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Nothing is more exciting for a fan of the blues than to see young musicians embrace the genre with open arms. Austin in particular has always been blessed with a music scene that is one of the country’s prime breeding grounds for generations of top-notch blues talent. There’s the legendary Chitlin’ Circuit out on the East side, where clubs like the newly resurrected Victory Grill became a hot spot for national touring acts and other Texas bluesmen and women. Eddie Stout of Dialtone Records has showcased the next generation of Austin blues players on 2007’s Texas Northside Kings (#DT0017). And how many upcoming stars did Clifford Antone, one of the city’s most-loved blues patriarchs, adopt along the way, providing a space to woodshed and learn firsthand from the masters themselves? Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guy Forsyth, Sue Foley, Candye Kane, Derek O’Brien, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and most recently, Gary Clark, Jr. and Eve Monsees—the list is long and impressive. But then there was Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears.
It’s safe to say that nobody in town, nobody, is laying down a groove quite like these guys. Lewis is a young guitarist and soul shouter and the front man for his band the Honey Bears, an old-school seven-piece outfit forged in the mold of Stax’s Mar-Keys and Bar-Kays. Although the band has only been performing together for less than a year, these talented newcomers on the Austin music scene have unleashed one of the toughest, rawest funk records to come across this reviewer’s desk in some time.
Lewis is known for his collaborations with The Weary Boys and the Cool Breeze Band, who contributed to his debut vinyl EP on Italy’s Shake Your Ass Records in 2005. In 2006 he released an excellent self-titled album that featured rarities like a cover of James Brown’s “I Don’t Mind” and an interpretation of Houston blues sage Lil’ Joe Washington’s “I Know Somebody Loves Me,” in addition to some progressive punk-blues in the form of “DC Killa” and “Boogie” (both Lewis originals).
Lewis’ newest project with The Honey Bears is nothing short of inspired. A cross between the classic sound of Stax Records in the 1960s, deep blues from Houston’s Third Ward, and James Brown at his funkiest, this group twenty-something devotees of hard blues-funk are breathing new life into a musical tradition that has all but disappeared from the Austin scene in recent decades. After thrilling audiences at the 2007 SXSW Music Festival and a recent West Coast tour with Spoon, Lewis and his crew impress on a new EP with six screaming soul tracks that sound like a mix between James Brown, Lil’ Joe Washington, and Sam Cooke.
The album kicks off with the band throwing down a tough groove on “Jungle.” It’s songs like these that kept a capacity crowd dancing until after hours during a recent performance at the Victory Grill in East Austin. The Honey Bears horn section shines on the next cut, a hard-hitting love song titled “If There’s a Will,” before Lewis launches back with the proclamation “excuse me while I lay some funk on the world!” that announces the opening to “Raise Your Window.” Howlin’ Wolf’s classic blues “Evil” gets a wicked, horn-fused funk treatment, followed by the instrumental “Humpin,’” originally a Bar-Kays tune and performed here with a sense of honesty and playfulness that is a joy to listen to. The album closes, fittingly, with Lewis pleading on bended knee on his original “Please,” one of the best songs on the EP. The entire set list is uncompromising, undeniably funky stuff, and offers listeners a tasty appetizer for the next course: an upcoming full length LP Lewis and his crew are currently recording in Jim Eno’s Austin studio.
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