10 BUDDY APRIL 2013

Waiting on Texas ScratchJim Suhler’s collaboration with friends Buddy Whittington and Vince Converse is due for release later this year.

by Dana Jones, photo by Chuck Flores

B L U E S / R O C K

The Dallas native has been afixture in and all over the na-tional blues scene for years. Hehas worn and still wears manyhats in the Blues industry, somewith his own projects, some withothers. Besides years of touring,writing and performing with hisown band Monkey Beat, since1999 he’s handled the lead/rhythm guitar duties with GeorgeThorogood & the Destroyers, andhas just finished another tourwith him.

He will be making a returnappearance at the 36th AnnualDallas International Guitar Fes-tival, to be held April 19, 20, and21, 2013 at Dallas Market Hall.His guitar collection includes:2006 Fender Stratocaster Cus-tom Shop Red SparkleStratocaster, a 1975 FenderStratocaster (slide). 1972 FenderTelecaster Thinline (slide), 2002Charley’s Custom Telecaster,1931 National Duolian Resona-tor (slide), 1965 Harmony, 1952Regal Milwaukean Lap Steel(slide), 2000 Gibson SG (slide),2010 Gibson Les Paul CustomGold Top, 1995 EpiphoneRiviera, and a 2000 Gibson S-J200 acoustic.

A mentorSUHLER IS CONTENT WITHhis very busy life, whether tour-ing with band mates, or just do-ing his own thing. He seems tothrive on mentoring, collaborat-ing with and helping along qual-ity fellow and up and comingartists.

Suhler is always happy toappear at the annual guitar show,and thoroughly enjoys being ableto act as a liaison of sorts for newartists and for those who havebeen “under the radar.”

“There are some really out-standing newcomers out there.There’s Eric Gayles. There’s alsoa young band from Irving calledThe Peterson Brothers who arereally great.” The Peterson Broth-ers were awarded winners of “BestBlues Group” in the 18 and Un-der category at Austin’s South bySouth West.

It’s not surprising that Suhlerwould be so interested in help-ing others. He’s grateful for thehelp and encouragement he re-ceived along the way. Suhler grewup in the Lakewood area, andbegan playing guitar at 14. Heknew then without a doubt thathe wanted to be a musician. KLIFAM Radio was his first exposureto music, in which the top 40

music being played at the timewas heavily featuring the BritishInvasion bands.

Next came the more south-ern rock type influences, andfinally his immersion into hear-

ing Texas guitar talents such asthe Vaughan Brothers, BugsHenderson and AnsonFunderburgh. He played in avariety of cover bands and backedothers artists for a time. But, itwas seeing and meeting legend-ary artist Son Thomas for thefirst time that cemented his deci-sion to be a bluesman.

He played in several morebands, during which time he alsodid a three-year stint as DJ witha three hour Tuesday night bluesshow at KNON. In 1991, whileplaying with The Homewreckers,

blues/rock icon GeorgeThorogood heard him for thefirst time and their longtimefriendship was born.

After The Homewreckers splitup, Suhler formed Monkey Beatwith drummer Paul Hollis andbassist Carlton Powell. They re-corded and released their firstand second CDs withThorogood’s producer/engineeron Lucky Seven records. Theband did several tours openingfor Thorogood and the Destroy-ers, with Thorogood really help-ing promote Monkey Beat with

shared interviews and recordstore appearances. And, whilekeeping Monkey Beat intact, in1999 Suhler joined the band andcontinues with the Destroyers aslead/rhythm guitar as well as of-ten a co-writer.

Another of his more recentfavorites is Jason Elmore, whoalong with Carolyn Wonderland,Ray Benson of Asleep at theWheel, and Kim Wilson will allmake appearances on Suhler’snewest project. “We’ve recordeda few songs already and are reallyenjoying playing together. Jason

and I have a reallynice synchronicitybetween the two ofus. We’ve been do-ing some writingtogether and I re-ally like what we’recoming up with.”There isn’t really aprojected date onthis one “It’s a busyyear, but I’m al-ways happy if I’mbusy.”

Folks likeElmore, HunterHendrickson, andMothership in-spire Suhler to stayon his toes.

There are a lotof bands out there,but not a lot ofplaces to play.Suhler feels he waslucky to get startedin the era he did.There were lots ofvenues, especiallyin the Dallas area,to hone the craftand make somemoney while do-ing it.

“I got into thison the gravy train,when there werelots of places toplay and money tobe made. But I stillbelieve that thecream will alwaysrise to the top. Itreally takes deter-mination and a lotof hard work. Backthen the economywas better, andthere was nointernet to hearlive music on.

The audience isdifferent now.”Suhler has seen hisaudiences growolder and more re-sponsible, espe-cially with thechanges in thedrinking and driv-ing laws as theyears have contin-ued on.

“ T h e y ’ r echoosing to spend

their dollars more wisely, andnot drinking and driving so muchany more. It’s not a bad thing, infact, that’s a good thing, but itmeans you have to work thatmuch harder to earn their timeand money.”

Suhler feels his longevity andsuccess have much to do with hiswork ethic, modeled after an iconhe admired who became hisfriend, the late Bugs Henderson.

“His work ethic and approachwere that of a musician’s musi-cian. He worked hard, nevercompromised, and always didthings his way.” It seemed towork well for Henderson, andSuhler has found it to be a key tohis own success.

Texas ScratchBESIDES THE CURRENTproject, a new release is on thehorizon. Texas Scratch is a com-pleted CD project slated for re-lease this year. Suhler, along fel-low artist friends Vince Converseand Buddy Whittington com-pleted the collaboration some-time back. “It’s a great record,I’m ready for it to be out, I wantit to be heard.”

It wasn’t the normal experi-ence when heading to the studiofor this one. Suhler will neverforget their eclectic and uniquelocation. They recorded TexasScratch at Showplace Studios inNew Jersey, which was locatedin the back of a building. Thefront was a strip club called theShowplace Go-Go Lounge.

Russian dancers were bussedin to perform each day, giving itsort of a “mob feel” Suhler de-cided to take a break from therecording one day and grabbed adrink at the lounge. He was im-mediately approached by work-ing girls. He didn’t stick aroundlong, but left the lounge withanother good story under hisbelt.

After recording was com-pleted, the trio headed to Canadafor a few festival dates together.They’d hoped to have the disc tothe public while together, butSuhler is just glad it will releasethis year. He won’t be hard tofind to grab one when it does.

Between the Destroyer tours,Monkey Beat (which now in-cludes keyboardist Shawn Pharesand drummer Beau Chadwell)shows, festivals, local gigs gigsacross the country, sitting in withor just listening to some of hislocal favorites, Jim Suhler willcontinue to be a player andpromoter of blues at its finest. ■

In addition to the Dallas GuitarShow on April 20, Jim Suhler &Monkey Beat are scheduled to per-form at Tolberts on Apirl 19, Key’sLounge on April 26, The DentonArts & Jazz Festival on April 28,and Moore’s Store in Ben Wheeleron May 4

I’VE GOT LOTS OF IRONS IN LOTS OF FIRES.IIt’s hard to say ‘no’; sometimes it’s hard to findIbalance and make room for things I want to do.But I love to play and I love to work and get to doboth.” Dallas blues mainstay Jim Suhler’s longevityin the music business indicates he’s doing some-thing very right.

The 1989 BUDDY Texas Tornado guitarist and his band , Monkey Beat, will perform at the Dallas International Guitar ShowApril 20 at 4:45 pm on the Bugs Henderson Stage: Jim Suhler