All Photos: Alan Mercer
Location: The Oasis Bar & Grill in Midlothian, TX
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, music has always been in Lance Lopez's blood…as early as being in the womb. When the family had parties at their home, in rural Shreveport, Lance would bounce and roll in his mother's womb the louder the music got. They would play the records of Joe Tex, K.C. and the Sunshine Band and many other old school artists. Lance's father was stationed in the Army in Germany with Elvis Presley in the late 1950's and had a friendship with the legendary entertainer which had a profound influence on young LL. Sadly Elvis died 1 month and 2 weeks before LL was born and so he never got to meet the King, although as early as age 3 his father showed him footage of Elvis throughout his career which inspired LL in what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He began playing guitar at age 8, after his Father bought him an acoustic guitar for Christmas. He soon graduated on to a Japanese Squier Stratocaster and began emulating everything he heard on the radio or saw on television.
A professional musician since the age of 14 when he began playing local bars in and around the New Orleans, Louisiana area, at 17 he was hired by soul great Johnnie Taylor, with whom he toured for six months. By 18 he was hired as the band leader of blues legend Lucky Peterson's band, spending three years touring throughout the world.
It was while with Peterson in Europe that he struck up a close friendship with the larger than life drummer Buddy Miles, subsequently becoming the guitarist for The Buddy Miles Express for a brief time. The former Band Of Gypsys legend would go on to mentor Lopez, leading to him co-producing his debut album 'First Things First', along with Grammy winning producer Jay Newland (Norah Jones) which was released independently in 1998.
From 2003 to 2007 Lopez recorded, and released three studio and one live CD for a small independent label, Grooveyard Records - all of which were heavily influenced by another of the guitarist's main influences - Jimi Hendrix. Despite the hindrance of being released on such a label, the albums are all prime examples of post Hendrix heavy blues, filled to the brim with awe inspiring fretwork, which led to him garnering a cult following amongst guitar fanatics worldwide.
After a three-year break, Lopez returned with a Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Santana) produced studio album 'Salvation From Sundown'. Intentionally conceived as a more traditional Texas blues styled offering, it's the guitarist's most mature recording to date, showcasing strong songwriting while still retaining the red-hot fretwork which has elicited none other than guitar god Jeff Beck to call him "A very exciting and intense blues guitarist". His first release on a major label MIG Music/String Commander.
In Europe in November 2011 MIG Music released the follow up to 'Salvation From Sundown'. A very strong Hard Rocking/Blues offering entitled 'Handmade Music'. 'Handmade Music' is full of well-crafted songs and Lopez's signature searing guitar work. Again, Lopez working with Jim Gaines, recorded this entire album in the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Ardent was also where Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Thorogood and others made some of their greatest works. 'Handmade Music' shows him poised to take his rightful place as one of the finest blues players on the planet. Texas has its guitar heroes, not least of which is Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, and the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan. And here's another to add to the list: Lance Lopez.
Alan Mercer: So, Lance, you grew up in the North Texas area, didn’t you?
Lance Lopez: Yes, I was born in Louisiana, but I grew up in Dallas.
AM: How do you feel about Louisiana and Texas?
LL: Well the thing about both Louisiana and Texas is they shaped me musically. I live back in Louisiana again.
AA: I call you an authentic Texas Artist.
LL: Texas built who I am. I was here 30 years, but my roots are in Louisiana. I incorporated a lot of the funk, R&B and rootsy Louisiana sounds that I mix with the Texas sounds.
AM: You do seem to have a lot of musical influences. Who are some of the artists you listened growing up?
LL: There were so many! Not only was it what I listened to, but what I was around. As a child of three, it was Elvis Presley. Then it was Chuck Berry and the early Rock n’ Roll pioneers. That was during the 80’s. Then I heard the current Rock music from that time. At the beginning of the 90’s I discovered I was going down a path toward the Blues because it was indigenous to where I was environmentally. I was always into bluesier playing rather than the heavy rock stuff that was happening at the time.
AM: What are some of the early concerts you remember going to see?
LL: We moved to Dallas and the first concert I saw within two weeks of living there was B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn. My mother took me to see B.B. King. I didn’t even know who Stevie Ray Vaughn was but when he came on stage it was a monumental experience for me. Sadly, two months later he was gone.
AM: Did that help you decide you wanted to play the blues?
LL: That experience did guide me and let me know it was OK to play the Blues. I remember sitting around with other kids in the 80’s and that was what I was naturally drawn to playing. All the kids used to give me an attitude about playing “that blusey stuff.”
AM: Why did they do that?
LL: It wasn’t a cool thing to do when we were into Van Halen, but a blusey sound is always what came out of me so when I saw B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn play, it became OK for me to do it. That’s when I set the course of studying the acoustic Blues of the Twenties and Thirties on to the Electric Blues of the Fifties to the British Blues of the late Sixties.
AM: What did you gain from all this musical knowledge?
LL: All the Rock bands of the Seventies started to make sense. Of course, none of the kids I was hanging around with were into playing that kind of music.
AM: What was the current music at that time?
LL: It was the beginning of the Grunge era. I was an oddity, if you will, but by the middle Nineties there was a great resurgence of Blues and Blues Rock music.
AM: You have played with some big names.
LL: For many, many years I’ve been a sideman for many different R&B and Blues acts.
AM: It’s the R&B and Funk that sets you apart.
LL: That comes from a combination of living between Texas and Louisiana. I’ve been around the Funk from New Orleans. It became such a big part of who I am. So, when I was in Dallas at the age of seventeen I went to work backing R&B singers.
AM: Who were some of the acts you backed?
LL: Acts like Johnnie Taylor and Bobby “Blue” Bland were primarily Funk bands. They were basically big horn Funk bands. I rarely played a guitar solo. I was mainly playing rhythm guitar at the time. That was very central to my musical education.
AM: How did you get to record your first album, ‘First Things First?’
LL: I had been working with Buddy Miles as a semi-member of the Buddy Miles Express. Buddy wanted to produce a record on me. My dad gave me some money to fund the record. Buddy and I went into the studio and started recording and got a few songs and put it together.
AM: When did it come out?
LL: In the late Nineties. At the time I was playing with Lucky Peterson and other artists who were very established in Europe. That helped me break out in Europe. So, with the first CD I was able to tour through Europe. Lucky Peterson really helped push me.
AM: All your albums are amazing and each one gets better than the one before. I love ‘Handmade Music.’
LL: Thank you, that was done a few years ago. Some of the early records have a lot of psychedelic jamming. I wanted to get back to the roots of Texas music, especially Texas Blues.
AM: Did you have to change record labels?
LL: We did those early records for an independent label in upstate New York called Grooveyard Records. They were a label that focused on the kind of music that had lots of jamming. It was a guitar label. We switched labels and started working with MIG Music out of Germany. They had bigger budgets and promotions.
AM: Did you have a producer at Grooveyard?
LL: I self-produced my early records, but it became too much work on a small budget. It’s really a lot of work. Once the budget was right, I wanted to bring in a very good producer.
AM: I can see how that would be exciting for you to have a producer.
LL: Especially for guitar solos, you get to a point where you say, ‘OK that’s good enough, let’s keep going or that’s not good enough, let’s record this over and over for two days.’ I want the objectivity. I sought that in the legendary Jim Gaines.
AM: Why Jim Gaines?
LL: One of the main reasons was because of his involvement with the Steve Miller albums, ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ and ‘Book of Dreams.’ Jim also produced Stevie Ray Vaughn’s last album and ‘Supernatural’ by Santana. I was inspired by how the albums are all very song oriented. Anytime you went to a Steve Miller concert everyone in the audience sang every word to every song.
AM: Your album, ‘Salvation From Sundown’ is a modern day classic. Did you write all the songs?
LL: That was the beginning of me bringing in song writing partners and my first album with Jim Gaines. That album is really well done. Jim wanted to take me into the Stevie Ray Vaughn sound and it turned out. I always wanted the more Steve Miller vibe however. So, we went on tour and when it was time to make ‘Handmade Music’ I went back to Jim and told him I loved what he did but I wanted to go more the Steve Miller route.
AM: Who produced the ‘Higher Ground” album?
LL: I produced that one. I play all the instruments on ‘Higher Ground.’ I played bass, drums, keyboards, guitar and vocals. Wes Jeans did guest on guitar but he’s the only other musician on the album.
AM: I knew you reminded me of Prince.
LL: It wasn’t very long after I recorded that record that I befriended Prince. I was introduced to Prince by Buddy Miles. I got to jam with him. He was a great guy.
AM: I love that you have so much funk and soul in your sound.
LL: I ended up being a band leader in a lot of the R&B bands we were talking about. When you reach that position, you had to be able to play the core of the rhythm section because if a band member couldn’t play his part you had to be able to get on the instrument and play it.
AM: I am really into all your music. How long before we have a new Lance Lopez album?
LL: Very soon! March 2nd to be exact. Very, very soon.
To learn more about Lance Lopez visit his web site https://www.lancelopezmusic.com/