Lowell Fulson Live

I first met Lowell Fulson in the early 1980’s backstage at the old Cathay de Grande club in Hollywood. I was a young twenty something year old from Chicago and at that time with more than a half dozen years as a performer under my belt. Lowell was a legendary blues hero of mine. We were both invited to the club by a Canadian blues band called Powder Blues who had a major label release and were touring the U.S.- Lowell was going to sit in with them that evening. I plopped myself down next to Lowell in the dressing room and we hit it off immediately. We talked about my neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Lowell’s stint with Chess Records in the 1950’s and a little bit about Ray Charles who was in Lowell’s band in the early 1950’s before he became an iconic superstar. I mentioned to Lowell that I now had a band in Los Angeles called the Blue Wave Band and if he ever wanted to use us as his back up band to call me and I gave him our business card.

The Canadian band took the stage to start the show and Lowell said to me “Young man – can you please fetch my guitar for me?” he pointed to a guitar case across the room. I opened the case and there was Lowell’s Gretsch White Falcon looking like it was brand new. Opening that case for me was like opening the Lost Ark -that guitar appeared to be glowing. I took it out of the case and started to walk toward Lowell, handling it very gingerly when he said “Can you tune it for me?” I asked if he had a tuner and he said no. I quickly tuned the guitar to itself and let him know that while the guitar was in tune to itself, I had no idea if it was tuned to the band. He shrugged like “no big deal” and took the White Falcon from me, slung the strap on and almost as if on cue, the band started playing a blues groove. In a few minutes, with the groove going strong, they introduce Lowell as their special guest and Lowell strode onto the stage, plugged in and started soloing on top of the groove. He was out of tune with the band-about a half step off. It sounded bad and even though I warned him, I couldn’t help but feel it was my fault! The band realized he was out of tune too of course and ended the groove abruptly. While the audience was applauding heartily, Lowell tuned to the band and they then continued the show with no further problems.

 After that embarrassing incident I assumed I’d never hear from Lowell Fulson again. To my surprise one day out of the blue (or out of the blues) he called me. “Jeff,” he said “if you boys can get me some gigs I’d appreciate it” So, for the next few years whenever it made sense we booked ourselves as a package with Lowell. The Blue Wave Band would open the show and play a set of my original blues tunes, take a break and then come back and do a whole show backing Lowell. We found one club in particular that we had great success at, Club 88 on Pico Blvd. I convinced the club owner into letting us have the first Saturday night of every month as a real blues night. I then started booking other legendary blues performers to play with us each month. Lowell was the first but we also backed our blues hero elders like Pee Wee Crayton, Long Gone Miles, Bonnie Bramlett, Margie Evans, Smokey Wilson, Sam Taylor and Etta James as well as our then contemporaries like William Clark, Coco Montoya and Johnny Dyer.

Lowell was a busy performer in 1983. We played with him in May 1983 but he went on tour that summer and fall. He called me to let me know when he’d return and asked if I could put something together for us. So I booked another First Saturday Blues show with both Lowell and Long Gone Miles for Saturday November 5 1983. This time I brought my four-track Tascam Portastudio to the club and recorded the show. I later did a rough mix of Lowell’s set with us (and our special guest sitting in that night, Marshall Crayton Jr., Pee Wee’s grandson on tenor sax) and made two copies – one for myself and one for Lowell. I gave him his copy and he appreciated hearing the set. We agreed it was a fun night.

During the 2020 COVID lockdown I started going through a box of old cassettes and came across the original recording of this show. Listening to it brought back so many memories. As a performer, Lowell was fearless. That first meeting at the Cathay de Grande showed me that he could be out of tune and still get an ovation from the crowd because he put everything he had into his playing. He set a great example for me on respecting the bandstand – he was always impeccably dressed. He commanded the stage with his playing and singing but was a gentle leader of the band, allowing us to fill the spaces that called for it. Like our parents, Lowell was part of the “Greatest Generation” and I looked at him in adoration and admiration for teaching me how to play blues music with the respect it deserves. He talked to me about my own songwriting and was one of the many bluesmen I’ve known to encourage me to stick to my own style as opposed to trying to mimic them (One time, blues icon Honeyboy Edwards even refused to show me how he played a certain guitar lick “That’s my lick” he said.) Lowell passed away one month after my dad died and while grieving my beloved real father, I also grieved for my blues father. 

This show from 1983 lets me get lost in the blues, in Lowell’s blues, in my blues apprenticeship. I’m now older than Lowell was that night and like him, I relish the opportunity to play with younger musicians. I think of him and nights like that show every time I do.  It was a blessing to come up in a time where guys like Lowell were still around to spread their wisdom and to be able to watch him thrill a crowd from the best seat in the house – standing right behind him. 

Jeff Dale

Contact Jeff: info@jeffdaleblues.com