Five blues acts in the single or duo category jammed their hearts out April 14 at the Coraopolis VFW during the 19th annual Blues Challenge hosted by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania.

While the acts who played represented the best of the blues artists in the Pittsburgh area, McKeg & DeCola emerged victorious, and will move on to compete at the 2025 International Blues Challenge to be held Jan. 7–11 on Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.

John DeCola is a 1971 graduate of Slippery Rock Area High School and a 1997 Slippery Rock University graduate.

As an elementary school student, he expressed an interest in guitar to his music teacher.

“But my hands were too small, so she threw an accordion at me,” DeCola said. “In the ’60s, a lot of kids took accordion lessons.”

He took to the seemingly complicated instrument, and played his first paying gig as a young teen in a band with guys in their 40s.

“I thought they were old,” DeCola said with a grin.

Just before graduating from high school, DeCola began taking keyboard lessons in the interest of playing in a rock band, which he did for many years in the area.

“I put the accordion away,” DeCola said.

Then, around 2010, he dusted off his squeezebox skills.

“Zydeco and Tex Mex music kind of spilled over into the blues,” DeCola said.

He met blues guitarist Bugs McKeg, and has played in various bands with him for more than 20 years. They currently perform in a full band named Bugs McKeg & the Aces.

McKeg was an original member of the 1970s rock band Diamond Reo with well-known Pittsburgh musician, Norm Nardini, and others.

Diamond Reo, not to be confused with the country band Diamond Rio, opened shows all over the U.S. in the 1970s for the likes of legendary rockers Z.Z. Top, Kiss, Aerosmith, Tina Turner and the Allman Brothers Band.

“It was great, but eventually, I had to walk away,” McKeg said, referring to the pitfalls of the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle.

McKeg, of Pittsburgh, recalls being interviewed by Dick Clark on “American Bandstand,” recording in the studio owned by the manager of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, and sitting in a makeup chair next to ’70s bombshell Barbie Benton.

The pair explained that in the Blues Challenge, they had exactly 20 minutes to perform before their panel of judges.

They played four songs written and sung by McKeg: “Deaf, Dumb and Blind,” “Even in the Dark,” “Drive On Into Town,” and “I Love Having You Around.”

McKeg & DeCola, plus dozens of other acts from around the country in the single or duo category, will compete in a series of rounds before a winner is chosen at the international competition in Memphis.

The pair said the first rounds are held in the 60 or so bars in Memphis, which creates a festive atmosphere for blues lovers who come to watch the bands.

“You see bands from Italy, Australia and all over,” DeCola said. “One year, there was a Korean band there. Blues societies from all over the world send their best players.”

“It’s kind of like the Olympics,” said McKeg. “People from the Pittsburgh area hang out with other musicians from around the globe, but you’re competing against one another, too.”

DeCola said he feels he and McKeg have a pretty good chance of winning the competition because they’re different.

“No other blues duo has an accordion,” he said.

DeCola explained his digital accordion has buttons that can switch the typical whining accordion sound to that of a bass guitar, harmonica, organ or other instrument.

McKeg said because Memphis is the birthplace of the blues, he plans to include some tunes in the original style to appeal to the judges.

DeCola said each act is scored numerically based on things like musicianship, stage presence, and originality.

The act in each category with the highest score wins, and moves to semifinal competition, then finals at the legendary Orpheum Theater if they make it.

McKeg, who earned third place in 2007 or 2008, said the stage at the Orpheum has black floors and walls and black curtains, creating a sort of vacuum atmosphere for performers.

“You think of all the people who have played there, and you’re standing there in one spotlight, with 1,500 people watching,” he said. “You better be good.”

DeCola said there is one way to defeat the nerves that naturally come with competition.

“You’ve got to trust what you do,” he said.

The duo said they love playing the blues because of the genre’s versatility.

“The structure is really not that difficult,” DeCola said, “but you can express how you feel within that structure.”

McKeg agreed.

“Ten different bands can play the same song 10 different ways,” he said. “You never play a song the same way twice.”

McKeg said the flexibility of the blues genre suits his musical and personal style.

“Some (musicians) can’t live like that, because they want to sound the same all the time,” he said. “That’s not me.”

McKeg and DeCola will bring their wives to Memphis, where they will likely spend the week enjoying the birthplace of the blues.

The duo’s skills are on display every other Saturday night, when Bubs McKeg & the Aces play from 4 to 7 p.m. at The Pitch on Butler in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh.