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ACL taping recap: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
There are different levels or shades of confidence in the music world, ranging from the agonizingly timid (Elliott Smith) to the gratingly overblown (hi Kanye!). It takes a healthy ego just to venture onto the stage in front of Austin City Limits’ faux skyline and join the Willie Nelson fraternity in the first place, so from the jump we know that hometown rock-and-soul man Black Joe Lewis is plenty comfortable with himself. That Lewis and his band The Honeybears would be in full funky bloom under the stage lights was pretty much a given.
The surprise came toward the end of the roughly 90 minute set when the band - which ranged from a traditional rock four piece to an octet with three horns and Spoon fulltimer Jim Eno as guest auxiliary percussionist - effectively pulled toward the rear, became a backing church band for gospel group The Relatives and let the special guests from Dallas pretty much steal their show. That right there is real confidence.
More on that further down, so as to spend the appropriate time on the portion of the night that will likely dominate the broadcast episode. Monday’s taping showcased more of ACL’s uncanny streak for getting bands on camera when they’re in a perfect pocket of their careers. A week prior BJL&HB made it into the nation’s living rooms via an appearance on David Letterman’s late night show, and the acclaimed new album “Scandalous” continues the band’s penchant for dirty, R&B-influenced rock ‘n’ roll.
About that confidence thing; a withdrawn man does not nonchalantly take the stage in a custom made black suit with decorative red snake and green marijuana leaf embellishments - “These are the tightest pair of pants I’ve ever had on in my whole life.” - and from the first smack of “Stop Breakin’ Down” the group felt comfortably loose but solid. By turns charging (“Mustang Ranch,” “Booty City”), simmering (“Master Sold My Baby”) and artfully profane (“I’m Broke,” “Black Snake”), the outing showcased the many sides of the band, including Lewis’ ability to use the word “baby” in about every conceivable lyrical construct.
Sweaty after a could’ve-been closing stretch of “Big Booty Woman,” “Booty City” and “Sugarfoot,” the band slid back a step on the stage and made room for the five booming voices in sharp white suits and black shirts who call themselves The Relatives. A criminally unknown and staggeringly talented quintet, they reprised their role as deluxe backup singers on the “Scandalous” track “You Been Lyin’” and added emotional punch to the end of a set heavy on celebrating earthly pleasures. That was their first brief appearance.
The second came as the show’s second encore when the full assembly of musicians returned to the stage, with Lewis and his bandmates in full house band mode as The Relatives took the lead on their own “Walking On.” It’s a slow-build groover hung on that biblical idea of everyone letting their shine out on the world, which is a good way of characterizing the group’s effect on a worked-over but still jumping crowd assembled inches from the show’s big dollar television cameras as singer Tommy West, the brother of group leader Rev. Gean West, turned from side to side and did his best to raise the room’s temperature a degree per minute.
With Lewis and company pounding out an eight-note funk measure on repeat, West asked “Can we tear the roof off!?” in a manner that wasn’t clear whether he was asking the audience for their aid or if he was challenging his band to do the deed alone, with the crowd bearing witness. Not that it mattered. The entire exchange was a celebration that moved all present to someplace special. It lasted roughly 10 minutes and likely not a second of that extraordinary coda will make it to air. What the larger world sees on their television sets will be very good; an able and confident band taking the next step in what should be a promising career. What they miss out on, well, they’re probably better off staying none the wiser.
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