John Lewis

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

Lewis spent approximately two and a half years touring Canada as a member of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. The experience placed him within one of the country’s most influential rock ’n’ roll traditions and brought him into contact with musicians whose work bridged early rock, rhythm and blues and the emerging Canadian roots-rock scene.

By the late 1970s, Lewis was active in Hamilton’s blues and songwriting community. During 1978 and 1979, he took part 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 Hamilton music, when blues, rockabilly, country and rock musicians frequently worked across 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 handled guitars and vocals, joined by Leo Valvessori 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. Songs such as ‘Good Rockin Tonight,’ ‘What You Gonna Do?,’ ‘Someone’s Waiting,’ ‘Gator Blue,’ ‘I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Love Her with a Feeling’ reflected the same musical world that connected Hamilton artists to Ronnie Hawkins, King Biscuit Boy and the city’s long-standing rhythm-and-blues tradition.

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 differed from the personnel heard on Gator Blue, which featured Dave Lewis and Stan Szelest.

Lewis returned in 1987 with the full-length album Prisoner of Gravity, released through Scott Richards’ Freedom Records. Produced by Lewis and Richards, the album expanded his sound with keyboards, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals and additional guitar. The sessions included Bob Boucher, Bill King, Teddy-Joe Brown, Al Lerman, Bruce Ellis, Alec Newell, Colleen Newell, Diane Young, Rick Curtis and Scott Richards.

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.’ The record also included three compositions by Neil Merryweather and ‘In Your Magazine,’ written by Alec and Colleen Newell. Compared with the stripped-down sound of Gator Blue, Prisoner of Gravity presented a broader and more polished rock production while retaining Lewis’ grounding in blues and rock ’n’ roll.

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, Hamilton’s blues and rockabilly community, the Shakers, Grant Avenue Studio and the early production work of Daniel Lanois.

Following the death of his 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 support arts experiences for young people, particularly children considered at risk.

-Robert Williston