Deeper Blues

Deeper Blues is a power blues trio that sounds like nothing you've heard before. Bassist/vocalist Lane Baldwin and guitarist Gary Jones - along with Gary's son James Jones on drums - have combined the best of traditional Blues with a vast array of musical influences gained in one hundred years of combined experience. What makes Deeper Blues different? Deeper meaning in the songs. Deeper emotion in the delivery. This is Blues the way it was mean to be felt. Darn right it hurts, and it's made more than one man cry. But, oh, the redemption... For decades, Lane has had the pleasure to work with, and learn from, the prior generation. "One thing that came back around time and time again," Lane says, "is that Blues began as a means of not only releasing one's pain, but sharing that experience with others. The benefits of this are enormous, both to the individuals and to the community. Our goal is to bring that back to the Blues, to once again take them Deeper, to the very center of your heart and soul." Lane began his musical training at age five, studying piano from the same teacher who prepared his mother for the Julliard auditions (which she passed, by the way). He fell in love with the bass the very first time he picked one up, and knew he was born to play low. Lane's first professional gig came at the tender age of 13. A short stint in the Navy kept him from pursuing his love full-time until 1982. Shortly thereafter, he was initiated into the DC Blues scene, performing and recording with a Who's Who of East Coast talent, including Daryl Davis (Legendary Blues Band), guitar heroes Linwood Taylor and James Mabry, Mike Melchione (Buckwheat Zydeco), Mark Stutso (Jimmy Thackery), Cesar Diaz (Bob Dylan) and many more. Later in his career, he plied his trade in other parts of the country, working with such notables as Mason Ruffner, Jules Alexander (The Association), Bruce Hayes, and Paul Bushbacher (L'il Ed & the Imperials). In addition to hundreds of recording and touring credits, Lane is a Musical Ambassador for the District of Columbia. His articles on the "state of the bass" have been published world wide. Gary Jones picked up his first guitar at age 13, and quickly learned that annoying his parents was a minor part of the fun. Even better than that was to play the perfect note, the perfect chord . . . to create the sound that perfectly captured what he was feeling inside. It was this focus on bringing his heart to the world that led Gary to the Blues. "Even when I was playing mostly Metal," Gary says, "when I sat down with just me and my guitar, I played the Blues. I've always identified with the emotion, the honesty, the pain of the Blues." Gary spent much of the 80s and 90s touring the country with some of the finest road bands the Midwest has offered. From Hambone and the Rhythm Monsters to Goodfellas (Gary's own Blues Rock band), Gary's muscular guitar has earned him a reputation as a force to reckoned with. When not blazing on the guitar, Gary spends time in his own Groove Laboratories, tweaking synths and drum modules as a Techno writer and producer. Only 18 and some, James has already been living the groove for 19 years. No, the math isn't wrong. Thing is, Mama Jones (Jill to the rest of us) is an amazingly soulful singer, who toured the US for many years with husband Gary before settling again in hometown Danville to raise their son. So James has been listening to his mother sing and his father play since the night he was conceived! The product of two musical parents, it's not surprising that James has a deep, instinctive talent for all things musical. But it all started with a drum kit cobbled together by his parents and their friends. Even at age four, James understood the importance of percussion. "Drums were the first thing I learned to play," James says, "and it's always been my first love to be the heartbeat of the band." Six years later, at age ten, James began studying bass, including fretless and upright, adding guitar three years later. Adept at both skinny and fat strings, the gifted student spent two years studying at famed Interlochen Academy in Michigan. Throughout it all, James continued to play drums, grabbing the sticks and sitting the throne for countless jam sessions with his parents and their peers. "I love playing bass and being the other part of the engine that drives a band," he says, "and I love playing guitar in almost any style. I'm sure I'll never stop playing either instrument. But they don't overshadow how I feel about the kit." Now James has a dream gig - working with his father in the band that he grew to love as he watched it take shape. "Pops and Lane, they're the deal, you know?" says James proudly. "And when I heard the drum throne was being vacated, I just had to ask for a chance. I already knew all the material and was chomping at the bit to sit down and go to work." "James has a deep understanding of The Groove," Lane says of the young prodigy. "His beats have a real old-school greasiness to them that's impossible to deny. He understands the nuances instinctively. And it's that innate understanding of the essence of the Blues that's going to let us go even deeper than before." Visit their official web site, www.deeperblues.com. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.