On the Monterey Bay Blues Festival’s Main Stage, local blues legend John “Broadway” Tucker lets loose on his last number, a spirited version of Louis Jordan’s “Caldonia.” The 62-year-old jogs in place and pumps the microphone in his right hand up and down like a barbell as Polish guitarist Leszek Cichonski lays into an impressive solo.

Once Cichonski is done, Tucker does a little soloing himself. The bluesman—who is wearing his typical get-up of black jacket, black hat and black pants—catalogues the impressive appetite of the woman in the song. He sings about how she lays waste to six pounds of hamburger meat, 16 donuts, two dozen hot dogs, two cases of Budweiser and a fifth of gin.

Then, Tucker freestyles some lines about alcohol and its effects. “Drink some gin, that’s when the fun begin,” he says. “Drink some whiskey, get frisky.”

It’s a moment onstage that Tucker is clearly relishing. This is partly because the bluesman is on the big stage—he has played all but three Monterey Bay Blues Festival shows since the three-day event started back in 1986, but this is only his second time on the Main Stage. Another reason is that Tucker knows that after the song he will be presented with the prestigious Mobay Award, a decoration previously bestowed on blues greats like Etta James and Bobby “Blue” Bland.

Following the number, Tucker exits the stage for only a few moments before AM talk radio host Ray Taliaferro drags him back out in front of the crowd. After a wave of applause, Julie Paisant, one of the festival’s six directors, introduces the audience to the impeccably dressed staff and board members of the Monterey Bay Blues Festival for the presentation of the award.

“If anyone knows what we are about to do,” Paisant says. “John knows what we are about to do.”

Festival president Billy F. DeBerry tells the audience that this award for Tucker has been a long time coming. “We want you to know we love you,” he says to the bluesman.

After presenting him with a trophy and unveiling a painting of Tucker, which will be displayed at future festivals, the longtime Monterey musician seems humbled by all the hubbub. “I’m kind of at a loss for words,” he says.

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Tucker, who moved to the Monterey area almost 40 years ago, grew up in Mississippi as a sharecropper’s son. At 17 years old, he moved to Memphis, with dreams of becoming a musician. There, he used an unorthodox approach to develop his vocal skills. “I walked down the street singing to get attention,” he says.

When he moved to Memphis, Tucker was more into R&B music than the blues—until he saw B.B. King play a club up close and personal. “From then on, I fell in love with the blues,” he says.

In 1964, Tucker joined the Army and was shipped off to Germany. While overseas, an officer discovered Tucker’s musical skills, and Tucker got a gig entertaining the troops as a part of the USO rather than performing the duties of a regular enlisted man.

By 1967, Tucker was back in the states and stationed at Fort Ord. During this time, Tucker started performing regularly at a Seaside club called Jimbo’s Show Lounge with a cover band named The Invaders. “We played just about everything,” Tucker says of the group. “We played the Top 40 of the time.”

Tucker says that Jimbo’s was one of the premiere spots for African-American entertainers on the West Coast. He recalls jamming with folks like Jimi Hendrix and Paul Butterfield at the club, which used to sit on the corner of Fremont and Broadway.

It actually wasn’t until 1981 that Tucker formed his own group, The John “Broadway” Tucker Band. It was another 13 years before the popular Monterey blues act released their debut CD, >>Mostly You.

Recently, Tucker’s stature has grown outside of the Monterey area, especially in Poland. Back in 2003, Tucker and his band embarked on their first tour of Poland with Polish musicians like keyboard player Wojciech Karolak and Leszek Cichonski, a guitarist infatuated with Hendrix who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for getting 1,581 guitarists to play “Hey Joe” at the same time.

Tucker says that over in Poland people treat him like B.B. King or Elvis Presley, while audiences here have started to take him for granted. Maybe, now that Tucker has a Mobay Award under his belt, local crowds will start to take their local treasure more seriously .