Fort Worth’s Secret Weapon: The Keyboardist Behind Freddie King & Delbert McClinton | Lewis Stephens

You're kind of trying to emulate Leon Russell's playing,
which is pretty much perfect for what Freddie was doing.
But from our general area, because he is a Ford Worth guy.
You're in a Ford Worth in Dallas, right?
Westside.
Yeah.
And I broke five strings on it.
And when the strings break, La La across the pickup
ensured it out.
So it's just like.
K.
K.
No, nobody would have thought that I would be the one.
Right?
Sports talk.
Baseball.
Baseball.
Baseball.
Baseball.
Baseball.
Oh, it's a big mic.
Oh, OK.
All right.
Yeah.
OK.
Now I get it.
We're going to lightning strike, boys.
What happened over there, Grego?
We had a little lightning strike right outside the window.
All right.
All right.
All these Americano league teams.
Don't do it.
You said tip.
Yeah.
OK.
We'll repeat.
I would keep jamming.
To take a colon.
Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off.
This is a little lighter.
What?
I'll let somebody hear that.
Oh, shit.
I'm back.
Oh, shit.
Well, hoi, hoi, everybody.
Welcome to another episode of your dark companion.
Good to have you with us.
I would say this afternoon, but in the world of the podcast,
it could be any time.
It could be in the depth of night.
It could be very early in the morning.
Could be any time.
Because the podcast lasts forever.
But we don't.
Let's see.
This is the what fourth of March?
Or is it the fifth?
Fourth, yes.
Oh, fourth.
All right.
How about that?
Nailed it.
Pretty awesome, shoot.
Yes.
It is the fourth of March.
And today, on this episode,
201.
Wow.
Yeah.
Legacy.
We're going to talk a little music today.
And we got one of the best players
that I've ever heard really around here
from our from not from our Fairburg,
but from our general area,
because he is a Fordworth guy.
You're a Fordworth in Dallas, right?
Westside.
Yeah.
He is a keyboard player extraordinaire.
And when you look at who he's played his craft with,
you will understand that they take him very seriously.
You should too.
He is Louis Stevens.
Thank you, Mike.
How are you, man?
I'm great.
It's good to see you.
You made the drive.
Got here.
Yep.
You didn't make the drive.
Got here and good chair.
Yep.
Good chair.
We always try to have good chairs and good vibes
for everybody here inside the mothership.
I can feel it.
Well, it's interesting because
Louis is kind of a one-of-one
in terms of YDC guests.
I've not had too many people.
In fact, I had just one.
Him.
Contact me and say,
hey, why don't you have me on your podcast?
I played with this guy.
I played with that guy.
I got stories.
You need me on your podcast.
Well, it just so happened that I knew who he was.
So, yes.
Of course, I recognized him.
In that same way,
everybody recognizes him as one of the very best
keyboard players that we have here in the area.
So, of course,
we will have you on here with us.
Happy to be here.
Well, we appreciate you now.
I became aware of you a long, long time ago.
I don't remember everybody that was in the band,
but I remember you were in it.
It was a four-piece.
You were in it.
And Mike Kennedy was on drums.
And there was a guitar player and bass player.
Oh.
That made me too long for you.
Bobby Wilcox was on bass.
Yeah.
And Bill Owens was a guitar player.
I can't for the life of me remember the name of the band.
But boy, we had a lot of fun.
You were good too.
That was like...
That was a really good band.
I was probably 16 or 17 then.
Wow.
And look at you now.
Look at me now.
I'm old.
But feel young.
Now, you tell us that your mom started you on keys?
She did.
That was probably 1959.
I was five years old.
And Van Clyburn won the Chakatsky Medal in Russia.
A Texas boy.
Another Texas boy.
Right.
And every mother in Texas,
one of their sons,
grew up to be Van Clyburn.
So my mother bought the neighbor's piano,
a big upright grand,
weighed a ton.
Six man moved it across the front yards into our living room.
And she found a piano teacher for me
and started me on piano lessons when I was five years old.
Now, what did you think of piano lessons at the age of five?
Frequently, the mind of a five-year-old
will wander pretty steadily.
And my dad, I wanted to do other things like kids do.
You know, ride bicycles, play baseball,
and all those things.
Play with crayons.
Yeah.
Anything, you know.
Digging the dirt.
I love digging hollies.
I like digging hollies.
Man, I love digging hollies.
I dig a holl today.
What's going on right now?
Working on a drainage system.
But she started me in classical piano lessons at five years old.
And it was very regimented.
You know, very structured.
Yeah.
The music.
I mean, you didn't vary.
You didn't know.
You didn't live.
You didn't improvise.
You played the music from the sheet.
And, you know, I wanted to do other things.
But she was very disciplined when I wasn't and kept me on it,
which I'm glad.
You know, she kept me in classical piano for 10 years.
And had some great recitals and did some fun things around Fort Worth.
And it really was the basis, you know,
for the musical knowledge and ability.
That classical piano and the scales and the chords and all that formal stuff.
I can kind of tell because every time I've seen you play,
it's what sticks out.
I mean, you have to take, yeah, the technique.
Yeah.
Oh, somebody can be classically trained.
And you get that from the classical training and the discipline of it
and the technical aspect of it here is just going out and learning it by ear
is a different thing.
Now, frequently, if anybody out there has played with somebody
that's got that kind of training, they do have good technique
but they don't have a lot of feel for music or a lot of soul or anything like that.
Lewis has got both.
Lewis's total package here.
Thank you.
Was that hard for you to acquire?
It was kind of, it was the time of Ed Sullivan and the Beatles, you know.
And that really got my attention.
And when I was in sixth grade, I wanted to play guitar.
I see that's about where I was about to go because, you know,
we are talking about the time of the Beatles.
Right.
And once they were on Ed Sullivan, everybody wanted to play guitar.
So I got a guitar and I didn't know the technical aspects of the guitar.
So I played by ear and that's what broke me from having to have music,
you know, reading music.
Right.
And got me into the improvisational and the feel, the soul, as you say.
Yeah.
So that was the big turning point for popular music.
You know, when I'd stopped taking piano lessons and got a guitar at sixth grade,
started a band with a friend of mine, Monica Anderson from light settlement Texas.
We had a three piece band, two guitars and a drummer.
We played the, you know, little private parties and school events and things like that.
Yeah.
I was in a couple of bands like that too.
Real turning point.
Yeah.
Base players were hard to find.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just, you didn't need it.
Don't need it.
Still don't need it.
I got a left hand.
Do you think your mom saw something in you or was she just trying to give you something to do
or just gezzin or...
I think she had a dream, you know.
You know, she shared an ambition, I guess, that I didn't have at that time.
You know, she had played, actually played violin in school.
She grew up in mineral wells, Texas, even further west.
And so she had a little bases in music, not anything serious.
But she liked it.
Her and her and her cousin would get together on the upright grand piano.
He played piano and they'd do gospel songs and things around the house.
So there was that influence going on.
But she really, I was adopted.
So she really wanted me.
Yeah.
You know, she made a point to get me.
Yeah.
And she wanted the best, I think, for me.
And they were basic human beings.
My mom and dad, they worked hard.
You know, my dad worked two jobs.
She worked in the school, I dream.
But they had dreams for me.
And so she started this journey for me.
And it really gave me a great life.
Yeah.
Now, you sent me some stuff and of the people that you've worked with and everything.
And there are a couple of names on there that I found to be pretty noteworthy.
Guys that I remember, but you're a Fordworth guy.
And people over here in Dallas may not have a tremendous background
with these people.
One of them is John Nitsie.
Yeah, John.
I used to sneak into Gertie's and Mother Blues when I was still in high school
and watch people play and occasionally set in and had come to know John
through another band I played with called Chelsea in out of Fort Worth.
That was a sliding Stevie Davis and Gary Carnes and Randy Bean.
And so the night that I graduated from high school,
my girlfriend and I at the time went to Gertie's at 18.
I guess it was, I don't think it was quite legal then, but John got me in
and so I sat and watched them.
I always loved Ned Singer.
Ned Singer used to play the White Settlement Youth Center with Carly Benton
and Linda Waring.
Yes.
Great bass.
Yes.
And then there was a great band.
Yeah.
Mindboggling.
Yeah.
What they sound like.
John was a great songwriter.
They added Bugs and Bugs was playing with John at this time at the time.
And it was a four-piece band.
So that night, John asked me if I'd want to be in the band
because he'd come and see me play with Chelsea a few times.
And I thought, oh, this is a dream come true.
Little did I know what was coming after that.
But I mean, I was very excited.
So I did, we did that for about three months and the band literally blew up
in Colleen at a poor hood dance.
Everything just kind of went haywire.
John was having too much fun.
Started a song that goes da da da da da da da da da da da da.
That song that he and Bugs used to do.
Right.
And he wouldn't get off of it.
20 minutes in.
He still da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.
Oh my gosh.
So after about 30 minutes,
I tore a piece of duct tape off the Leslie switch.
You know, all the Leslie switches are taped on
because they break off.
Right.
Tape down two Gs on the organ, push the pedal all the way down,
took a taxi back to the hotel.
So that was my exit from the knit singer band.
And John goes into Jack Calmy's office, president of Shoko,
on Monday morning and said, what's going on?
He said, well, got good news and bad news.
Bugs, Linda, and Lewis have all quit.
He said, what's the worst news?
He said, well, Randy Bean didn't quit.
So you still, you have a two-piece man there.
So that was the end of my knit singer experience.
But it was good.
You know, we played some great shows and it rocked.
There are a lot of people over here who may not
remember that name or may not have ever known it
to begin with.
But there was a time back in the day when it looked like
John Knitzinger was going to blow up nationwide.
He got to deal with capital records, I believe.
And I mean, they put a lot behind him.
Yeah, he did the whole car nature with Leon.
I mean, he was destined to be the next big thing.
Yeah.
And I'm not sure what happened, but it didn't work out that way.
I mean, it's Linda talks about it still, you know,
the trajectory that they went on.
Yeah.
It was all up.
And then he's just kind of peedered out for some reason.
But John, like I said, John was a great songwriter.
He wrote a bunch of acoustic songs.
We recorded it at Pentico, kind of as a demo.
Just beautiful songs.
You know, very talented.
Yeah.
Now, if you talk about Knitzinger, you've got to talk about Bugs.
Because you had a little experience with him as well.
I played a lot with Bugs after Knitzinger broke up.
We were going to start a band with the Bugs
and the guys from Gladstone.
I can't remember their names.
But anyway, we did a few rehearsals.
And we're about to start playing live.
And about that time, the Swin Jack County's called
about the Freddie King gig.
Yeah.
And so that, for me, that kind of went sideways.
So, but I always played with Bugs and played with Bugs.
Basically, until he got sick and did a lot of shows with Bugs.
Bugs opened a lot of shows for Freddie.
Yeah.
And I would play with both.
Yeah.
Play with Bugs and play with Freddie.
And those were some hard nights on a grand piano for sets.
You know, a lot of blood, a lot of blood.
But Bugs was just just an incredible player.
And, you know, once he got things turned around
and on the right track, he was just a great guy.
He was.
I'm really honored that at one point,
the great Bugs Henderson actually knew who I was.
Yeah.
That was pretty cool.
We went to see Bugs about maybe two weeks before he passed.
Patty, his, I call Patty to check on him.
And she said, oh, he's burning me up.
He turns electric blanket up to, you know, his highs will go.
And I'm just, I've sweat all night long.
So I said, well, maybe we can do something about that.
So D.D. and I went to Target and bought a Tuesday on electric blanket
and drove it to Tyler for Fort Worth.
And took him to that and set it.
We sat around and watched old videos with Bugs
and his kids came over in Ardo.
And we all sat around and did that and had a nice visit,
you know, just before he passed.
Miss him.
He was one of a kind.
Yeah, I love him.
I remember the first time I met Patty, his, you know,
second wife was at Jay and Jay's in Fort Worth.
And Bugs said, this is the guy.
This is the guy.
They tell this story at campfires about the Ork Tarot Tarot
and about Tape Off and Tape in the Oregon down and leaving.
So you know, a really good keyboard player
can single handedly take a band to the next level.
I mean, I'm all for guitar bands and stuff like that.
But if you got a good keyboard player,
that makes a big difference for me.
Now, how do you approach it when you're playing
with somebody that you never played with
and may not even know him that well?
Right.
Well, what I try to do is make the song better, you know,
try to make the artist sound better, try to add something in there
with the rhythm section because I consider a piano
bass and drums to be the rhythm section.
Because, you know, piano is a rhythmic,
progressive instrument.
Yes, it is.
So I try to find a place in there where I can add something
to it that kind of brings everything together.
And that's kind of a base for the novelty acts
to play over the guitar players.
Yeah.
Describe your relationship with the Hammond B3 organ.
I bought a, my mom and I bought it.
My mom and dad bought me a Hammond BV,
which was pre-procution.
It was an older version of the B3 when I was 16.
And two Leslie's out of the box.
So I would stack those up and they were pretty powerful,
pretty powerful sound.
So I was playing Santana songs and Deep Purple, all that.
First rock song I learned.
And I learned it on that upright grand with half the keys missing
was hushed by Deep Purple, that great version they did.
So that's kind of what started that.
And then that wasn't working out.
So we got the Hammond.
Did you ever have teachers or were you?
No, I just kind of picked it up on my own.
You know, played a lot of doors music on a far phesa
before I got the Hammond.
Yeah.
And then of course when Santana hit, you know, Greg Rowley,
keyboard player for Santana, I wanted to learn all those songs
and we played those in some of the cover bands that I worked with.
And that was a good, good previewing ground,
good way to learn Hammond's kind of follow his lead.
Who are the keyboard guys who shaped you then and now?
Well, then it would be Greg Rowley and, you know,
the Deep Purple guy up on blank John Lorde.
Yeah.
John Lorde loved his stuff, growling, you know,
real distorted rock and roll, just pure rock and roll.
And he was classily trying to.
Yeah, yeah, that's a very unique sound.
It is.
As far as after that, I like Richard Key that played.
Yeah, all the sessions and did was in the band stuff.
Yeah, that was some great stuff, literally.
And, you know, there's some great kind of in that Tom Scott.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I really liked his playing.
And there's some great current players.
Kevin McKendrick that plays with Delbert and has his
own record label in Nashville.
He's a great friend.
We do a lot of two men's stuff together.
Yeah.
Reese Lannins plays with Joe.
What a mess up until recently.
And played with Stevie Ray.
Right.
And the Hall of Fame.
Reese was a great player.
We were good friends.
We've done a lot of two men, you know, gigs.
Played both of us playing one of us on Hammond
and one of us on piano.
Marsha Ball, real style.
You know, she's great at that Louisiana.
And that's, you know, that South Texas stuff down.
Abdon Marshall since the Freddie King days.
He was in a band called Frida and the Fire Dogs.
They played the Armadillo.
Yeah, Abdon and Freddie was playing the Armadillo
every six or eight weeks.
So she's a great friend.
I didn't start to see her until after she kind of went
out on her own, you know.
And she used to play at places up here, up this way.
Right.
A good bit.
Right.
Girties.
Yeah.
How can some of the others?
Yeah.
She's a great human being too.
It's done a lot for musicians in Austin.
You know, they have several charities that she's
to help cope found out in there for musicians.
Well, do you love the B3 or do you hate it?
I love it.
You know, I'm using a no word now when I travel light.
And then we still get a B3 on backline gigs.
Yeah.
So I still play it all the time.
The gear scene for keyboards has really changed because,
you know, back in the day, you would hear B3s,
you would hear acoustic pianos on records.
Right.
But if you were going to try and, you know,
try that on stage, number one, you were going to have to
have a crew of about four guys just to move them around.
Right.
And nobody had that.
And I don't even know.
I never saw anybody really tried with an acoustic piano back then.
Yeah.
You're going to play something that had piano.
And you used a whirly or something like that.
Yeah.
And those are still great instruments.
Whirly is one of my favorite songs.
Yeah.
They are.
I have a lot of texture.
But that's a sound of its own, you know.
It's a whole, it's a whole, and you play it different.
Yeah.
It's a different, different feel.
But we were lucky with Freddie.
He always had piano and B3 on the backline.
So I would have an acoustic piano.
And I learned, Eleanor Knits finger gig as a matter of fact,
the first big show we did in Houston,
opening for Chuck Berry.
There's a guy named Charlie Helping Still,
a piano player of Houston.
Right.
Charlie and Bud vented this piano pickup that went on the piano.
And they were going to be the backing band for Chuck Berry that night.
So he had installed his piano pickup on the acoustic piano,
grand piano.
And I heard this music.
I mean, it filled the whole hall, you know, on their sound check.
So I got up there and got on it.
And I could be as loud as any guitar that's ever been played.
And for the first time, you know, you hear that acoustic.
Well, they must have gave you chills.
It was life changing.
And then for that night, I started one song off
with like an improvisational kind of classical sound and thing,
I want to knit singer songs in a place just when berserk.
You know, just it was so loud and so caseful, in my opinion,
it was pretty good.
And so that I had to have one.
So I had number 002.
Good Lord.
So I had like the second one that he sold.
And the second Helping Still, huh?
Yeah.
And it got stolen out of our equipment truck in Chicago,
like sure, holiday in.
They got in there and got Benny's boots.
Got my Helping Still and a few other little things out of there.
So Jack Calmy's went and bought another one that I don't even work
and flew it up to New York for the next gig.
It was that important to the sound of the show.
Oh, bad.
And I've still got that.
The second one was, I think, in the 70s.
Zero, seven, something, 77 or something like that.
And I've still got it up in my attic.
Have you got your own acoustic piano?
I do.
I have a Baldwin grand at home that I used to record.
I have a home set up, Ruck and Centrax.
Yeah.
I had all over the world.
I just did a project that was recorded at Abbey Road.
I sent the piano, organ and violets out via Dropbox.
Wow.
It's amazing technology.
I don't know how it works.
I know how to do what I need to do.
And that's as far as my knowledge of how Pro Tools works.
Is OK to ask which artist you did that for?
I did that for Albert Castilla.
OK.
He's one of the Gulf Coast.
He's my Zedos best friend and he's in the Blood Brothers with us.
So they went in there as a three piece and a great, great sound.
Drums, I mean, just, you know, just thunderous drums.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
But, you know, did that and sent it off and got dropped it in and they're mixing it.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
It's so fun to be able to do that.
Talk a little bit about how the keyboard gear scene has changed over the years.
Well, you know, it was acoustic pianos then the budget changed.
And a lot of times they would get that old Yamaha CP70.
You remember that thing that fit together in two pieces and folded down and all that.
So that was the next best thing.
It was kind of tinny, but it was a good alternative to not having to play a road
or something like that.
Yeah.
And so that went on for a while.
It was, the strings were very thin.
We, when I was playing with bass or climates, we did an opening slot with Dixie Dregs, you know,
that kind of jazz country punk band.
Yeah.
And I broke five strings on it.
And when the strings break, the lay lay across the pickup and shorted out.
So it just like.
So in a set change, there was a lot of scrambling with Dixie Dregs crew trying to put these strings on the piano and get them out.
And then, you know, it went to the digital piano, the, you know, just the boards, like the Yamaha digital pianos, which were sounded great.
That came along.
And then the next change for me was Paul Thorne came on Delbert's cruise.
We've done almost all Delbert's cruises.
And Paul Thorne came and their guy, Michael, had this little red keyboard.
And I was listening to a Hammond organ, but I didn't see a Hammond organ on stage.
Yeah.
So I said, what is this, sorcery, you know, and went up and kind of seen the Nord.
Yeah.
So I later, a few years after that, bought my first electro, Nord that I used with a Yamaha piano.
For the, I've set it up on a higher tier and used that for the organ parts.
It sounds, I beat it to my organ in my house when I first got it.
And it was almost indistinguishable, even the Leslie clone that it has in it is just perfect.
And you can make it growl.
You can turn the game down.
It gives you a lot of different things you can do.
It has a stop on it, so you can go to that old jazz sound.
They really sound great.
And you're right.
There's very little that they can't do.
I've used it on recordings, and nobody's ever asked, is it real?
It's pretty good.
I'm an endorsed artist with them now, so I can't be.
I'm very happy with their products.
They're really good.
They have a good piano action.
Feels like a piano you can hear where the attack is, where it's hitting.
It's an amazing instrument, amazing company.
It really is.
What's been the hardest gig you've ever had?
I mean, from the standpoint of what you had to learn, what you had to prepare for, what you had to get ready for?
Well, maybe the Freddie gig, you know, because that was a real quick turnaround thing.
I got a call from Jack Calmes, and he said, would you like to play with Freddie?
I said, sure, I'd like to try to get him.
And he said, well, come get these three shelter records.
The three Leon Russell produced Freddie King out of Records' vinyl.
So I went and got those from him and took them home and did the needle off to learn the songs.
And everything.
And there was a lot of nuance in Freddie's songs.
And I mean, you're kind of trying to emulate Leon Russell's playing, which is pretty much perfect for what Freddie was doing.
Leon was an incredible player and a ranger.
So I had a week to prepare for the first gig with Freddie.
How many songs did you have to learn?
Ten on three albums, 30 songs.
Because I had no idea.
I'd never met him, never talked to him.
No, I didn't have a set list or anything.
I kind of went prepared for all of it.
Then some of it was just jamming blues and shuffles and things like that.
But so I learned those 30 songs.
Fluid Atlanta.
Drove to a place called Lake Spivy that was kind of an outdoor concert venue.
There were 15,000 people, something like that.
So I met Freddie at the top of the stairs, walking on the stage in the band.
You know, we all shook hands and went to our separate locations and started playing.
So after that set, he asked if I'd play with him.
I did.
You know, spent a great three years with Freddie playing with everybody in the world at that.
Man, he was so great.
You talk about a guy who could command a room.
Yeah, he would take over when he got on stage.
Clapton would stand kind of back and letting go.
So it was it was fun to watch.
I'm talking about preparing for gigs.
I did kind of want to nerd out a little or at least try to understand a little better.
Like when you are learning 30 songs in a week, I saw you also mention an interview too of, you know,
you would take the needle off the record and stuff like that.
But like, are you taking notes of, you know,
writing down what you did or?
I didn't at that time because my mind was better.
I could remember.
But now I do charts.
Okay.
I do kind of dummy charts for myself that are not what you call a Nashville number system.
You know, really formal charts, but enough that I can get through the song without having to make a lot of mistakes.
Does the song generally stick with you pretty quick once you listen to it?
Yeah, it does.
Playing through it live really helps to remember it, you know,
because it's always a little different than the record.
So, you know, on the job training is kind of where it all gels.
But at least I have enough notes that you know, I can get through, start to finish without having to bump it.
And I can do that too.
I can bump, you know, hit on the like the hand of one or two.
And the chord change happens because I hear where it's going.
Okay.
So I can do that.
And it kind of makes it, makes it, uh, makes it work well enough.
Not, not ideal.
Not, you know, perfectly comfortable.
But can get through it that way.
I have to.
But you're generally able to also still kind of add your own little embellish message.
Yeah, yeah.
Improvs and stuff like that.
Yeah, I certainly do that.
I don't, I don't play.
If somebody wants me to play a part that's exactly like the record, I said we should get them to come do it.
You know, you know, because I have a, I hear it differently.
Everybody hears it different.
Sure.
And I'm going to hear it different, you know, two or three times three.
You know, if I'm doing a recording project and we do three times, three passes, they're all going to be different.
Not necessarily one better than the other, but different.
So I don't try to do a note for note kind of thing.
It's awesome.
Yeah.
That is awesome.
I wish I understood music.
Well, I've been doing a long time.
There.
You know, 66 years now.
That'll do it.
That'll do it.
Wow.
And then that's a hot minute.
Yeah.
For sure.
All right, Louis Stevens is with us today.
We'll have more with Louis coming up.
But right now.
It is time for the dreaded and feared mid show read.
Don't be scared.
That's right.
This is where we start to mean business around here.
What are we doing first?
Okay.
Well, yeah, I guess.
The Eric Nadell birthday benefit concert is coming up.
It's celebrating its 14th edition featuring two of Eric's favorite bands.
Brooklyn based Sammy Ray and the friends and Bay Area favorite Chuck
Profit and the Cumbia shoots.
He's right.
The benefit supports the work of the Grand Halliburton Foundation.
That's a local nonprofit that provides mental health education training and
support to teams and families to learn more.
Is it Grand Halliburton dot org sponsor tables or sponsor tables and
sweets are available through Grand Halliburton Foundation.
Visit Grand Halliburton dot org slash Eric Nadell
to learn more or or to purchase a sponsorship at Eric Nadell's birthday benefit
presented by Haynes Boone and KXT 91.7 featuring Sammy Ray and the friends
with special guest Chuck Profit.
Go to that.
The date is Thursday, May 14th.
Doors open at 630 Showtime at 730 and of course this is at the world famous
Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas.
Let's see, Stolenwater Media is making a move.
Now we've been doing this for two plus years.
It's time to change and morph to keep up with our growth.
Soon, our video, much like our audio is going to be broadcasted to a number of
platforms and until this migration is complete, you can continue to view all
eight of our podcasts on our Patreon pages.
You will also continue to get a maximum beer 30 sports o'clock, the clubhouse
podcast.
The eagle angle just wondering with Norm Hitzkes, the signal 51 Chronicles
and Sunset Soccer Club on YouTube channel at Sunset Lounge DFW.
Now you can also get current episodes of your dark companion on the micriner
slash your dark companion YouTube channel at the handle at the old grey wolf
16.
You continue to support us in our success.
Stick with us as we make our move and as always, rate us and leave us a
review wherever you get our episodes.
Share us on your social media and recommend us to your family and friends.
We thank you very kindly for your support and your participation.
Alright, this is Lewis Stevens, the well-known keyboard player who is a local
guy who's played around here for years and years, but he's also played with a
number of major notable stars out there.
Now, who have I not been mentioned here that you've been with?
Well, after Freddie, I left Freddie about three months before he passed,
a work with Delbert McClendon, another for a worth kid.
Love him.
Yeah, Delbert says he's another one of a kind.
Yeah.
He captures what I think, what I think of when I think of Fort Worth music.
Yeah.
Better than anybody I've ever known because for me anyway, there is a world of
difference between what comes out of Dallas and what comes out of Fort Worth.
There always has been and I really can't define it.
I don't even know if I can describe it, but there is a big, big difference
between the two for me.
There's a lot of soul and Fort Worth.
Yeah.
A lot of great musicians have come out of there.
Cornel DePri, that was with stuff, the guitar player with stuff,
and did all the tons of sessions in New York.
King Curtis, Ray Sharp, Linda Lou.
There's a deep bench over in Fort Worth.
And you see all those people playing locally over there.
It's a big influence.
And Delbert was like that.
I first saw Delbert as Delbert and Glenn.
You know, Glenn Clark and Delbert playing the beef and buggy over there.
You know, a little small club off of McCart.
And the two Delbert and Glenn albums were just spectacular.
That first one especially, you know, had B movie on it and all those songs that they
had written together.
As a matter of fact, when Delbert called it, I mean, it really, it was time to make a
move.
And I couldn't have probably moved into a better situation for me being he was
based in Fort Worth.
I had a lot of respect for what he had already done.
Delbert and Glenn had just parted company.
And he was doing a new record on ABC records with the Memphis boys.
And it was really good, really good.
And so I moved into that.
First, we were supposed to rehearse.
And some of the guys didn't show up.
So we got in his own Cadillac and drove to our bank in River Oaks.
And he got everybody two $100 bills that did show up.
And I said, well, can we ride around again tomorrow?
It was a pretty good, pretty good pay for doing nothing for a day.
Yeah, that is pretty good.
So Delbert was a great, another great songwriter.
Yeah.
And he just fabulous songs.
And for me, he just about epitomizes what I see is the difference between something that
comes out of Fort Worth and something that comes out of Dallas.
And I know I'm not making much sense here.
It's really hard for me to put my finger on it.
I've been thinking about this for years and years.
And I've never come up with a real good way to describe it.
But I think you know what I'm talking about.
Well, Delbert really was the first Americana.
As his songs couldn't be pigeonholed.
And that's why the record companies didn't know what to do with him for very long.
I mean, it was a little country.
It was a little blues, a little soul.
I mean, it was a little bit of everything that he'd taken all of the original American music forms
and put them into Delbert McClinton, his sound.
Yeah.
It was a specific particular unique sound that he had.
He always had a great band.
You know, always put together all the way to the end.
You know, when he retired, I mean, he had the best band around.
So he's retired now.
He retired a couple of years ago.
He went on, not this past January, this January.
He said he beat his cruise, but he came a year before.
And got up and did a great set, you know, kind of the farewell set.
He sold the cruise a couple of years ago.
Which helped his retirement, too, to another music charter line.
And so, Delbert, he slowed down a lot during COVID.
He kind of pulled back at that point, and I think the writing was on the wall.
It was coming.
Yeah.
He's in his 80s now, and he's lived a good life.
And he just enjoys, he just has a ball in that field.
He well respected the statesmen, you know, kind of a position.
Yeah.
For me, he typifies what I think is the difference.
And you just kind of hit on it.
You know, it's part soul, part rhythm and blues, part straight ahead blues,
the actual country in there.
And I know that sounds like it's some kind of Heinz 57.
And it works.
And it does work.
And it's crazy because, you know, it's what, 32 miles away from Dallas.
Yeah.
But you don't hear much like that coming out of Dallas.
You never haven't.
And if you haven't by now, you probably never will.
Yeah.
Everybody's kind of in a genre, you know, one genre.
And don't stray much from that.
We're dealt with kind of a sorbidol of it, you know.
He took it all in.
He saw all those great touring acts.
I continue to turn everything out on Jack Berhawaii, you know, back in the day.
Yeah.
You know, it was an opening act for a lot of those people that came through, right Charles?
I mean, everybody that played out on Jack Berhawaii.
And so he absorbed all that.
He's a sponge.
You know, and then made it his own.
You know, and then you combine that with the great songwriting, you know.
It was hard to beat.
As a matter of fact, we, Delbert's drummer one time we were sitting around on the cruise, a bunch of us.
And he said, why in the world would you leave Freddie King to play with Delbert McClinton?
And I said, did you ever hear that first Delbert and Lynn Abel?
Yeah.
That's why.
I told you all you need to know if that's why.
Yeah.
Because he was that unique and that good in appeal to my soul.
So, yeah.
That was, that was a great couple of years that I played with Delbert two times formally.
But that first round, I mean, we were playing the Lone Star Cafe with all the Saturday night.
A lot of people come in and sit and then, you know, accurate and blue sheet on stage, you know, kind of form in the blood.
Blue his brothers on stage with us.
I mean, it was, it was bringing Bette Middler in to do things.
And the doc promised the songwriter sitting down in the front row watching Delbert.
Delbert was, he was the darling in New York City.
Could you tell when Belushi and Acroid were up there that they had something up their sleeve here?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They just started thinking about that.
And they actually, some people will dispute this, but I've got a Rolling Stone with the story in it.
They asked Delbert's band to be their back in band.
Because their first thing that they were going to do was a week at Hollywood Bowl and a week of rehearsal.
And they asked Delbert's manager about it.
And Delbert's manager, we had just recorded and released second in the Johnny Sandland record from Capricorn.
Yeah.
The muscle shows rhythm section played on.
So, he didn't want to take Delbert off the road for three weeks.
I thought it was a bad idea.
He saw them as just want to be, you know, comedians want them to be singers.
Didn't really see what was coming.
So, that's how that worked out.
But, you know, they were always very kind to Delbert.
They did be movie on their first, that first blue, blue's brother.
I want to say blood brothers because they are, but blue's brother's album.
So, they were real kind to him.
Got him on Saturday night live.
So, they were very appreciative of what Delbert did for getting them on stage for the long star.
Who are some other Ford Worth guys that have influenced you or helped you out along the way or that you've enjoyed working with or anything like that?
I've enjoyed playing.
I've used to play a lot of shows with Dave Malesap, guitar player that played with Delbert.
We'd do shows with Ray Sharp, you know, every year.
It might be a New Year's date or something like that.
Ray was, we played the Paschal, I think, 50th high school reunion.
Yeah.
Several years ago.
And Ray Sharp, known as the guy who did Linda Lee.
And then different versions of that with different words, different songs.
But, yeah, Ray Sharp was great. He was a great entertainer.
Cornel DePri, you know, CL DePri, the guitar player with stuff.
Yeah.
And it did, you know, did a lot of records in New York City with Richard T.
And Steve Gad.
You know, they did a lot of recording for other artists, Paul Simon.
Yeah.
Everybody in the world.
Did you ever find yourself in a session with Gad?
Never did.
Never met the man.
Never been in the same room with him.
But I sure appreciate his work.
He's got the touch.
He's got the touch.
He does.
It's magic.
One of a kind.
Yeah.
He's got a lot of good YouTube videos of him with different players.
His band.
And it's a lot of fun to watch.
Yeah.
I mean, his technique is so fine and just so refined, so advanced, so far ahead of everybody
else.
It's such a foundation for the song.
I mean, he's playing music.
He's playing notes.
Yeah.
You know, it's more than just rhythm.
Yeah.
He's adding so much.
And he doesn't have to play real hard or real loud to do it.
You know?
And he still do it.
Yeah.
He still do it at the same level.
Still great as ever.
Yeah.
All right.
Who are some other Fordworth cats that you can bring up and tell us about?
I'm really enjoying this trip down.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the bottom.
Down the bottom.
Down the top.
Down the bottom.
Down the top.
Down the bottom.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down the top down.
Down the bottom.
Down the top.
Down the top.
Down below.
Down below.
Down below.
Down the top.
Down here.
Down the top.
Down over there.
Down houses.
Down the top.
Down at the top.
Down the top.
Up the top.
Down the top.
anything like that? No, not really. I had a lot of confidence. You know, I was young.
Young and dumb. Yeah. So, I didn't know to be scared. So, I just kind of got out there and got
with it. Try to give it, give as good as I got. I'm sure you, I'm sure you gave them everything
they needed. I try. That's, you know, I try to, try to make like I say, be part of the bottom
man and keep keep it going, make it sound better and serve the song, listen to the lyrics and,
you know, play play behind it, but it's supposed to be played and or at least my concept of it.
That's the way to do it, man. That's the way the good players do it. Well, Lewis, thank you for
coming over here today, man. It's really been a pleasure having you on and it's a very comfortable
show. I would have enjoyed doing it. Well, thank you. We try to keep it cozy. Yeah. We're
trying to keep it laid back. It's the same way I record at home in a spare bedroom. Yeah. It's just kind
of a, we get together and have a shit shoot. That's it. That's it. You know, that's what it's all about.
That's what we do around here. What do I got to do here? Shoopy. Little house of healing. Shoopy.
Okay. Well, let's do a little house of healing. Direct a little item for those who may be in a
little pain out there. If you're walking around, you're hurting, you're not feeling good,
but you don't know exactly what it is. You don't know what's causing it. You just know that you
really wish it would go away. Well, let us tell you about the CBD house of healing. Now, you hear
CBD. You may think one thing, but it has a very strong medicinal purpose as well. And at the CBD
house of healing, this is what they emphasize. Their owner is a registered nurse. And if you go in
there and talk to her about what's going on with you, there's a greater than zero chance that she's
got something that will at least make you feel better. I don't know if it'll get rid of it all
together, but it will at least make it a little bit more bearable. And won't you take that if
nothing else? Now, you're probably saying, okay, how do you know this? Well, the reason I know this
is because I found myself in that situation. I've had a remarkably pain free life,
but not too long ago, I found myself in that situation. I didn't know what else to do.
So I thought, you know, you're advertising a CBD place. You might as well go in there and see what
they got. So I did. And sure enough, they gave me stuff that worked. They gave me stuff that helped
that made me made me feel better and made me able to get through the day with less and very little
if any pain at all. Now, if they can do that for me, they'll do it for you. So go in there and see
them. You got nothing to lose. You got everything to gain, including enjoying a pain free existence
in this world. Go by there and see the CBD House of Healing is located at Northwest Highway
and Plano Road there in the Northeast quadrant of that burgeoning intersection. We'd appreciate it.
If you tell them you heard about them from your dark companion, but go in there and see them,
see what they can do for you. Like I say, you got little to lose and a pain free existence to gain
at the CBD House of Healing. Is that all we got, Shubi? Yeah, I think we can plug a couple of
loses gigs that are coming up. All right, you got any coming up that you need to tell us about
not anything local, but we, on the 25th, we, Mike Zito band leaves for Joe Bonamassa's cruise.
His leaves alive at sea, which is just a festival on the water, four days of nonstop music.
That's great. And they've got some other smaller shows and then we do go back with Bill Murray
in the band. He joined our band, the Blood Brothers in Florida at the toward the end of April.
We'll do four larger V-Bill Murray. V-Bill Murray. Yeah. Bill wanted to be in a band and so we
invited him to be in our band. So he did 30 shows with us last year, but they were all a lot of fun.
I bet. He's a great guy. He's got a great stage presence, loves to play the cowbell.
He's a cowbell virtuoso. Who doesn't? And it's all great, well and good, until he puts it in your,
and it's in the middle of your cello. Yeah. And then it's, it's, you know, go to the audiologist and see
what happened. What do you lose that? It loses a little lustre a little bit. I've lost all my
4k. I went to check some balanced problems recently in met with the audiologist first and he ends
a report to the doctor and I go in there and the doctor goes, have you been in an industrial accident?
No, but I've played with a lot of the guitar players for 50 years. We're ever known to man.
That'll do it. Yeah. That's what we do. Bill, we do four large theaters and then we do his
Caddy Shack charity golf tournament, which he invites people from the back street boys to
Dan Taminsky, you know, brother we're out for our Thel. So it's a fun couple of days.
He is Lewis Stevens. Check him out if you can because he is good and you will
enjoy his fine work as many have over the years. Can't thank you enough for this man.
Well, it was a lot of fun. All right. Now you out there, if you like what we're doing here on
a little YDC, what we need you to do is what we mentioned a little while ago. Get us out there.
Share us. Put us on your social media. Tell your friends about us. Anytime you're in a conversation
with anybody, just interrupt it and say, have you seen your dark companion yet?
What? Don't worry about what might happen. Just do it. That's crazy.
Yeah. Social media trend. Yes. All right. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it.
Go viral. Make it happen out there. All right. Thanks to everybody for watching.
Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. Shopee to the rest of you. Bye. Bye.
All right. I don't do pants to often.
Your dark companion is a stolen water media presentation.