In 1972, Michael Frank met David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Blind Jim Brewer, and they soon became fast friends. In 1973, Michael started booking Honeyboy and playing harmonica with him, as well as booking Jim Brewer. In 1976, Michael formed the Hoeneyboy Edwards Blues Band to get gigs in Chicago’s burgeoning North Side club scene and they also continued to perform as a duo. Since those early years Michael, as manager and booking agent (and later biographer and producer), gradually built up Honeyboy Edwards’ career from a local to an international touring schedule and celebrity as an elder Blues oral historian. Michael founded Earwig Music Company in 1978 and recorded Honeyboy and his friends Sunnyland Slim, Kansas City Red, Floyd Jones, and Big Walter Horton for the second release of the label – Old Friends. Earwig has subsequently released 40 Blues CDs. Michael also managed Brewer’s career until his 1989 passing and in the mid 1990s, the career of Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis. Over the past 34 years Michael’s management and Honeyboy’s talent and persistence have led Honeyboy to become the preeminent elder Blues statesman, a Delta Blues legend sought after for Blues documentary films and interviews about the early days of Delta Blues. Honeyboy and Michael have in the past two years performed over 100 shows per year worldwide.
