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Jeremy Lyons | |
|---|---|
 Jeremy Lyons performing in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Vapors of Morphine (2014) | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 24, 1970 Ithaca, New York, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals, bass |
| Years active | 1992–present |
Jeremy Lyons (born March 24, 1970) is an American musician, currently based in Massachusetts.
Jeremy Lyons began his professional music career playing blues guitar and singing on the streets of New Orleans, and went on to make a name for himself in that town by blending elements of rockabilly and delta blues with the Deltabilly Boys. Subsequent to the disaster created by Hurricane Katrina, he resettled to the Boston area and eventually diversified his career to encompass rock, folk, jug band, children's music and education.
Lyons was born in Ithaca, New York, United States. As a teenager, he learned from friends and first studied guitar with British folk musician Martin Simpson in Ithaca. After moving to New Orleans in 1992, he made his living playing in the streets with the Big Mess Blues Band for five years. He immersed himself in the local scene, playing Delta blues, zydeco, Cajun, gospel, R&B, traditional New Orleans jazz, and Harlem swing. [1]
Along with drummer Paul Santopadre and Greg Schatz, he founded the Deltabilly Boys. They played in the United States and Europe. Some of their albums included Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch (1999); Live at the Dragon’s Den; Death of a Street Singer; Live at Fribourg; and Jeremy Lyons and the Deltabilly Boys. [1]
He moved to Boston in 2005, fleeing from the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. There he met Dana Colley, Jerome Deupree and Billy Conway from the then disbanded Morphine and they started playing together, informally at first. In 2009, Colley and Deupree formed Members of Morphine, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the sudden death of frontman Mark Sandman. Colley invited Lyons to play the two-string bass and sing in the newly formed band. The group later changed its name to Vapors of Morphine, and they had been playing weekly in Atwood’s Tavern, a small venue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, since the spring of 2009. [2]
Lyons also performs regularly for children at schools, libraries and special events. In 2014, he released a solo album called Make it Better, and beside his work with Vapors of Morphine. [2]
Since 2015, Lyons has performed with increasing frequency with his group The Busted Jug Band, described on their website as "High Energy Music From the 20's and 30's played by men in top hats and derbies....a festive romp through time featuring group vocals, swinging rhythms and novel instrumentation. Inspired by the street bands of the early 20th Century, the group features kazoos, washboard, mandolin, banjo-uke, washtub bass, harmonica, accordion, jug, rhythm bones, National guitar, slide whistle and bicycle horns." The Busted Jug Band has released one eponymous CD and a "silent music video" of "When the Sun Goes Down in Harlem" by the Harlem Hamfats on YouTube. The band members all have stage names: Jeremy is known in the group as "Smiling Pee Wee Hernando; other members are "Rude Boy" (Rob Rudin), "Early Bird" (Mark Early), "Lefty Boom-Boom" (Den Poitras), and "Kayola O'La" (Kevin Byrne). [3]
Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, it became extremely popular in United Kingdom in the 1950s, where it was played by such artists as Lonnie Donegan, The Vipers Skiffle Group, Ken Colyer, and Chas McDevitt. Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent jazz, pop, blues, folk, and rock performers, The Beatles and Rory Gallagher amongst them. It has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second British folk revival, the British blues boom, and the British Invasion of American popular music.
Morphine was an American rock band formed by Mark Sandman, Dana Colley, and Jerome Deupree in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1989. Drummer Billy Conway also played in the band, frequently during Deupree's absence, though at times both played together. After five successful albums and extensive touring, they disbanded after lead vocalist Sandman died of a heart attack onstage in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999. Founding members have reformed into the band Vapors of Morphine, maintaining much of the original style and sound.
The Memphis blues is a style of blues music created from the 1910s to the 1930s by musicians in the Memphis area, such as Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows and was associated with Beale Street, the main entertainment area in Memphis, W. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues", published the song "The Memphis Blues". In lyrics, the phrase has been used to describe a depressed mood.
Gustavus "Gus" Cannon was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s. There is uncertainty about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.
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Treat Her Right was an American rock group, formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1985. The band originally featured Mark Sandman on "low guitar," Billy Conway on cocktail drum, David Champagne on guitar, and Jim Fitting on harmonica. Singing and songwriting duties were shared by all but Conway. Champagne and Fitting reformed the band in 2009 with new members Steve Mayone and Billy Beard.
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late-1950s. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. They played slow blues, pop songs, humorous songs and upbeat dance numbers with jazz and string band flavors. The band made the first commercial recordings in Memphis, Tennessee, and recorded more sides than any other prewar jug band.
Good is the first album by the Boston-based alternative rock trio Morphine. It was released in 1992 on the Accurate/Distortion label. It was reissued by Rykodisc after the band signed with the label.
Chris Thomas King is an American blues musician and actor based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mark Sandman was an American singer, songwriter, musical instrument inventor, multi-instrumentalist and comic writer. Sandman possessed a distinctive, deep bass-baritone voice and a mysterious demeanour. He was an indie rock icon and longtime fixture in the Boston/Cambridge music scene, best known as the lead singer and slide bass player of the band Morphine. Sandman was also a member of the blues-rock band Treat Her Right and founder of Hi-n-Dry, a recording studio and independent record label.
Hudson Whittaker, known as Tampa Red, was an American Chicago blues musician.
George Porter Jr. is an American musician, best known as the bassist and singer of The Meters. Along with Art Neville, Porter formed the group in the mid 1960s and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989. Today the original group still plays the occasional reunion but the Funky Meters, of which Porter and Neville are members, most prominently keeps the spirit alive.
Susan Claire Cowsill is a musician, vocalist and songwriter.
Dana Colley is an American musician, best known as the baritone and tenor saxophonist in the alternative rock band Morphine.
Basin Street Records is a Grammy Award-winning independent record label based in New Orleans, Louisiana, that specializes in jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues (R&B).
The Curtis Mayflower is an American rock band formed in Worcester, Massachusetts in 2013. The group consists of lead singer Craig Rawding, guitarist Pete Aleksi, bassist Jeremy Moses Curtis, keyboard player Brooks Milgate, and drummer Duncan Arsenault.
Tuba Skinny is a traditional jazz street band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band's instrumentation includes cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, tenor banjo, guitar, frottoir, and vocals. The ensemble draws its inspiration from the early jazz, ragtime, and blues music of the 1920s and 1930s. The group began as an itinerant busking band and has performed around the world, including at music festivals in Mexico, Sweden, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Spain.
Jerome Deupree is an American musician, based in Massachusetts. He is best known as the original drummer in the alternative rock band Morphine.
Vapors of Morphine is an American rock band founded in 2009 by the remaining members of the alternative rock band Morphine, saxophonist Dana Colley and drummer Jerome Deupree, along with blues guitarist Jeremy Lyons. Jerome stepped down in early 2019; Tom Arey has taken his place.
Billy Conway was an American drummer best known for his work with Treat Her Right and Morphine. From 2013, he toured as a duo with Jeffrey Foucault. In recent years, he had also backed Chris Smither. A stripped-down approach characterized his bands, equipment, and playing.