Brace Yourself: Black Joe Lewis is on Tour

Mike — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:10:57 +0000

The Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears 2009 tour will leave a steady stream of believers in its wake. It starts with Texas native Joe Lewis, who is raw and unapologetic. Songs on the new record “Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is!” are unfiltered and speckled with profanity, but ultimately inspired, groovy – and hilarious at times. They include titles like “Big Booty Woman,” and “Cousin Randy,” which tells the tale of crazy cousin Randy, whom Lewis suspects has the devil in him, because he decided to go fishing at 2 a.m. What you get is a modern infusion of soul, blues, funk, rock and bluegrass, all wound up in Joe Lewis’ imaginative lyrics and forceful, in-your-face delivery. It’s impossible to not prick up your ears to try and hear every word, every detail of every song.

UPDATE: Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears came to Chicago and we took them in. See Black Joe live and updated tour dates.

Brought up in Round Rock, Texas, Lewis was exposed to soul and blues early by his dad and uncles. He then ended up working in a pawn shop where he eventually picked up one of many hocked guitars and started playing. He then went from playing self-described “terrible” solo open mic gigs; to almost giving up music; to catching the attention of future guitarist Zach Ernst; to fronting a show for Little Richard; to touring with Spoon. In fact, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears’ new album got production help from Spoon drummer, Jim Eno, who said, “We were able to do about 75 percent of the album live, and that’s something you very, very rarely do.”

“All the songs on this record, I just made up as I went along. I couldn’t do a lot of ‘em again if I didn’t have ‘em on tape.” – Joe Lewis

Lewis already draws comparisons to James Brown. It’s justified – his influences include Brown and Lightnin’ Hopkins, and he even sounds a bit like Brown. You can also feel some Otis Redding. Lewis is a smart man too, joining a talented cast of musicians in The Honeybears who, only assembled a few years ago, play like they grew up together. But this isn’t your granddaddy’s soul and blues band. It’s all original. It flows free. And there’s so much more coming – you just can’t stop something like this.

“The way I look at it, I have to step my game up every day,” says Lewis. “I look at it as a challenge. It’s great that we’ve gotten noticed, but we’ve got to keep those people interested and bring more people in. If you don’t keep moving forward, nobody’s gonna care – and I’m gonna make sure people really care about this band.”

You hear that buzzing? It’s Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. They’re about to burst onto the scene, and all up in your town.

Head to the official website to hear some streaming tunes. You can also get a free video download of “Sugarfoot,” and free MP3 at Amazon MP3 store. You’ll be hearing this song all summer on the radio.

Below is a new video of “I’m Broke.”

Below that are the Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears 2009 tour dates – and they just added an August 7 date at Lollapalooza.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jun 2 2009	8:00P	Diamond Ballroom w/ New York Dolls	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Jun 3 2009	8:00P	House of Blues-Dallas w/ New York Dolls	Dallas, Texas
Jun 4 2009	8:00P	House of Blues-Houston w/ New York Dolls	Houston, Texas
Jun 5 2009	8:00P	Emo’s Outside w/ New York Dolls	Austin, Texas
Jun 7 2009	8:00P	House of Blues-New Orleans w/ New York Dolls	New Orleans, Louisiana
Jun 9 2009	8:00P	State Theatre w/ New York Dolls	St. Petersburg, Florida
Jun 10 2009	8:00P	Culture Room w/ New York Dolls	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Jun 11 2009	8:00P	House of Blues-Orlando w/ New York Dolls	Orlando, Florida
Jun 12 2009	8:00P	Center Stage w/ New York Dolls	Atlanta, Georgia
Jun 14 2009	8:00P	The Music Farm w/ New York Dolls	Charleston, South Carolina
Jun 15 2009	8:00P	Amos’ Southend w/ New York Dolls	Charlotte, North Carolina
Jun 16 2009	8:00P	Norva w/ New York Dolls	Norfolk, Virginia
Jun 18 2009	8:00P	Trocadero w/ New York Dolls	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 19 2009	8:00P	9:30 Club w/ New York Dolls	WASHINGTON, Washington DC
Jun 20 2009	8:00P	Starland Ballroom w/ New York Dolls	Sayerville, New Jersey
Jun 22 2009	8:00P	Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ New York Dolls	Brooklyn, New York
Jun 24 2009	8:00P	Higher Ground w/ New York Dolls	South Burlington, Vermont
Jun 25 2009	8:00P	Pearl Street Nightclub w/ New York Dolls	Northampton, Massachusetts
Jun 26 2009	8:00P	The Chance w/ New York Dolls	Poughkeepsie, New York
Jun 28 2009	8:00P	Paradise Rock Club w/ New York Dolls	Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 29 2009	8:00P	Club Soda w/ New York Dolls	Montreal, Quebec
Jun 30 2009	8:00P	Lee’s Palace w/ New York Dolls	Toronto, Ontario
Jul 4 2009	8:00P	Red Rocks	Morrison, Colorado
Jul 9 2009	8:00P	Stubb’s Outside w/ Spoon	Austin, Texas
Jul 11 2009	8:00P	Chicago Folk & Roots Festival	Chicago, Illinois
Aug 8 2009	2:00P	San Jose Jazz Festival – Main Stage	San Jose, California
Aug 8 2009	7:00P	San Jose Jazz Festival – Blues Stage	San Jose, California
Aug 27 2009	7:00P	Salt Lake City Arts – Twilight Series	Salt Lake City, Utah
Oct 4 2009	8:00P	ACL Festival – time TBD	Austin, Texas

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Brace Yourself: Black Joe Lewis is on Tour