“Chicago’s always good man,” Lewis told us after the show. “Out of all the three major cities, Chicago is number one.” There’s little doubt that Chicago doesn’t feel the same way about Lewis and The Honeybears after an inspired performance.

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears are a relatively “new” band, but their music comes from a place of old souls. Lewis evokes the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown; one of his influences, along with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf and Eazy-E. While purists might scoff at those comparisons (likely they haven’t seen him live yet) consider this: James Brown scored his first R&B #1 hit “Try Me” when he was just 25 years old. Redding became a legend before his tragic death at age 26.

Another influence on Lewis is a man by the name of Little Joe Washington, whom Lewis talks about in our interview with him (see video below). Essentially, Washington is a street musician with paying gigs from time to time. And it’s that street-wise sensibility, improvisational flair and live-in-the-moment attitude that permeates Lewis’ music and lyrics.

Back in the day (just a few years ago) Lewis was working in a pawn shop. After seeing a number of hocked guitars come over the counter, he finally picked one up. “I got the guitar and just tried to learn it,” says Lewis. “My neighbors had a band. They didn’t have to work, all they had to do was play music. I thought; dude I gotta get in on that! I just tried to learn as much as I could. That’s how I really started performing … I hated my day job.”

Thank goodness for bad day jobs.

Below is a video from Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears’ performance at Chicago’s Folk and Roots Festival, including a few different songs and interview footage of both Joe Lewis and keyboardist Ian Varley. Tour dates are below the video – go see them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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