“In the back of my head there was Muddy Waters and all the other blues singers singing, ‘Going down to New Orleans,'” says 27-year-old guitarist and singer Jeremy Lyons regarding his move to the Crescent City in 1992. The Ithaca, New York, native studied ethnomusicology in college, taking an interest in the indigenous music of different cultures. When considering where he could broaden his own playing after gigging in Northern coffeehouses, he was hooked after a couple of visits to the Crescent City. Upon his arrival, he entered the local scene the old-fashioned way.
“I didn’t really imagine being able to make a living at it here, until I started playing on the street,” remembers Lyons. “For me it was a fantastic place to learn. I was really lucky in that I was able to fall into a group of people who were much better than me–guitar players like Kenny (Holladay) and Augie (Rodola Jr.), and other singers, like Corey (Harris). It was just amazing. I was being paid to get guitar lessons from Kenny Holladay. And it was great as far as learning how to perform in front of an audience and how to attract a crowd, because it was very competitive, partly with other musicians but also with all the other sights and sounds of the Quarter. For us, we always challenged ourselves not to repeat songs in our set. We’d do ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ and everything, but only once a day, because we’d be out there for five hours or six hours a day, with maybe two or three singers. So it really focused us on the rhythms and the music itself rather than the repertoire.”
Lyons was a member of The Big Mess Blues Band, led by the take-no-prisoners slide guitar playing of Augie Rodola Jr. (Lyons’ not kidding when he says he learned from great players: check out the Big Mess Blues Band’s CD “Drinker’s Choice,” which also features the piano playing of Scott Kirby and is a timeless straight-from-the-guts blues record). After playing in Jackson Square with the band through various personnel changes — Rodola now lives in Mississippi — for four years, exhaustion was wearing Lyons down.
“One thing that was a drag was the competition for finding a place to play. We’d have two or three hour shifts where someone would go out there at maybe two in the morning, and someone would spell them at four, and so on, so we could get to play at 11:30. And I was trying to play more at clubs, and it was like burning the candle at both ends. I’d finish a gig at four or five in the morning, and then try and get up an hour later to play in the street. Plus it’s getting really hairy out there with the legality; they’re enforcing curfews, you can’t play in the evening…and I wanted to focus more on my own career, playing for an audience that’s more intimate.”
Lyons has been a regular at Margaritaville Cafe for over a year now, and the move indoors seems to have paid off. This month Lyons celebrates the release of his debut CD Deltabilly Swing, a surprisingly mature collection that showcases Lyons’ affinity and talent for pre-World War II, ragtime and Piedmont-influenced songs and inspired fingerpicking. Playing national and electric guitars, Lyons tackles chestnuts like Blind Blake‘s “Rope Stretchin’ Blues,” Leadbelly‘s “Keep Your Hands Off Her,” and Jazz Gillum‘s “Crazy About You.” There’s also two tasty original Lyons workouts–“Coffee Rag” and “Butterfingers Rag”–and his relaxed and lighthearted vocals contribute to the feel of a properly juiced jug band. It’s a far cry from the Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan covers that a lot of young guitar players traffic in.
“Mississippi John Hurt is one of my favorites, and John Cephas too,” says Lyons. “I was always into that rhythmic sound, being able to have that backbeat while you’re playing, even if you’re playing solo. I have a pretty broad range of stuff, and sometimes grasp towards the obscure stuff.”
In live shows, Lyons also has a strong repertoire of Delta material. You can see for yourself at two record release parties/performances for Deltabilly Swing on January 31. At 2:00 p.m. on the 31st, he plays in-store at The Louisiana Music Factory, and at 10:30 that night he’ll be at Margaritaville Cafe. Other Lyons shows in January include an acoustic night at Le Bon Temps Roulé on Jan. 8, the Dream Palace Jan. 11, Jan. 23 at Smoky Row in Houma, Jan. 24 at The Tap Room in Covington, his regular Monday night shows at The Dragon’s Den, and Fridays at Margaritaville (8:30 p.m.).
There’s more good news for fans of soulful dobro and slide-guitar playing: Spencer Bohren has moved back to New Orleans. Bohren was a fixture on the local blues scene in the 80s, regularly holding court at Tipitina’s et. al, and he recorded a live album here. After leaving the city in 1983 and criss-crossing the country before settling in Wyoming, Bohren’s continued to make great music, including his 1995 CD Present Tense, which featured the rhythm section of Reggie Scanlan and Frank Bua of the Radiators. Bohren’s latest release is the acoustic blues of Dirt Roads (Zephyr Records), a fine record that features Bohren in tandem with his occasional touring partner Jab Wilson on harmonica. Catch Bohren at Tipitina’s on January 7.
Judging from the club schedules for the New Year, blues is alive and well in New Orleans. House of Blues kicks off the first weekend of 1998 with back-to-back heavyweight shows: Chicago’s queen of the blues Koko Taylor brings her trademark roar to town Jan. 2, and Texas’ six-string god Jimmie Vaughan plays Jan. 3. Le Bon Temps Roule has a strong month, with Paula and the Pontiacs Jan. 9, Sunpie Barnes on Jan. 15, the Adams-Griffin Project on Jan. 16, J. Monque D. Jan. 23, Nelson Lunding and Blues In the Pocket Jan. 24, and the John Carey Band on Sat. Jan 31.
Vic’s Kangaroo Cafe has a great weekend Jan. 16 and 17, with Eric Green and the Gaturs on Friday night and Merritt and the Bloodhounds that Saturday. Andy J. Forest brings his harp to Vic’s on Jan. 24, and on Jan. 31, consumate six-stringer Jack Cole pairs with Mark Bancroft for what should be a diverse set of blues.
Across town at Rock’ n Bowl, look for two great P.O.P. nights in January: Irma Thomas, Al “Lil Fats” Jackson, Henry Butler and Davell Crawford on Jan. 3, and Tab Benoit, Snooks Eaglin, and Marva Wright on Jan. 17.
Margaritaville Cafe continues a regular roster of great local talent, with Kenny Holladay weekdays at 3:00 p.m., Coco Robicheaux Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m., and piano master Eddie Bo every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Wallace Johnson headlines on the Margaritaville main stage Friday, Jan. 30.
Two great regular Thursday night gigs should keep blues fans busy in January: Marva Wright holds court at the Funky Butt, and Henry Butler plays the first four Thursdays of the month at The Maple Leaf.
