The story of how guitarist Caleb Tokarska got to New Orleans is kind of a romantic one, in only the way a musician moving to a city far from home can be. Spoiler alert: This story starts with a young man, sort of like a medieval troubadour, new to a place who always carries his guitar with him, just in case.
You may have seen the tall redhead Georgia boy playing alongside John Boutté and Oscar Rossignoli Thursday nights at d.b.a. or gigging with his band at The Maple Leaf (where he’ll be playing this Thursday, April 7). He smiles softly as he plays and has a coy style of playing his beautiful Maple colored 1948 Gibson l12 guitar. He talks about guitar chord progressions with the same fervor most people talk about Marvel movies or sports. “I don’t know why guitar teachers don’t teach chord inversions first—there’s just so much you can do!” he exclaims. He points out that while the piano is an easy instrument to visualize, you always must remember that the chord formations on the neck of a guitar, which stretches vertically and horizontally, are endless.
There is a wisdom in each note Tokarska plays that belies the young musician’s appearance (after all, he grew up listening to The Meters). OffBeat talked to Tokarska about how he got here, what he’s done, and what’s coming next.
How old were you when you started playing guitar? Who and what influenced you?
I was 12 years old when I first really started playing guitar. My first influence was definitely my dad. He always played in the house when I was growing up and I just always had this notion that guitar was cool because dad was playing it. Both my parents and my stepdad have great taste in music and they were always good about showing me a wide variety of styles. The Grateful Dead is probably the earliest musical sound I can remember from being a kid, but there was everything from James Brown, to the Meters to Willie Nelson and everything in between.
What made you decide to move to New Orleans?
I was looking for somewhere new to go after living in Atlanta for a few years and a friend of mine invited me down to stay for a couple days and we ended up staying for two weeks. I fell in love with the city right away and after seeing George Porter play at the Maple Leaf I knew I was going to live here. Everything fell into place and I just felt a spirit here that I hadn’t encountered anywhere else. It opened up a whole new world for me.
How did you get connected to John Boutté?
So I met John in passing when I first visited town. When I moved a couple months later I went to see him at d.b.a. and I had my guitar with me everywhere I went because I was brand new to the city. He recognized me and we chatted for awhile before and after the show. He told me his guitar player of 20 years (Todd Duke) had just passed away and he wanted me to come work on some music with him. It was such a huge blessing to me because at this point he had never heard me play. He gave me a chance because he saw something in me and knew that I was eager to learn about the culture of New Orleans. There’s a whole world of music of guys like Danny Barker, Snooks Eaglin, and Paul Barbarin that I learned about through him. John has been a great friend and bandleader and I’m honored to play in his band.
Your first record is called Sing Me Back Home. Can you explain the meaning of that title?
The title track of Sing Me Back Home is basically a lament. My dad passed away suddenly in 2018 and I wrote this song a couple months after. It’s meant to express all of the contradictory feelings that you go through when you’re grieving. There’s the visceral feeling in the beginning and the slow dull pain that comes after in the little moments when you realize you won’t ever hear their voice again. At the same time it’s the realization that we stand on the shoulders of every one of those who loved us that has passed. We honor their memory through song, and they live on through us.
It’s a very romantic sort of album with some nice bright moments and some melodic, melancholic moments. It almost comes off as a love letter to music itself. Was that how you intended it?
I just look at it as a snapshot of where I was at in a certain time in my life.
What is something as a guitarist that you wish more people knew about your instrument?
I wish people realized how new the electric guitar is in the grand scheme of things. The guitar itself and guitar-like instruments have been around for centuries in many different cultures but the electric guitar isn’t even a hundred years old. T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian were some of the first ones to start doing it and that was the late 1930s and early 40s. That’s exciting to me because there is still so much ground to cover when it comes to developing your voice on the instrument.
Catch Caleb Tokarska at The Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak Street, this Thursday, April 7 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance here or $15 at the door.
Catch him at French Quarter Fest Sunday, April 24 and at Jazz Fest Saturday, May 7, each time performing with Mr. Boutté.
