Newsman/Bluesman Buzz Kilman and his All Bubba Blues Band are coming to DeKalb this Friday night.

Slated to play at Otto’s at 8 p.m., the band brings with it a high reputation for onstage talent and fun. Originally called the Backroom Blues Band, the “Bubba” emerged in 1988.

Why Bubba? Lead singer and guitarist Ron Shanaver was joking around with band members and the audience one night and commented the band consisted of “all bubbas,” referring to band member Bubba Goldsby. He then introduced each of the band members with “Bubba” as their middle name, and, as they say, a star was born.

Kilman, WLUP radio newsman and sidekick to popular Chicago deejay Jonathon Brandmeier, is the band’s harmonica player. Also a member of Brandmeier’s Johnny and the Leisure Suits, Kilman is well-known in the Chicago area for his on-air wit and trademark laugh.

Interestingly enough, Kilman was not an experienced player until he came to Chicago from Florida in 1980. “Steve Dahl (the Loop’s morning deejay before Brandmeier) got me playing—we started ‘news blues’ in the morning. I was so bad on harmonica it was embarrassing. Here I am hundreds of thousands of people listening and I’m terrible.” Practice makes perfect, and Kilman found himself practicing all over Chicago.

He hooked up with Shanaver in fall 1984, and by 1988, the two talked about putting together a band. The Backroom Blues Band led the Tuesday open blues jam at the Wise Fool’s Pub in Chicago, and following the name change, the band moved into suburban clubs.

The All Bubba Blues Band has played at many Chicagoland clubs, including P.J. Flaherty’s, Traffic Jam, Shades, Buddy Guy’s Legends, McGregor’s and others. Though they don’t often play college towns, the band recently returned from the University of Illinois, where they played at Mabel’s.

Other band members include bass guitarist Bubba Goldsby, keyboardist Pat Azarillo and drummer Luiz Ewerling. Tickets are five dollars at the door and the Woody Johnson Band will open.