In 2006, a regional favorite Blues band was formed. Founded by Mark “King Bee” Menefee, King Bee and the Stingers built a solid following, which now includes his daughter, Sarah Menefee as lead vocalist. She and bassist, Jeff Shew dropped by recently for a chat with host, Jim Ervin about their early years in music, and how their paths led to their current place with KBTS. Jeff also shared his memories of the legendary PineTop Perkins, whom he met at 13 years of age and stories of jamming with PineTop later in life. Today, King Bee and the Stingers is as solid as they ever have been, garnering several nominations at the 2025 Josie awards, including best blues group, best blues album, blues vocalist of the year and several more! They also were top five finalists for the Blues Foundation’s BMA for best self-produced CD in 2025 for their album, “Live At the Slippery Noodle”.

Website: https://www.kingbeestingers.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kingbeethestingers

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kingbeethestingers8160

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This is Time Signatures with Jim Ervin, a podcast and radio program presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan. Most any contemporary musical style can trace its roots back to the blues. Time Signatures explores the blues and its musical connections with captivating interviews, lively discussions, and news from the world of the blues. And now, here he is, your host, Jim Ervin.

Well, hello everybody, and thank you, Parker. I'm Jim Ervin and this is Time Signatures.

It's always fun when I finally nail down an interview, especially when I've been following a musician or a band for a bit and the planets finally align. Today's interview is exactly that.

They are regional favorites in the Central Great Lakes region and they have played many of the area's blues festivals as well. They are three time semifinalists at the International Blues Challenge.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to welcome King B and the Stingers, bassist Jeff Shew and lead vocalist Sarah Menefee. Come on in. Pull up a chair, you two. And welcome to Time Signatures. How are you?

Great.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, well, let's kick this off by learning a little bit more about both of you. And since it's only right, ladies first. Jeff, Sarah, I'd like you to talk about your start in music. Where did it all begin for you?

Good question. I mean, there were recordings of me singing when I was like 5.

My dad has been in bands for as long as I can remember and this band for a very long time. But I was also in choir in high school. I was in collegiate show choir. I was in a band in high school called Rite of Spring.

I been, you know, playing around for a really long time. But yeah, I've been playing in this group. How long, Jeff? Since six years.

2015.

Okay. And. And, yeah, I've never had more fun.

Very cool. Now, I understand that King B was actually started by your father, correct?

Yeah, yeah, it was when I was like, 13. He started the band. It started as a duo, just called King Be, and then they added the Stingers, they added the rest of the band.

And the lineup has obviously changed since then. But, yeah, he was the founding member of the bands.

Very cool. Now, Jeff, where did you get your start? Music. It's your turn.

Sure. Yeah. I started in school, you know, when I was a kid and played saxophone.

And then I was in a bunch of garage bands, like in high school and middle school. And I was in a band called Chunk and the Goonies. Okay, which one were you? I was Chunk. Yeah, I was the leader, Chunk and. Yeah.

But I grew up, you know, in Chicago, where blues. Or near Chicago, I should say northwest Indiana, where blues is huge. And I'll keep it brief, but the story kind of goes like.

I went to my first blues jam and just. It happened that Pinetop Perkins was there, and. Oh, man, Pinetop lived in my hometown in LaPorte, Indiana.

And the whole time I was growing up, he lived there. And so I got to play with him a lot.

And so although I've played a lot of different styles of music, I've always kind of gone back to the blues in everything I've done, pretty much. And so six years ago, this band needed a bassist. And I showed up at a music video shoot, and like, they called me that morning.

We're like, hey, our bases quit. We need you to come wear a black suit and be in this music video on Sunday morning at 9am or something. And I was like, okay.

And I've been in the band since.

Wow, man. And you actually played with Pinetop Perkins?

Yeah, I did. I got to jam with him as a kid.

And then right around when I was about 21, before I moved to Bloomington to go to IU, I had a few gigs with him, some parties, you know, that kind of thing, just around, like, northwest Indiana. And got some advice from him, you

know, over the years.

Mostly don't play that. Like, you know, like, don't play that line. I'm gonna play that on piano. I'm a basis. So, you know, he didn't teach me piano. I don't know piano, but.

But I learned a lot from him just about music in general and how to play blues music.

That must have been a huge. I. I don't mean to divert Here. But you're dropping gold in my lap. I mean, that must have been a thrill for you.

Yeah. You know, the funny thing is, I didn't know how big of a deal it was at the time because I was a kid, you know, I was, like, 13 when it started.

I just knew him as this guy that played piano, you know, and then. And I knew it was a big deal. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to take anything away from that, but.

Yeah, no, no.

If I could do it over, you know, I would treat the situation a lot differently and be like, oh, wow, this is insane what is happening right now, you know?

Yeah, you might have done the fanboy thing. Who knows, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was just some kid that's like, I need to. How to play bass with this guy.

How cool, man. Now, at what point in your lives did you decide or determine that music would play a crucial role in your future?

And since we're talking to you, Jeff, we'll start with you.

Yeah, I think I've known that since I was about that age. You know, when I went to that first blues jam, it had a big impact on me.

I remember being on that stage and the feeling that you get from being on a stage, even, you know, wherever it is, and you can feel the electricity in the room, and there's this shared experience with everyone. I kind of knew then. Yeah. And I've really. It's been 30 years now I've been doing it, so.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Sarah, how about you?

I mean, I still remember the first time I ever got on a stage and I sang at my feet the whole time. But I've always loved to sing. I grew up with music in the kitchen always.

And my dad and I have been playing music together just as a duo for a really long time.

And I think it was never not an option, you know, Like, I think that it was always an important part of my life, and so I never had to choose that, if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, as I was preparing for this interview, I noted that the band was founded by your father, as we mentioned early, Mark King B Menifee.

Is he still active with the band in any capacity? Sarah?

He is, yeah. He took sort of a backseat role, and Mark Carnes took over the harmonica in the band. But, yeah, he still sits in with us sometimes.

He sang with us last weekend. But he does a lot of the, you know, the finances and the things that we don't want to do.

Well, how cool is it that you're carrying on that legacy, you know, of King Be and for him. I mean, that's a lot of trust for him to instill in you, for sure.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's funny, like, I would say, probably every single show we do, somebody asks me why it's not Queen Bee and the Stingers. It's relentless.

And. And, you know, I have several answers. One of them is, I can be a King Be, too. But, like, also, I like that it's the legacy of the band.

You know, it keeps the original name alive, and I like that it's a conversation starter. And. And also, we've got a lot of merch with that on it, so why change it now?

Well, yeah, yeah, that's a. It's a legacy, you know.

Yeah, yeah, it's a blues song too, you know. I mean.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Now, I would imagine that your band had an incredibly loyal following since you had 14 years of building and growing prior to the Pandemic.

How did that decidedly dark period affect the band? And I'm just going to throw it in the air and see who grabs it.

We were very productive during the Pandemic. Like, we didn't play any shows, really, but we did write so many songs together. You know, it was. It was something that we really took advantage of.

We recorded a little bit. We wrote, like, it was sort of. I mean, it was a really dark time, but it was also a time that we got to sort of.

We didn't have the option to print those. We had, you know, this forced time off. And that, I think, was helpful for creativity in some ways, although it was, you know, awful for the world.

Yeah. Yeah, indeed. Now, did.

Did y' all do the live Facebook concerts occasionally, like so many other bands and solo artists, just to keep the faithful with you, for sure.

Yeah, we did. Those were funny. Everyone was just kind of making it work.

But, yeah, we definitely went live and, you know, still tried to interact with people as much as we could.

I remember we tried to do it with masks on. And then we also. I think we did a lot of testing, if I remember right, you know, that we would all test before we would go.

We would go to our rehearsal space and. Which is actually at that time was at Sarah's dad's, and we called it the Hive. And we'd all get together and it was a really scary time for everyone.

But I think musicians, it really was because, you know, our livelihood was just. Just completely gone there for a while. And so we. We tried to make the Best out of it. I think, though, by.

By writing and, you know, we still got together when we could safely and, you know, those kinds of things.

How has that period affected how you conduct your business today? And are you finding people are now more or less likely to come out as they used to be?

I felt like there was a big resurgence of people. I think people were ready to leave their houses. It's what I felt, you know, people were excited to, you know, experience.

I mean, a lot of what we do is play outdoor festivals, which was pretty conducive to, you know, starting back up after Covid, when everyone was still pretty weary because you could stay pretty far away from each other. So I felt like people were ready to hear live music again, and it was exciting.

It felt like you could feel the excitement when we started playing live shows again of, you know, we finally get to be together and do something that's fun and not scary.

Yeah, Yeah. I think, like, you know, with it being four or five years later, something like that, I think that there's that big resurgence.

I think still people are going out quite a bit, but I also feel like unless it's a very big event, and sometimes those are also, you know, where people aren't coming out as much. But there are sometimes where I feel like Netflix at home or whatever, watch streaming movies at home or tv, like, sometimes hurts live music.

Even after the pandemic, like, yeah, you know, it's just, how do you get people to come out and get off their couch?

And I think it's different that way than it used to be, where it was, like, you knew everyone would go out on Friday and Saturday or, you know, or during the week even, depending on what it is. And I think that's a little different. I'm a. You know, I'm in the music business as a talent buyer and festival coordinator and booking agent.

And so I have to deal with that stuff a lot where it drives me crazy, where it's like, come on, guys, you know, there's seven bands on this bill. It's $20, like, come to this festival. What are you doing?

Yeah, I get that. It's funny you say that, because I've seen a lot of that over the last probably 12 to 18 months, where people.

They're not as willing to pass the money over as they once were. And that kind of springs into the next question for you guys. How has the music industry changed for you?

How has the pandemic affected how music is produced and consumed these days? Because clearly, it's Changed? Yeah.

I think that for me, it's not just because of the pandemic, but just the way that things have changed where everything's on social media, you know, now.

And like, we were talking about this, everyone makes fun of me because it's like, oh, Jeff, you know, is like trying to get us to do content for our social media. But it's like, it's a very vital part of a band now and it's. It's kind of annoying.

I wish that every band, you know, was big enough that they could have someone that would do that full time for them, that I wouldn't have to worry about it or we wouldn't have to worry about it.

But, you know, I think that's the big difference for me is that I don't think that, like, Muddy Waters, you know, is sitting around going like, hey, we need to get photos of tonight so that we can post them on Facebook, you know, and probably wouldn't have wanted to do that.

I think Jeff's right. Like, during the pandemic, the move online was that was the only way that we had to connect with each other and consume content.

So I think for like a lot of musicians that produce online and have content online, I think it was like such a weirdly a helpful thing for them because all of a sudden everybody and their uncle is consuming content online and it is a hard machine to keep up with for sure. It's kind of in the insatiable appetite for new new new new new.

But yeah, I think that, you know, people had so much time on their hands that they, you know, figured out what they like to consume and where they like to consume it. And that has not gone away.

The latter earned you some really cool accolades. Brag about it. Let's hear about that album. Talk about that for a minute, guys.

Well, I love the album by the Red Devils live from King King. And that was my inspiration for, like. I was like, we're such a good live band. Like, everyone always tells us that.

And we're working the studio too, but it's, you know, it's one of those things. And I'm not trying to, like, toot my own horn or anything. I just love our live sound and I love what we do there.

And so, like, let's capture that, you know.

Yeah, it's definitely hard. I mean, we are a live band through and through for sure.

And it's hard to capture that feeling in a studio album, you know, to produce it to the point where it sounds like. It still sounds like your sound, but it's also. It's difficult.

And I think that we were all very excited to get the opportunity to have something physical that you could listen to that was like our genuine sound. And Nico Albanese did that album and he did such a good job capturing it and capturing, like, the authentic, you know, show that we do well.

That's gotta be one of my top of the line things to do, is to go and visit there. But whose idea was it to record there, of all places?

I think I had mentioned a few places. I was like, hey, let's do a live album. And it was. I remember it was your dad, King B. He was like.

Because we were talking about doing the Midway Tavern up in, you know, Mishawaka and Stevie Ray's, because we play at both of those places. But then it's like, wait, we live pretty close to the Slippery Noodle. Like, why wouldn't we do it there Also?

It's such an iconic venue. The feeling there is incredible. If you have the opportunity, you should go. It's the way that it works. It's like the.

There's a front stage and a backstage, and the music never ends because you alternate sets, essentially. And so the vibe there is just like always really, really cool.

And I think that of the places that we play, like, that was a fun set for us to be able to capture because we always have a good time. And the audience, we, you know, invited people out to cheer and be on the live album. And they showed up for us, which was really, really cool.

Very cool. And I heard. And I heard that when you started that you made that announcement, you know, that you're recording live and.

And don't be afraid to be heard. And. And they were definitely into it. I mean, the. The whole album start to finish was a lot of fun.

Now, I want to turn the page here because I stumbled on this list of artists that you guys have appeared with, and this is some kind of who's who, man. Danielle Nicole, Toronzo Cannon. I'm not going to do the whole list. I'm just going to hit some of the high notes.

Walter Trout, John Namath, Bobby Rush, Cat Riggins, Janima Magnus. I mean, it just keeps coming but it begs the question, do you guys have any favorites in that pile that I just listed?

Are there any of them that really stuck out in your mind as.

Okay, yeah, I know. I. I answered. I think it's serious, too. Daniel Nicole. Yeah.

Yeah.

We are huge fans of Daniel Nicole.

We got to play on a bill with her at the Southern Indiana Blues Festival last year. Was that last or two years ago, Jeff? And it was.

We do a couple of her songs, which was very nerve wracking for me because I could see her standing side stage, but. But she is just like, such a. Such a badass, such an inspiration. I mean, she's out there playing bass with stilettos on and such an insane vocalist.

So, yeah, that was like, definitely, definitely a dream. A dream bill for us, for sure.

I don't know if you guys have ever played the Acorn over here in the southwest coast corner of Michigan. We got to see her and her husband play down there. It's a nice, intimate little place.

But see, it's like, I think they said 300, 350, something like that. Had a wonderful turnout. It was a blast. I mean, and like you said, she's such a badass with such a history. And I just heard her on an album.

Mississippi Heat was Pierre Loke. You get a chance to hear Shiver and Blues. Oh, my God.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He brought her on to. To sing this song. You need to check it out. Shivering Blues is what it's called.

Okay.

And it's on their new album, Don't Look Back.

Okay.

But what a show her and her husband put on for us when we went down there. And I had interviewed her, and she was just such a wonderful guest, and I can't say enough about her.

I think the world of her and her star is rising again. You know, she talked during the interview about, you know, she was on her second ascension because of, you know, the.

The band breaking up, and then she started going on her own, and then Covid hit, and now she's on her third ascent. And I'm telling you what, that girl, there is no place to go but up for her. She truly is one of the biggest names in the blues that I've met to date.

Yeah.

Nothing but respect for her and her band, that's for sure. So.

Well, let me. Let me put it this way. Go ahead. So I've been a festival coordinator, you know, for a long time, and I've met a lot of pretty famous people.

I'm not normally nervous around famous people, but when I met Daniel Nicole, I couldn't help it. Like, I, like, serious. Like, are you okay? Like, we all kind of works.

We're just.

We. Our band has always loved her so much, you know, that it was like it was meeting, like, one of your heroes, basically. And, you know, it was like.

And then once I got around her, she was so calming, and I felt. And she's like, you know, I was like, wait, what are you doing?

Like, and she just made me, you know, and then I kind of, like, just snapped out of it. Then I was like, okay, everything's cool. But for a moment there, I'm like, oh, I'm sweating this.

All right, so back to you guys. What's happening with the band these days? Any new projects on the horizon?

Yeah, kind of. We're in the mode of writing right now, writing new songs, and we have a few singles that are going to come out, too.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I mean, we're booking for next year. We've got some. Some cool stuff, books.

But mostly we're trying to get another album finished, probably, hopefully.

We've been wanting to go on the road more as well, like you mentioned, you know, we've done a lot of Midwest stuff, and we got a couple of offers last year. One was in Montana, one was in Kansas, like, and some west coast stuff. So it's like, we didn't end up doing that last year. It didn't work out.

But I think that's kind of our goal this year is to do some sort of tour like that. And. And we want to just get our music out there and get more fans as we go on the road. And the new stuff that we're working on.

Get that out there, too.

Yeah.

And I was going to ask you about touring a little more widely because you guys definitely need to have more exposure. Of course, there's, you know, we got some shows up here in Michigan. I got no problem mentioning your name to the people that are coordinating those.

Kalamazoo, the Lansing Blues Fest. We've got a couple of shows over on the east side of the state. Definitely would love to see you guys get out there more.

Again, I'm sorry I missed you at the Boem Theater back. I believe it was October, wasn't it, that you were here?

Yeah, yeah, about a month ago.

Yeah. Yeah. I was so frustrated when I realized I missed that because, like I said, I'm only like 45 minutes away. There's no excuse. And I.

You guys have been on my radar now for about a year, but it's, you know, it Would be definitely a good thing to be able to see you guys as you tour around, hopefully this year.

Yeah.

But we'll. We'll keep in touch, definitely. And when you get ready to release the album, get me a digital copy. We'll have you on to talk about it.

We'll release the interview the week that you release the album. And anytime that you need a microphone, you've got one here. Definitely. How's that?

Thank you.

Yeah, sounds great.

All right. Okay, you two, here's the most important part of the interview. Where can we send folks to learn more about your band?

Maybe buy some merch and some albums and book you for a gig?

Well, you can find us on all social media, King being the Stingers. And you can find us atking bee stingers.com. that's where you can buy merch and learn a little bit about us.

And then Jeff's at the World Run agency and he books us.

Yep.

What else? Agency.

If you want digital files or it's band camp, you know, that kind of thing. If you want to. If you're like, I don't want a CD or, you know, an album I want to stream, you can. Yeah, you can purchase it.

Streaming services. So it's the tis the season.

Okay. All right. Jeff Shoe, Sarah Menifee. It has been a pleasure. Seriously, both of you guys have been a delight.

I can assure you that if you get within driving distance of Lansing, I promise you I'll make it out there. Okay. Whether it's a festival or another event, I'll make the trip just to catch a show because I would love to see the band play. I love your sound.

I believe in what you're doing out there. And of course, I will support you by buying some merch as well.

Matter of fact, I need to buy a shirt so I can wear it on my show once in a while, too. How's that?

We'll give you.

We. Well, we appreciate all that you do.

I would. I would absolutely support that. And as soon as I get that cd, it's going to be right here in one of these frames so people will get to see it. Yep.

I've got like 75 in my collection right now that I rotate.

Excellent.

Yeah. All right, well, listen, anytime you guys need a microphone, reach out to us.

If you have a tour coming up you want to talk about or anything like that. And thank you again for joining me today on Time Signatures.

Thank you.

And that wraps up this edition of Time Signatures. Once again, my thanks to our guests Jeff Shew and Sarah Menefee, but also to you. For without you, none of this would be possible.

Jim Ervin reminding you, keeping the blues alive is everyone's responsibility. But preserving the history of the blues, one story at a time, that's my mission. Until next time. So long, everybody.

This has been Time Signatures with Jim Ervin, presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan. For more information on CABS, visit capitalareablues.org. You can find this episode and past episodes at lccconnect.org. The Time Signature's theme song, Michigan Roads, is used by permission and was written by Root Doctor featuring Freddie Cunningham. Until next time, keep on keeping the blues alive.