Barry Dolins , director of the Chicago Blues Festival asked me to put together a Blues in the Schools performance for the 2004 festival. I’d been a substitute teacher at Oscar Mayer School for a decade, so I knew most of those students. I also knew that fourth graders are the easiest to work with. Barry’s assistant Professor Caleb Dube told me, ” Make sure you get Jacob Schulz for your group.” So I put together twenty fourth-graders and six-grader Jacob Schulz. Caleb Dube was also a professor at DePaul University. He told me that Jacob had a large blues record collection and that he comes over to DePaul to lecture the students about the blues. Of course, my reaction was ’ What? A twelve year old lecturing college students about the blues?’ The 2004 Chicago Blues Festival celebrated the centennials of Jazz Gillium and Mississippi Fred McDowell. I taught my group the most well known songs of these legendary bluesmen. Our group was joined by the daughter of Jazz Gillum , Ardella Williams and Billy Flynn accompanied us on guitar. Ardella told me that Jacob was special. So I had Jacob to sing a verse of ” Key the the Highway” alone. The first time he had to sing it his eyes got really huge and he said, ” Ms. Farr I need some water.” We laugh about my reaction to that to this very day. The day of our blues festival performance,walking toward our stage,Jacob got so excited because he saw a booth with Koko Taylor’s name on it! He told me Koko was his favorite singer. So how did this young man come to love the blues so much? Well we can thank his godmother Isabell Burns. She introduced him to the blues when he was a baby. Then Jacob ended up being radio dj Pervis Spann the Blues Man’s biggest fan. It comes as no surprise to me that Jacob is the only one of my Blues in the Schools students to become a professional blues artist. "Blues From Below" is Jacob’s debut recording. All the songs on this cd have special meaning to Jacob. His first song ” Key to the Highway” is here. He sings ” Wang Dang Doodle” as a tribute to his idol the late great Queen of the Blues Koko Taylor. Giving his mother Erica Schulz much love and respect, he wrote ” Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool”. Jacob considers Zora Young and yours truly his blues mentors , so he has recorded Zora’s ” Handy Man” and my ”When They Really Love You ”. We knew Jacob could sing, but now we’ve learned he can also write. He sings his self-penned ” That Clown( He stole my woman)”, ” Something’s Brewing”, ” Working Man Blues” and ” Good Thing Baby”, which he sings with Katherine Davis. Then we have the ” Sue Medley”, based on Bobby Rush’s big hit recording. Jacob has been thrilling audiences for a while with his version of ” Sue”. Jacob has assembled some of Chicago’s finest blues musicians for this recording. Toronzo Cannon on guitar, Matthew Skoller on harmonica, Dave Forte on bass, Neal O’Hara on keyboards and Chris Alexander on drums. No one has to worry about the blues dying. We have young artists like Brother Jacob keeping the blues both alive and real. Deitra Farr Chicago 2013 Reviews: "Blues From Below" is Brother Jacob's Debut CD. Special Guests include: Deitra Farr, Katherine Davis, Matthew Skoller and Toronzo Cannon. "Damn! I was not expecting this. Brother Jacob’s debut album, Blues From Below, is outstanding: instantly familiar and refreshingly youthful. Am I the only one who didn’t have Brother Jacob on his radar? I got blindsided!" - Chicago Carl's Blues Diner "Jacob's debuutalbum en al tien nummers hebben gekregen een speciale betekenis . Met vijf originele tracks verandert hij in een volwaardige tekstschrijver ......a healthy dose of entertainment at a young Brother Jacob " Philip Verhaege (5) (out of 5 rating, Keys and Chords) Translation: "'Blues From Below " is Jacob's debut album and all ten songs have been given a special meaning . With five original tracks he turns into a full-fledged lyricist ....a healthy dose of entertainment at a young Brother Jacob ."