DC Gets Down to Black Joe Lewis

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, D.C., February 23

The Rock and Roll Hotel had been a funeral home until the 1968 riots razed that neighborhood. It remained boarded up for decades until it re-opened as a music venue in 2006, and some staff claimed they have seen ghosts in there. It’s possible the ghost of James Brown was lurking around on February 23^rd when Austin’s Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears were rocking out at this club.

Perhaps the ghosts of some old blues greats were also in the room. While Lewis is often compared to Brown in style, he also channels the sounds of old blues legends such as another one of his influences, Lightnin’ Hopkins, whose guitar he was playing that night. Showing off the guitar, he said, “If you don’t know who Lightnin’ Hopkins is, that’s your problem.”

Having seen Lewis in a large festival setting (Austin City Limits 2008 and 2009) and as an opener at the 9:30 Club, it was refreshing to see him play such an intimate venue, where the classic blues really shone through. But there was also plenty of that rough, yet soulful James Brown-style yelling in there too. The crowd went wild for all of it, but really got pumped midway through the set when he played his catchy single, “Sugarfoot,” accented by his excellent three-piece horn section.

Lewis has admitted he often writes songs on the fly, and one such example is “Big Booty City,” which he wrote on an earlier visit to DC while standing outside the 9:30 Club, admiring the ladies walking by. The debut album, Tell 'Em What Your Name Is, really is fantastic, with music that will make you dance around the room and a few lyrics that will make you laugh out loud.The opening act started the night off with some fine Delta Blues featuring Lightnin’ Malcolm with Cedric Burnside, who is one of 32 grandchildren of the late bluesman RL Burnside. What a smokin’ night of music it was.