SBS LITTLE CHARLIE BATY MEMORIAL MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP

Honor a Blues Legend. Fund the Next One.

Charlie Baty could make a guitar do things that seemed impossible. As one half of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, he spent decades tearing through solos with a mix of technical mastery and pure, fearless joy that made him one of the most respected blues guitarists of his generation. Musicians who played with him talk about his skill. Fans who saw him live talk about how much fun he seemed to be having up there.

But Charlie wasn't just a guitar hero. He was a believer in passing the music forward. He gave his time and talent to the Sacramento Blues Society's Blues in the Schools program, standing in front of students who'd never touched a guitar and showing them that this music — and maybe a future in it — belonged to them too.

Now, the Little Charlie Baty Memorial Music Scholarship carries that belief forward, permanently.

A Scholarship Built in His Spirit

Created by the Sacramento Blues Society in Charlie's honor, this scholarship supports students in the School of Music within the College of Arts and Letters at California State University, Sacramento — the next generation of musicians who are pursuing music not as a hobby, but as a calling, the same way Charlie did.

Eligible students are:

• Music majors, with preference given to those who came up through SBS's own Blues in the Schools program — students who may have first discovered their passion in the very classrooms Charlie once visited
• Incoming freshmen, given preference as they begin their college journey
• In good academic standing, enrolled at least part-time
• Considered regardless of financial need, though need may factor into the committee's decision

Recipients can reapply for up to four years, meaning your gift doesn't just fund one semester — it can help carry a student from their first day on campus all the way through to graduation.

Why This Matters

College is expensive, and a music degree comes with its own unique costs — instruments, private instruction, performance fees — on top of tuition and housing. For a talented student without deep financial resources, those costs can be the difference between pursuing music seriously and setting the dream aside.

Charlie never set his dream aside. This scholarship exists so that today's students don't have to either.

When you give, you help make sure that a kid who once picked up a guitar in a Blues in the Schools classroom can keep playing — all the way through a four-year degree and into a career of their own.

Keep Charlie's Music Playing

Charlie Baty spent his life proving that the blues is alive, evolving, and worth passing on. A scholarship in his name is one of the most fitting tributes imaginable — not a statue, not a plaque, but real support for a real student chasing the same thing he chased his whole life: a future built on music.

Donate today to the Little Charlie Baty Memorial Music Scholarship, and help a Sacramento State music student write the next chapter of a story Charlie helped begin.

The Little Charlie Baty Memorial Music Scholarship is administered by the Sacramento Blues Society in honor of Charles "Little Charlie" Baty, supporting music students at California State University, Sacramento.