“It’s a part of the blues — a big part of the blues,” Berry says. “Everywhere you go, where there’s a ‘hill’ you see ‘blue.’ This has all the walls of the past and a little bit of the present. You hear it. If you’ve got the blues, this is the place to come.”

The people around him also keep Berry coming back to the Duck Room — bassist Jim Marsala, keyboardist Bob Lohr, drummer Keith Robinson and Berry’s children, guitarist Charles Berry and vocalist/harmonica player Ingrid Berry-Clay.

“It’s a tight band and one of the reasons he’s able to keep going,” Edwards says. “It’s such a great band, and they can fill in on various things. It’s a real family affair and St. Louis affair.”

Lohr, who has played with Berry for more than 17 years, says music — the “great love of his life, plain and simple” — has kept Berry ticking all these years.

“He loves playing his music for all his fans in a concert setting, despite the hardships he must often endure and overcome for the privilege to do so,” Lohr says.