Dirty Bird Blues tells the story of Manfred Banks, a Chicago blues musician and blue-collar worker, who drifts from Chicago to Omaha in the early 1950s. Caught between the casual comfort of a relationship with a male buddy and the domestic responsibilities of a wife and child in a racist America that assaults him at every turn, Manfred seeks easy answers in "Dirty Bird" (Old Crow whiskey) and in moving on. But the blues in his soul and the dreams in his mind keep bringing him back to face himself.

After a nightmarish descent into his own depths, Manfred emerges with fresh awareness and possibility. Through Manfred we witness and experience the process by which modern American English has been vitalized and strengthened by the poetry and the poignancy of the African-American experience. As Manfred struggles with the constraints of society and his private turmoil, his rich inner voice resonates with the blues.