, I have a collection of his music that very few people have ever heard,” said Townsend. “We’ve spent years digitizing things and would like to release them eventually.”

Much of his father’s memorabilia is kept at Townsend’s North St. Louis County home, where he moved a few years after his father died in 2006.

“My father and his very good friend ensured I was set up with this house,” he said. “It’s been paid for and all I had to focus on was raising my kids here.”

But last month’s tornado and storms had other plans for Townsend, who was at home in the living room when a large maple tree in his back yard came crashing down on the house.

“I jumped up and I think it took a second for me to realize what was happening,” he said. “I was still looking through the dust and debris at this huge tree right in the middle of my house.”

Like so many other people, Townsend said he is without insurance, after his policy lapsed in January.

“It’s one of those things that unfortunately ended up on the back burner,” he said. “You think about groceries, paying bills and it was just one of those things.”

His father’s baby grand piano is buried under debris and soaked in rain water, he said. It’s a loss of one of his father’s treasures. However, Townsend was able to salvage countless photos, awards and other memorabilia from the house before rain water got to them.

“The most important stuff was family pictures or heirlooms that we can’t get back or can’t get remade if that stuff would have gotten damaged,” he said.

In keeping his father’s most valuable items, Townsend said he’s able to along his legacy to his own children and one day, to their kids too.

“This stuff is part of my story, but even bigger than that, it’s a part of my dad’s legacy and his heritage,” he said. “To be able to save a lot, as much as I can, to give it to my kids and let that story continue, is everything.”

The late Townsend’s first and only Grammy Award usually sits on the mantle. However, it was out of the house being professionally cleaned when the storm rolled through, said Townsend.

“Any other day that would have been sitting right there in the living room,” he said. “Thankfully, it wasn’t anywhere near the house.”

Henry Townsend earned a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in the Delmar Loop in 1995. Click here to read more about his legendary music career.

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