John Lewis

John Lewis was a Hamilton, Ontario guitarist, singer and songwriter whose music brought together electric blues, rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly and roots rock. Best known for the independently released mini-album Gator Blue and the later full-length Prisoner of Gravity, Lewis was closely connected to Hamilton’s music community and to musicians associated with Ronnie Hawkins, King Biscuit Boy, the Shakers and Daniel Lanois.

Lewis developed his style through direct contact with two major figures in Canadian blues and rock ’n’ roll. He played with King Biscuit Boy, the stage name of Hamilton singer and harmonica player Richard Newell, and later spent approximately two and a half years touring Canada as a member of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. These experiences placed Lewis within a musical tradition that joined early rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues, rockabilly and electric blues.

While working with Hawkins, Lewis appeared on the weekly television program Honky Tonk. Contemporary liner notes for Prisoner of Gravity recalled that he shared the program’s stage with visiting performers including John Lee Hooker, George Thorogood and Carl Perkins. The notes also compared the young guitarist’s work with Hawkins to that of Robbie Robertson, another guitarist whose early career had been shaped by membership in the Hawks.

By the late 1970s, Lewis was active in Hamilton’s blues and songwriting community. During 1978 and 1979, he participated in informal songwriting sessions with Jack de Keyzer, Ron Copple and Doug Carter. The musicians met primarily at de Keyzer’s Hamilton home, and occasionally at Lewis’ home, recording ideas on small two-track reel-to-reel machines. These sessions formed part of a fertile period in the city’s music history, when blues, rockabilly, country and rock musicians regularly crossed paths and contributed to one another’s projects.

Lewis also briefly played with the Shakers, one of Hamilton’s leading rock ’n’ roll bands of the period. He joined after guitarist Tim Gibbons left the group and remained for several months. Lewis was among the guitarists associated with the sessions for the Shakers’ Weekend album, although he did not become a permanent member of the band.

In 1982, Lewis released Gator Blue, a six-song mini-album recorded at Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton. The album was produced by Lewis and Daniel Lanois, with Lanois also serving as engineer. Lewis performed guitars and vocals, accompanied by Leo Valvassori on bass, Dave Lewis on drums and Stan Szelest on piano.

The record presented Lewis as a direct and economical blues-rock performer, with a sound rooted in bar-band rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly and electric blues. Its six tracks were ‘Good Rockin Tonight’, ‘What You Gonna Do?’, ‘Someone’s Waiting’, ‘Gator Blue’, ‘I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Love Her with a Feeling’. According to the later Prisoner of Gravity liner notes, Gator Blue received national airplay, particularly for its title track and ‘Good Rockin Tonight’.

After the album’s release, Lewis formed John Lewis and the Gators. The performing lineup included Lewis on guitar and vocals, Leo Valvassori on bass, Greg Kozak on drums and Roy Meyer on rhythm guitar. The stage band therefore differed from the musicians heard on Gator Blue, which featured Dave Lewis and Stan Szelest.

During the years preceding his second album, Lewis also established a prominent local residency with the John Lewis Band at the Gown and Gavel in Hamilton’s Hess Village. The Prisoner of Gravity liner notes described the group’s Sunday performances as one of the city’s busiest weekly engagements, with the upstairs room regularly filled and Lewis offering guest spots to a wide range of blues and rock musicians.

Those liner notes portrayed Lewis as a highly versatile guitarist who could move from aggressive rock ’n’ roll and low-down blues to more melodic and carefully constructed playing. They emphasized not only his guitar work but also his expressive singing and songwriting, describing a musician committed to what he considered authentic, emotionally grounded music rather than commercially fashionable trends.

Lewis returned in 1987 with the full-length album Prisoner of Gravity, released by Freedom Records. Produced by Scott Richards and John Lewis, the album expanded his sound through the addition of piano, organ, keyboards, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals and guest guitar.

Lewis performed guitars and vocals, with Teddy-Joe Brown on piano and organ, Bob Boucher on bass, Al Lerman on harmonica and Bill King on keyboards and percussion. Bruce Ellis played keyboards on ‘In Your Magazine’, while Alex Newell contributed its guitar solo. Backing vocals were provided by Rick Curtis, Diane Young, John Lewis, Colleen Newell and Scott Richards.

The album was arranged by Bill King and John Lewis, engineered by Stephen Morris, and recorded and mixed at The Waxworks Recording Studios in St. Jacobs, Ontario.

Lewis wrote four of the album’s eight songs: ‘Prisoner of Gravity’, ‘Don’t ’Ya Cut Me Loose’, ‘Heat on the Street’ and ‘Give You All I Got’. Neil Merryweather wrote ‘Take It from Me’, ‘Do It Tonite’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Lonely’. ‘In Your Magazine’ was credited on the record label to A. Newell and C. Newell and identified in the album credits as the work of Alex Newell and Colleen Newell.

Compared with the concise, stripped-down approach of Gator Blue, Prisoner of Gravity presented a broader and more polished rock production while retaining Lewis’ grounding in blues and rock ’n’ roll. The album’s contemporary liner essay, written by Gary Curtis of The Hamilton Spectator, emphasized that the record differed from Lewis’ previous work but remained recognizably connected to his musical personality and uncompromising approach.

Lewis’ known recorded output appears to have ended with Prisoner of Gravity. Although his discography was small, his career connected several important strands of Canadian music history: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, King Biscuit Boy, Hamilton’s blues and rockabilly community, the Shakers, Grant Avenue Studio, the Gown and Gavel and the early production work of Daniel Lanois.

Following the death of their young daughter Claire in 2011, Lewis and his wife, Brenda, established the Revolution Hope Fund through the Hamilton Community Foundation. The fund was created to provide arts experiences for young people, particularly children considered at risk.

-Robert Williston