Huey Lewis plugs new LP Sports, says he learned to play harp by imagining he was Paul Butterfield

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 25, 1983

By Steve Newton

“We just stopped at a bus stop on tour last year and got Hank Williams’ Greatest Hits,” explains Huey Lewis over the phone from San Francisco. Two days prior to the start of his North American tour, Lewis is commenting on the inclusion of Williams’ “Hony Tonk Blues” on his new album Sports.

“I’ve been a fan of his for a while, and it occurred to me what a neat song that was, about a guy who wants to get the honky-tonk blues and go out to these various clubs and play. And finally he gets the honky-tonk blues and then can’t wait to lose them. It seemed to me an interesting parallel to being on the road for a while.”

Huey Lewis might know a thing or two about being on the road–and the blues that come with it–but he sure doesn’t have to worry about playing any more honky-tonks. His last album, 1982’s Picture This, went to #13 on the Billboard chart and netted three Top 40 singles–“Do You Believe in Love” (which went to #7), “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”, and “Workin’ For a Livin'” which became an AOR staple.

And with Sports and songs like “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “Walking on a Thin Line”, Huey Lewis and the News have kept their easily accessible pop sound alive.

After graduating from high school in Marin County, California, Lewis traveled around Europe for several years with a knapsack on his back and, most of the time, a harmonica in his mouth.

“With my long hair,” he recalls, “the harp seemed to fit the image. I didn’t know how to play it, but I taught myself while waiting for rides beside European highways. I’d just imagine I was Paul Butterfield, and after a year of that I was pretty good.”

Returning home to Marin County, Huey joined the critically acclaimed country-rock band, Clover. That group went to England in the late 1970s, and its rootsy, funky sound fit in well with Britain’s pub-rock scene. Clover backed Elvis Costello on his debut album, My Aim Is True, and Lewis contributed to Thin Lizzy bassist Phil Lynott’s first solo album, Solo in Soho, blowing harp on “Ode To A Black Man” and “Tattoo (Giving it All Up For Love”).

After Clover’s demise Lewis returned to the Bay Area and –after a Monday night jam session was instituted at a local club–the News, as it reads today, was formed. It includes ex-Clover keyboardist Sean Hopper, guitarist Chirs Hayes, and three members of former Frisco band Soundhole–Johny Colla (guitar and sax), bassist Mario Cipollina (brother of Quicksilver’s John), and drummer Bill Gibson.

“We were offered some studio time after the word of mouth on the Monday night jams got out,” says Huey, “so we cut this disco take-off on Exodus called Exo-disco. I sent that to this guy I knew from England and the next thing we knew we had a record deal.”

When asked why the title Sports for his new album, Lewis quips “Couldn’t spell weather”. But there is actually a little more to it than that.

“I guess the best way to look at it, ” muses Lewis, “is that our band is like a team…we’re tight like that. Before we were a band, we were all friends. And I think that’s important in what sets us apart.”

The fact that Huey Lewis and the News were all friends before becoming a band hardly sets them apart. That’s the way most bands, or a lot of them anyway, come together. But the fact that they have all stuck together over the course of three albums suggests that the “team” aspect is legitimate.

And on the inner sleeve of Sports it shows the band singing the national anthem at a Golden State Warriors basketball game, so maybe that had something to do with the name of the album. Did the harmonies of Huey Lewis and the News go hand in hand with a victory for the Warriors?

“They did, actually,” points out Lewis, “it was one of the few games they won all year.”

Golden State may not be the winningest team in basketball, but Huey Lewis and the News are showing that they can certainly compete with the music business and the race for popularity. But will they make it up to Vancouver to show their stuff?

“Definitely,” claims Lewis. “I just don’t know when. Hopefully before the first of the year.”

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