What You Don't Know About "Blue Skies" feat. Eric Baker

On a cold December night in 1926, a Broadway producer and leading lady secretly inserted a rival composer's song into Rodgers and Hart's new musical — and the audience went so wild they stopped the show with more than 20 encores. That song was "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin, and the backstage betrayal behind it is just the beginning of the story. This week on Century Songs, co-host and musician Eric Baker joins the show to talk about his musical journey — from singing in church at age four, to discovering Nat King Cole and Harry Connick Jr. on vinyl, to building School of Rock franchises in Indiana and performing regularly at Feinstein's. Plus, Eric faces the "What You Don't Know About Blue Skies" quiz: Was the song really a lullaby? How did it end up in the first talking film? And who actually stood up to sing that final encore when Belle Baker forgot the words? Featuring a live performance of "Blue Skies" by the Century Songs house band members Fred Withrow (upright bass), and Mike Kessler (drums) with Eric Baker (piano-vocals) and Shawn O'Connor (clarinet).