I've heard alot of people say that Huey Lewis plays the harmonica but doesn't really PLAY the harmonica like a real Bluesman would.
Heres a short clip of Huey Lewis playing Daybreak, a british morning show that millions of us brits like waking up to(personally i'm not a T.V. person first thing in the morning so i must have missed this).
It was filmed during the time where the Chillian Minors were stuck underground.
He starts playing starts at 4:oo
I personally think he has really good tone and can really play a solid groove. I think he may even be tongue blocking??
Has Huey got the chops?
What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/user/fiendant?feature=mhum
Last Edited by on Mar 28, 2011 11:23 PM
He may be more of a rock or R&B player, but so what? He is competent playing the harmonics. Harmonica can be used effectively for more styles of music than just blues. After all, blues is a style of music, not a religion.
I think if Huey fronted a blues band opposed to a rock band where he plays limited harp that he would be considered a good harp player as well as a good singer.The question is though,would he be on a Brit morning tv show if he had chosen that path,I think not,but I,d have to think that his true love in music would be R&B and straight up Blues.I,d also have to think that his harp playing when his band was in they,re hey day turned alot of folks onto the harp.And that s a good thing.BTW why aren,t Dannecker harps ever mentioned on the forum,aside from Musselwhite playing them in the past it seems they never get any props,any feedback?
On his tone- IMO it is genericly competent. Nothing that grabs me, but as good as most bar band harp players. He probably wouldn never had made a living doing blues and the odds of making a living doing blues is shrinking by the year.
I always am confused as to how artists can state outright like Huey did here that his music of choice is not what he made a living doing. For me, that is such a sad story. I can't tell you how many world reknowned musicians have told me the same thing (blues musicians included). I am not judging these guys but am genuinely confused and will forever be on this subject. For me, what inspires me the most is what I do. Life is too short to be working jobs that are not inspirational. Our culture sees musicians as exempt from this when in reality very few, even weekend bar bands, play exactly what inspires them. Most are compromising as much and often a whole lot more than their fans that see them as the ultimate freedom characters. Guys like Huey are so seeped in the music busines system that they are beyond doing anything that would jepordize their status in it. After so many years of thinking hit songs when creating music, one gets conditioned to the lifestyle. I have seen it countless times. Walter
PS: I understand the temptations of worldly fortunes for doing music that isn't your true love. I have said no to many opportunities that would have had me playing with some of the most famous players in the world and on acadamy award winning movie soundtrack. 10k was offered to me for doing the color of money soundtrack with robbie robertson and clapton. I geuninely confused the guys on the project for saying no espically since I was playing gigs for 10-100 bucks a night and living at the poverty level. Robbie kept saying- this will open big doors for your music. I said no it won't because when I said I would spontaneously do my harp playing for the soundtrack you said no. It would have to be scripted/ehearsed and I would have to be in Los Angles for a couple weeks. I said people will know me for that and not spontobeat because everytime I say how I do music, it is nixed in the scenes you operate in. That sounded like a level of dantes inferno- getting famous, best gear, best gigs, best backing musicians, best travel/accomodations, and not being able to play the music that truly inspires me............ If I have to spend the rest of my life playing/recording in my studio I am fine with it. The music business will have to take me as I am or nothing at all. I feel no resentment, just confusion. My heart says ones art is only art when it is freely released with no concerns for worldly gains. Sometimes I think I am driven on a different level with my music and painting than most?? ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
I saw Huey years ago in NYC at a big blues revue @ Madison Square. All the usual suspects were there and then Huey. He seemed out of place but he fit right in jamming with various acts, singing and playing. He has a crack band and the material on the new/old tunes sounds excellent. Great player, great talent and I am delighted after all those years of playing hit tunes, he comes back to what he and his band love. Very cool, good for him.
Last Edited by on Mar 29, 2011 6:04 AM
"check out their early stuff" sounds like a familiar refrain, but Huey and the News were doing blues songs. There is a blues influence in their music, esp with the horns. They have a blues-pop thing going in a lot of their songs. He's good on harp, he even defeated Truman.
Huey is a very good harp player. There are some very important basics we all would do well to emulate from his playing.
timing, phrasing, attack, taste, restraint, serving the song, entertaining the audience.
He does not play a ton of harp - but when it comes out it adds excitement and drives the music. He is not playing to impress other harp players, show us how fast he can play etc. - he plays parts that make the song better & help make them g-d forbid, - Hits !
No - he didn't advance the technical frontier of the instrument and he does not have the tone of Gruenling or Sonny Boy - but he is a genuine harp player. Unlike Jack Bruce on train time , Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Steven Tyler Aerosmith etc.
Not that some of these guys cant play at all - but none of them are much beyond advanced beginner imo - yet feel free to pull it out and wail away because : a. - they are rock stars, and b. -" it's only a harmonica"
for my blues taste i also think he's excellent (seen him live a few times) and quite under-rated. harp get's some good exposure from him - not just another rock guy wailing on the 4! ---------- ~Banned in Boston!
Wait a minute, don't throw Jack Bruce under the bus! I know there are guys on this forum who could probably take "Traintime" into the stratosphere, but I think if you look at this piece and consider his vocals too it's an outstanding performance! Just him and Ginger Baker, no guitar.
Putting opinions of this performance, and Cream in general aside, - You can not argue that Jack Bruce is a genuine harp player based on this or any other performance that I've heard. You can enjoy what he's doing on this - and obviously lots of people do, - but as I said above, this is advanced beginner , or ok - maybe a smidge higher, harp playing.
Its the type of thing that makes anyone think that if they can chug along and bend a note or two - they should get on stage with a harmonica. He would not be in a band with Eric Clapton if Eric played guitar at the level he plays harmonica. No way. Do you dissagree? In a sense that's saying 'it's not really important to be good at this instrument because it's not a serious instrument'
Huey Lewis may not be the ultimate player - but he does respect the instrument. He has worked at it and takes it seriously. You don't have to like his music as much as you like Cream's - but in terms of the harp - he deserves way more 'prop's'
A little better than an advanced beginner? Jeeez, Bonedog, you're a tough grader!
I agree with you that Jack Bruce was in Cream due to his vocals and bass playing, for sure. But! His harp playing in no way brings down the band, IMO. ----------
No big disagreement on that score. The main comparison with Huey is someone who actually plays harp as one of his main things , vs someone who takes it out now and again. I am probably overly touchy, but when a 'rock star' who is a more ocassional type player pulls it out onstage and is not really accomplished at it - I think it trivializes the instrument.
When things get really slow around here I'll start an OT Cream vs. Grateful Dead - which music is more self indulgent? - thread. I know I'm in the minority on that one. ----------
I think Huey Lewis plays great harp, and I would like to hear more of it. Seems like every talk show he's on, he has a harp with him and always talks about playing harmonica, how he got started on it, how he travelled around Europe after high school, making money playing harp, getting a band and making his first hit.
I think he's a great spokesperson for playing harp !
He played that same harp diddy on the Rachel Ray show recently, and the women on that show can clap better than that guy on daybreak.. cheez that guy has no sense of rhythm !
Here's a link to the Rachel Ray show... I now like to play that little harp diddy myself and add my own stuff...
