“There would be no Blues Brothers if it weren’t for Downchild”

– Dan Aykroyd

Downchild Blues Band

Downchild, one of the planet’s foremost, most fêted, longest-running blues outfits with quite possibly the best back story ever told.

Roaring through bracing, high-octane performances since 1969, the band founded and continuously steered by harmonica and guitar ace Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh is as vibrant today as when Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi went sniffing around for inspiration for their brilliant Blues Brothers venture back in the 1970s. The pair elevated Downchild’s “Shotgun Blues” and Walsh’s “(I Got Everything I Need) Almost” to smash status on their 1978 Briefcase Full of Blues record.

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Jane Vasey Memorial Scholarship Fund

Donnie Walsh was instrumental in the founding of the Jane Vasey Memorial Scholarship fund at Brandon University. The fund was co–founded by Vasey’s late parents (Dorothy and Ross) and Downchild Blues Band in 1983 to sponsor keyboards students in the Brandon University (alma mater of Vasey) school of music.

Each year 2 scholarships in the amount of $2,500.00 have been awarded. The fund has grown to the amount of $80,000.00. Downchild continues to fund scholarships through benefit performances. The benefit amount is doubled thanks to a special program sponsored by the Government of Manitoba.

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