Black Joe Lewis (born

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, United States) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

artist influenced by

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

. He formed Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, in 2007. In March 2009, ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'' listed Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears as one of the "Ten Bands Set to Break Out at 2009's SXSW Festival."

History

While working at a pawn shop in Austin, Joe Lewis first picked up the guitar. Shortly thereafter, Joe Lewis immersed himself in the local Red River blues/garage scene, recording and performing with Austin musicians including the Weary Boys and Walter Daniels. Upon the release of the 2005 Brian Salvi produced ''Black Joe Lewis and The Cold Breeze'' EP with standout track "Bitch I Love You" featuring

Matt Hubbard Matt Hubbard is an American television writer and screenwriter who has worked on many television shows. He graduated from Beverly High School, in Beverly, Massachusetts in the class of 1996, where he excelled in the English Department. He la ...

on Rhodes electric piano and the 2007 album ''Black Joe Lewis'', both released on Italian label Shake Yo Ass Records, the band gained critical national acclaim and toured as openers for

Spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...

and

Okkervil River Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They bega ...

in 2007. The band signed to

Lost Highway Records Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashv ...

in 2008. Following the signing and performances at 2008's

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

and

Austin City Limits Music Festival The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based ...

, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears released a four-song EP on January 27, 2009. Their debut album ''Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!'' was released on March 17, 2009. It was produced by Spoon's drummer

Jim Eno Jim Eno (born February 8, 1966) is the drummer and one of the founding members of the Austin, Texas band Spoon. He is also a record producer and a semiconductor chip designer. Eno is not related to sound engineer and record producer Brian Eno; ...

. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears have performed at music festivals including

Bonnaroo The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in M ...

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

Bumbershoot Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend (leading up to and including the first Monday of September) at the ...

Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a music festival held annually in San Francisco, California, at Golden Gate Park. The festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the l ...

Sasquatch! Music Festival Sasquatch! Music Festival was an annual music festival held at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, United States. It took place on Memorial Day weekend, running for three to four days. In 2018, it was announced that the festival was ...

Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival was a four-day music festival held annually in early June from 2004 to 2015 at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. Named for the Wakarusa River, the festival was first held at Clinton State Park immediately ...

Musikfest ''Musikfest'' is an American music festival that has been held annually since 1984 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the nation's largest non-gated free music festival. The festival begins on ...

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...

, and

Splendour in the Grass Splendour in the Grass (commonly referred to as Splendour) is an annual Australian music festival held at the North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, New South Wales. Since its inauguration, the festival has also been held in various locations near B ...

. The band has appeared on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

'', ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'', ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

'', and '' Later... with Jools Holland''. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were featured in ''Echotone'', a 2010 documentary about the Austin, Texas music scene. On August 25, 2013, Joe Lewis stated on NPR that he was trying to shed the 'Honeybears' portion of the band's name, and had never intended for it to continue for so long. In 2017, his album ''Backlash'' debuted at number 3 in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top Blues Albums Chart.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2007 - ''Black Joe Lewis'' - Weary Records * 2009 - ''Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!'' - Lost Highway Records/

Universal Motown Universal Motown Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Universal Motown Republic Group. It was the contemporary incarnation of the legendary Motown Records label, and the "urban" half of UMG, although there were some ...

* 2011 - ''Scandalous'' - Lost Highway Records * 2013 - ''Electric Slave'' - Vagrant Records * 2017 - ''Backlash'' - INGrooves Music Group * 2018 - ''The Difference Between Me & You'' - Black Joe Lewis

EPs

* 2005 - ''Black Joe Lewis and the Cold Breeze'' - Shake Yo Ass Records * 2009 - ''Black Joe Lewis'' -

Singles

* 2011 - "Boogaloo on Clark Street" - with The Soul Distributors - Papa Bill Records * 2020 - "Five Dollars"

References

External links

Official Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears WebsiteOfficial Black Joe Lewis MySpace ProfileOfficial Black Joe Lewis Uvumi Profile with streaming songsSpin.comStuckbetweenstations.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Austin, Texas American blues musical groups American soul musical groups Lost Highway Records artists 2007 establishments in Texas