Young Man Blues

ON OCCASION I hang out with the Matt Roberts Blues Band on Sunday nights at the Club Tavern. Matt fronts the band with drummer Shawn Buckner, bassist Mike Carter and guitar player Todd Boyer. They are a talented blues band and a joy to play with. They are the house band and invited local musicians to get up and jam with them.

Matt couldn't make it last night, so I got the call to host and hoofed it over to the Club. It's an awesome bar for a blues jam and people in there are the best - so knowledgeable about music and super friendly. I love hanging out with them.

I'm not a straight blues guy, so the band has to adjust to a little more rock and roll style of playing. They literally learned about 10 songs last night and they tear it up - I will play with those guys anywhere, anytime, and it doesn't matter if we are ripping through a Stevie Ray Vaughan tune or doing our own unique twist on an 80s hair band song.

Last night we were joined on guitar by young Tyler Gibleon, who has only been playing a couple of years but is a ferocious talent. Then our friends Pete Magliocco on trombone and fledgling guitarist Isaac Lester showed up to jam, and it got turned up a few notches.

Isaac is our Cheeseburger roadie and just graduated from high school. He is the son of the legendary musician Paul Lester. I had Isaac in a guitar lessons for a few months but had to graduate him to Jim Bier - he got too good too fast. This was his first experience at the Club and he was a bit hesitant to join us, but Pete and I prodded him and soon he was up there jamming away.

Seeing Tyler and Isaac jam together was indescribable. Pete and I were almost moved to tears, literally. I give Shawn, Todd and Mike a lot of credit - they are seasoned musicians and they like to play, but they were incredibly gracious and gave the young guys plenty of room to jam out.

There were maybe 30 people in the bar and every single one of them realized what was happening, and they were hooting and hollering along. It. Was. AWESOME.

Afterwards Tyler and Isaac, who had never met, were talking about getting together to play. I believe I mentioned this last week about getting better at guitar or any instrument - find other people to play with. YES!

It's important to get our young people interested in all musical forms, but of course my heart gets warmed when seeing high school kids blasting out blues and rock.

In their honor, here's a clip of Young Man Blues by The Who. Thank you, Matt Roberts Blues Band, and thank you, Kevin Weiss at The Club Tavern, for fostering young talent and letting us jam!