BIG CITY BLUES

Johnny Ace and Cathy Lemons

(June/July 2003 issue)

BY Derral "Good Rockin" Campbell

Johnny Ace is a premier bass player living in San Francisco with Cathy Lemons, a singer originally from Texas. Johnny's from New York and has been on the West Coast since 1986. They have released one album, Dark Road, as the Cathy Lemons Blues Band on The Saloon Recordings and are planning their next one.

Interviewing Cathy and Johnny was a laugh riot punctuated with howls, shrieks and giggles. Let's hear their story:

Derral: How did you meet?

J: It was 1986 and I was in The Saloon in North Beach. Johnny Nitro was playing there. I think it was a Monday night and I think they were having a jam session. I saw this gorgeous woman, and I asked Nitro, "Who is that up there?" And he told me, "That's Cathy Lemons from Texas." And then I met her and she had a boyfriend and I guess I had a girlfriend, so we didn't get together 'til 1995. But we played in a band with this man, a guitar player named David Workman. What year do you think I started doing that with you Cathy? Well it was love at first sight for me. But she had to get rid of her boyfriend and I had to get rid of my girlfriend. We started living together in 1995. Now Cathy can tell her version, but that's kind'a how I met her, Cathy Lemons.

C: Well we did meet in The Saloon. And we really always clicked great. John's the kind'a person that can look at a person and just see a woman. You know what I mean? We just hit it off as really great friends all along. We played in this band together and we'd hang out together at breaks and just talk and ruminate. We always got along really great as friends, and then in 1995 we actually got together. Yeah , yeah ...

D: Cathy did you feel a spark when you first looked at him? Did something click--make you nod your head to yourself?

C: Yeah! There was always a spark there with John. but I gotta tell ya, John was drinking heavily for many many years when I knew him and I was really scared of that? And I even told him, "I can't be with you until you straighten up, 'cause it's much too much for me." And when he did, he had been sober about 9 months when I got together with him--he changed. Now you know, John has two sides. He really does have two personalities. He really is a Gemini. He has one side that's very, very outgoing, very dramatic--just lots of mojo, and the other side is a very sensitive, quiet thoughtful person. So you've got these two people, and when the drinking is there, the maniac is alive and all kinds of things happen--you know things break and glass shatters. Don't get me wrong. I always loved John --drunk or sober, I always loved John. I absolutely used to roll from his jokes on stage when he would be bombed. Absolutely the most hilarious things would come out of his mouth. But when he shook the drinking off, that's when we were able to get together.

D: Do you have a song?

J: Yeah: "Highway To Hell" (Much more laughter!) Keep that in there! "Highway To Hell!"

J: Seriously though, my song for Cathy and me, Billy Holiday did it, "The way you wear your hair" ... "They Can't Take That Away From Me." I was singing that song one day; I could hear it in my head. Then I heard it on the radio or a juke box in the neighborhood I was walking in. Then I ran into Cathy and she always loved Billy Ho liday so much.

C: And I have a song, it's also Billy Holiday--called "You Go To My Head." THAT"S our song! John you forgot, that's the other one!

J: Right! Dizzy Gillepsie wrote that.

D: How about your favorite festivals?

J and C: (in unison) The San Francisco Blues Festival!

J: And the Old Ann Arbor Jazz and Blues Festival in the seventies loved that one--but that's all I can think of.

C: And The Russian River Blues Festival.

D: Are you married?

C: (LAUGHTER) No! But I always try to bribe him and tell him he can get Kaiser insurance if he marries me! (LAUGHTER).

J: Can I TALK? (LAUGHTER)

J: When we started going together, we went to John Lee Hooker's house. And I told him about us getting together and getting married some day. First he goes, "I'll be your best man!" Then he goes, "I'll come to your m-m-m-murder!" That was when we got together in 1995 and John was very happy for us both.

C: And he would'a been our best man! John Lee said, "You two are pretty l-l-l-lovey d-d-dovey!"

D: These are tough times, especially in the music business. Does it help being a couple?

C: I think it does in a lot of ways in that you can back each other up a bit. John and I have one good thing going for us in that we do respect each other tremendously as musicians.

J: And here's my answer! Two can live cheaper than one! (LAUGHTER!) Couples who play together in music, there are not a lot in this whole world are there?

C: It's a good thing, though, you see. Because if you're in music and you love it, it can take a lot up. And if your partner is there with you when your lives are focused in on the same thing, then it can actually enhance the relationship. And if you travel together, then you have eachother's company. You don't get really lonely on the road and that's a huge plus.

D: What musical threads tie you together?

C: Oh there's a lot of thread. Chicago Blues is probably the main thread.

J: When I was thinking of going together with Cathy, I asked her. I remember this--we did a gig subbing for Nitro together and I asked her, "When you go home tonight, what will you listen to?"

C: It was my test--he was testing me.

J: And she said, "Robert Johnson and Magic Sam." And that's when I started rubbing her feet (LAUGHTER). And I won't go no further! How could you not like someone who likes Magic Sam and Robert Johnson! I mean it was love at first sight when I seen her face at The Saloon , but then when she said that, then I said to myself, "Yeah, this woman is someone special." And we do have a lot in common. Cathy loves gospel music and so do I--that brings us together. And harmony we both love. For me the Doo Wop and Cathy more from a gospel groove. We love to sing harmony. We love to sing together. I love singing with Cathy even though sometimes I go flat a little. but hell , I'm from the school of FEELING. When we started going together, I told Cathy, "Covers are great but I know you can write. So we gotta do original stuff or we ain't going to go nowhere."

C: And he did really inspire me to write. That's when we started trying, and we DID! And the songs started coming out. And John has pretty much been the one saying, "Do this! You can do this!"

Check out Johnny Ace's photography: http://johnnyacephoto.tripod.com
Check out their website: http://lemonace.com.

Photo Credit: Myron Mu