"America's True Music": 'Ole Harv' celebrates 40 years of 'The Blues Revue'

Forty years of blues, 40 years of radio, and, most of all, 40 years of "Ole Harv."

Harvey Stauffer, known by his fans as "Ole Harv," celebrates the 40th anniversary of his radio show, "The Blues Revue," with a party Saturday, Dec. 9 at St. Hedwig’s Hall in South Bend. The Mike Wheeler Band and Bobby Hunt & The Day Drinkers will perform at the event.

“It has my name on the party, but it’s a community thing that we’ve kept the blues alive for 40 years in a small community like we have,” says Stauffer, who calls his fellow blues lovers “blues brothers and blues sisters.” On a more practical level, "The Blues Revue" is a public radio show, and so, “if it wasn’t for their hard-earned dollars,” he continues, “I wouldn’t even be here.”

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Although Stauffer has been an important player in the blues scene for decades, his initial entry into the field was a mere coincidence or, perhaps, a stroke of serendipity.

“It was something I never even planned to do” he says. When a friend asked Stauffer to be a guest on a reggae show at WVPE, he initially responded with, “Radio? I don’t know anything about radio,” but decided to take the leap. “Here I am 40 years later,” Stauffer says now, “still host of this show … it's a blessing.”

As host of "The Blues Revue," which airs from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on WVPE-FM (88.1), Stauffer has strived to make the show as community-oriented as possible by having listeners call in song requests, letting local bands come to the studio to play and creating a blues news segment of his show so fans can stay up to date on blues performances in the area.

“You never know what that one song is doing for a person when they give you a call or they request a tune,” says Stauffer, who admits that “sometimes the show helps me just as much as it’s helping them. Sometimes they don’t know that I’m playing a song for myself.”

Ole Harv's role at The Blues Revue not only made a life-long blues lover out of him, but it shaped much of his personal life as well. Stauffer met his wife at a Lonnie Brooks concert in Mishawaka, and he was also the lead vocalist of the Elwood Splinters Blues Band from 1996 to 2017.

“I know how to get an audience into the blues,” Stauffer says and explains that, when on stage, the challenge is to engage with the audience and leave them feeling like the band really knew who they were and connected with them.

Ole Harv’s dynamism on stage is equally clear through his work at the radio station. For Stauffer, whose show's motto is "Testifying to the Blues," it all comes down to one's devotion and the ability to participate in it with others who share that dedication.

“I’m the same person off the air that I am on," he says. "I don’t try to be anybody. I just have this passion for the blues and I’m trying to share it, and that’s why I think the show has lasted 40 years.”

'Testifying to the Blues'

Stauffer has been in the blues business long enough to have witnessed the genre change with the times. To honor the music’s history alongside its current form, he makes sure to “play the original tune and then play the more contemporary. I show you where it came from and where it is today. That way we all learn something.”

Stauffer also prioritizes having bands come into his studio to play live, always saying that “the CD or LP has a lot of great music on it, but it has no soul. When musicians play live in the studio, they are playing it from their heart and soul.”

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For his contributions to the blues community, Stauffer was awarded the “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award from the Blues Foundation in 2012, which is given annually to “individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Blues world,” according to The Blues Foundation.

“Ole Harv has done so much for the genre by playing the music on his shows, introducing new artists and promoting concerts,” Mike Wheeler of The Mike Wheeler Band says. “He’s shown us nothing but love from day one.” Wheeler continues that “the blues scene is all about building relationships, and it’s important to support those who support you. When we were asked to play his party, it was a no-brainer and we’re honored to do it.”

40 years of radio

Over the past four decades, not only has the music itself undergone transitions, the medium has as well.

“When I first got to the station, there was maybe a four- or five-channel board and, now, we got a huge board,” Stauffer says. “We had reel-to-reels, LPs and turntables, and a lot of those things are gone now.”

Something that has remained constant over the years, however, is the meaning of the blues for Stauffer.

“Blues comes from the heart and soul, and it definitely tells someone’s story and their life,” he says. This, according to Stauffer, is the heart of the music, and something that will remain a central part of the genre.

What, too, has stayed the same over Stauffer’s career with "The Blues Revue" is his steadfast love for his role with the radio show.

“It’s just been a real blessing that I’ve been able to do this show for 40 years,” he says, “I know it was my calling, and I’m just blessed that I’m still here at 71 to do it.”

In concert

⬤ What: "Ole Harv's 40th Anniversary Blues Bash!" with The Mike Wheeler Band and Bobby Hunt & The Day Drinkers

⬤ When: 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Dec. 9 (doors open at 6 p.m.)

⬤ Where: St. Hedwig's Hall, 331 S. Scott St., South Bend

⬤ Cost: $20 at the door (cash only)

⬤ For more information: Visit wvpe.org.

Email Tribune staff writer Katherine Conway at kconway1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: The Blues Revue celebrates 40 years on WVPE-FM