Photo provided to the Times Observer Bay Allen with the trophy he won at the 18th Annual Blues Challenge put on by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Bay Allen has been playing music since he was a kid.

Little did he know that would — decades later — turn into a winning performance last month at the 18th annual Blues Challenge as the Best Solo/Duo hosted by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania.

But it did.

He’s headed to Memphis next year to represent the region in the International Blues Challenge as a result.

Blues isn’t his day job. He currently serves as the pastor at Russell United Methodist Church. He’s won some small contests before but nothing quite like this.

“I don’t really bring religion into my music,” Allen said, “not directly, but I tell stories others can connect with, relate to, and then the more people I connect with, the more people I can share my story with and God’s story in the world with.”

Music has been a key part of his life since he started playing the piano when he was seven, picking up the guitar when he was 10 or 11. He got a newspaper route to be able to save up to buy his own guitar.

He played on the college scene when he was a student at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. While working as a pizza shop manager, he was asked to join a church as the director of music. It was there that he felt called into pastoral ministry.

“I always saw music and pastoring as the same message (in a) different pulpit,” he said.

He plays a little bit of everything, but the blues is simply a style of music that he has been drawn to.

“Everything I do kind of has a bluesy overtone,” Allen said. “(I’ve) just always liked the sound. The thing about the blues… (it doesn’t) have to be perfect. Imperfections are part of what makes it real.”

The blues might be typically associated with drinking, dancing and partying, but Allen views the style as in a much more almost spiritual way.

“It’s the modern day form of Lament as seen in the Bible,” he said. “The suffering and hardship is universal, transcending religion. Everyone can connect through our brokenness. It is then through this hardship that our faith can really speak to others.

“Blues music is an authentic way to connect with those who are connected with God, and those who are not,” he explained. ” I just want to share that God is with us in the brokenness, and loves us wherever we are. Blues music is a great way to share love, not hate, with fellow human beings searching for a way to live better.”

Allen was one of 11 who participated in the challenge on April 23 in Coraopolis.

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I was “kinda surprised that I won,” he said, because many of the artists play all the time. “It was cool and affirming. I thought I could win or I wouldn’t have put my hat in the ring.”

Allen had never jumped into a competition like this before. But, he said, he’s “not getting any younger” so “(I) might (as well) try it.”

“It was a really cool day,” he said. “It filled my bucket too…. Pastors aren’t immune to getting down in the dumps.”

The competition “was a nice Sabbath, too; a nice refill.”

And there’s more to come.

The win will send him to Memphis, a city almost synonymous with the blues.

“Win or lose, I’m just having fun,” he said. “I want to see how far I can go with it in all honesty.”

The event will also bring him into contact with other musicians and producers, potentially opening other doors.

His new album is available on his Bandcamp page — bigbayallenblues.bandcamp.com — as well as on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music.