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HOLLADAY — Some people say you can't learn the blues; you're born with them. Jerone Wedig discovered that early in life.
"The sooner you figure it out, the less you're fighting upstream," Wedig said. "I kind of embraced it as a kid."
He also picked up cutting hair at 12 years old.
"By the time I was 19, I was in Japan," Wedig explained. "I was doing a service mission and I was cutting hair almost every day."
After returning to the U.S., Wedig became licensed and started his own barbershop in Seattle. It mixed his loves of people, cutting hair and the blues all under one roof. He later moved back to Utah, opening another Blues Barbershop in Holladay about a year and a half ago.
"I never considered doing hair for a living, but I also knew I wanted a family and that musicians didn't make the most stable money," Wedig said.
The walls inside Blues Barbershop are covered with posters, guitars and old-fashioned barbershop memorabilia. Blues music always plays in the background. In the basement, which Wedig made into a recording studio, he has a full set of drums, keyboards and more guitars.
"I had to bring all my toys to work," Wedig said, smiling.
Wedig is just one of a couple of dozen small-business owners featured on a new website, www.facesofmainstreet.com. The site was launched by Lendio, a Utah-based company that helps small-business owners find financing options.
"Their stories are inspiring," Burke Alder, vice president of marketing at Lendio, said. "They lift us every day here. They inspire us to continue to make the economy strong through supporting small business."
The website launched a few weeks ago and urges business owners, supporters and independent photographers to submit stories from around the country.
Some patrons say Blues Barbershop offers something big businesses cannot.
"You can get a haircut anywhere," Mike McCarthy said. "But a good haircut and good friends and good conversation, you can't get anywhere."
Wedig said while his barbershop supports his family and his love for music, the people make the job worthwhile.
"It's never boring," Wedig said, laughing. "We've got live bodies. We've got live ones all day long, you know. And people are characters. They feel like they're allowed to let their hair down here."
