![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/black_joe_lewis.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBlack Joe Lewis knows that he musical path he has chosen is a difficult one. In the face of machine-generated pop and a society that seems increasingly afflicted with attention deficit order, the soul-funk-blues of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears can seem out of place. But the Austin musician follows his muse wherever it takes him.<\/p>\n
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears first broke out nationally in 2007 when they landed an opening slot on tours with Spoon and Okkervil River. The band earned positive notices for that year’s self-titled debut full-length album, and it seemed that there was no end to the press coverage. But as often happens in the life cycle of a band, all of that began to slow down.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first started, we were in all the publications, we were on TV and stuff,\u201d Lewis says. \u201cAnd at that point I was like, ‘Man, we haven\u2019t even really done anything yet!’ But that\u2019s how this industry works. Once you start making quality work and you\u2019ve been around forever, nobody really cares because you\u2019re just not new any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis points out the disposable nature of pop, one that seems to have planned obsolescence built into it. \u201cYour biggest pop stars right now \u2013 the ones who have come up with in the last four or five years \u2013 are all people who have gone viral,\u201d he says. \u201cThey got one thing and that\u2019s it. But they\u2019re huge<\/i>. It\u2019s like society\u2019s super ADD.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis believes that an emphasis on all things new is ingrained into the collective pop culture psyche. \u201cPeople are so quick to forget about things nowadays,\u201d he says. \u201cBack in the day, people would kind of retain things longer. So, now you\u2019re trying to constantly figure out ways to stay on the road.\u201d He acknowledges that \u201cyou can\u2019t really go out when nobody\u2019s thinking about you. So we\u2019re all having to put out records over and over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though that comment might make it seem that Lewis doesn’t enjoy making records, that’s not the case. Along with a raft of original compositions, The Difference Between Me & You<\/i> features a reading of Wilco’s \u201cHandshake Drugs.\u201d It’s a reinvention that owes as much to the style of Creedence Clearwater Revival as to anything else. Lewis recalls the moment when he decided to add it to the album. \u201cThis is a good cover,\u201d he thought. \u201cBecause it\u2019s different from what we [usually] do, we can put our own spin on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The unique spin is a product of of Lewis’ unusual musical journey. He grew up in Texas on a steady diet of hip-hop. \u201cMy dad always hated that,\u201d he recalls. \u201cHe thought it was stupid.\u201d Instead, the elder Lewis tried to turn his son onto rock groups like Nirvana. But that presented its own problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, if you were a black kid trying to listen to rock and roll, you just got fucked with,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you played the guitar or if you had a skateboard, everyone was like, ‘Oh, this is white dude shit.’\u201d From his perspective, things are different now. \u201cThe younguns have gotten more open minded over the years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Lewis taught himself to play guitar and started hanging out with musicians. That led to his discovery of the blues. \u201cI\u2019d already heard the blues before through my uncles,\u201d he admits, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t really pay attention. Because that was, like, old people stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Lewis started writing his own material, his take on the blues reflected the influence of the more modern styles that had informed his musical sensibility. The result was something updated, something unique. And for his efforts he has gained a solid following. His 2017 album, Backlash<\/i>, entered Billboard<\/i>‘s Top Blues Albums chart at the #3 position.<\/p>\n
Lewis remains sure of his musical approach, but concedes that it’s out of step with mainstream culture. \u201cI’m a bluesman in 2019,\u201d he says. \u201cWe’re obsolete. We\u2019re playing instruments; the biggest music right now doesn\u2019t have<\/i> instruments.\u201d He lets out a hearty laugh. \u201cIt’s like we’re still fucking with green-screen computers; you know what I’m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Black Joe Lewis knows that he musical path he has chosen is a difficult one. In the face of machine-generated pop and a society that seems increasingly afflicted with attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41],"tags":[3933],"class_list":["post-17234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-interview","tag-black-joe-lewis","cat-9-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17237,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions\/17237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}