Cathy Lemons

Cathy Lemons was born August 13, 1958 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She would move 15 times before the age of 13 before settling in Dallas, TX. Some of her travels took her as a child to exotic places such as Entebbe, Uganda, East Africa and Kingston, Jamaica. In 1971, her mother finally settled down for good in Dallas, Texas. The South and Texas is known for its great blues talent--"it's a place of harsh extremes, a place of sudden change--even in the weather--where people tell it just like it is," says Cathy. "You have to be tough just to survive the Texas heat--110 degrees 6 to 7 months out of the year." Commenting on what the blue scene was like in Texas when she was growing up, she says, "It was a great place for blues . I had a chance to see many fine talents in their early stages of development like Anson Funderburg, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Lou Anne Barton. The blues scene was very small--lots of great gossip--very few secrets. Texas players were more into what I consider to be real blues people--not a mish mash of rock and roll, no top 40 blues bands. No. The musicians I knew back then were studied blues artists. They knew their stuff--Magic Sam, Lowell Fulson, Freddie King, B.B. King, Little Walter, you name it-- and they knew it and loved it. In Dallas and the surrounding towns, there were not many clubs to play --and many of us were just struggling so hard to make a dime. So, Texas musicians tended to really stick together back then. There weren't too many free lance type players. You made a band--and you worked with only that band. I liked it that way. California players fail to see their greatest weakness--which is in my opinion, not enough knowledge of blues roots music and not enough respect for what a band is--when you work together as a whole for the greater good of that whole. If you let ego get in the way, the music somehow dies. Music is about giving."

In her early twenties Cathy often sat in and sang with Anson Funderburge and Darryl Nulisch at a tiny, little match box club called Poor David's in Dallas. When she first heard blues played live, she knew that was what she wanted to do. in 1980, there were very few women singing blues in Dallas--very few. So, when Cathy started out , she was playing a man's game all the way. Cathy says, "When I first started singing blues--male musicians said I could never do it--they said I didn't have the voice or feel for it--that I should stick to folk or swing music which was what I had been singing. Somehow I knew that blues was for me, and I didn't listen to them. Blues hit me in my gut. I was drawn to the words and that sexy figure eight sound in the drums--reminds me of a woman's walk--hell blues is made for a woman. When I started out, I went out and bought every record I could find of the greats and I learned those songs. And then I went around and sat in and started getting jobs with bands. I will never forget this one bass player--Daryll Strehli--back in Dallas, who said I couldn't sing no blues. Well--I went to this club he was playing in a couple years after he hadn't seen or heard me sing--and I sat in and stole that show all night long. When it was over, Darryll came up to me and said he was dead wrong--and he apologized--said I sounded great! I shocked him--and it made me feel so good--like I had come full circle."

Cathy says of her first blues band: "When I was 23 I tried out for a band called "Killer and the Show Cats"--it was a band filled with psychiatrists! I sang "Stormy Monday" and they loved it and hired me on the spot! They needed to replace their woman singer--Bobby who was more Holiday Inn than blues. Apparently she thought she was a stripper and a singer and was doing wild things during her performances! I guess the guys had had enough! Hilarious! I remember the drummer was a shrink and so was one of the lead guitar players. I still remember him doing the Chuck Berry duck walk--it was probably the worst duck walk ever done in history! His face would turn all white and he would stick his neck out and wiggle it back and forth. He looked like a sick duck all right--walking to the doctah! CALL THE DOCTAH! The bass player was Rene Martinez, a great guy who always encouraged me to sing. He used to say "Cathy you have a natural born talent." Rene also worked on Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitars and knew him quite. It was Rene and Pat, a commercial artist and the other lead guitarist in my band, that introduced me to Anson Funderburg and then Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rene Martinez played on the recording I made with Anson Funderburg a few years later. "Killer and the Show Cats" had a gig every Saturday night in Dallas, and I remember coming off that stage sweating from head to toe. I also remember Pat sometimes throwing me over his shoulder to get me out of the club and into a car. I used to wear these really, really, high heels and when I would drink too much, I would start to stagger. Those were wild days and I was young--what can I say--I was having a ball! I used to get all dressed up in glitter, satin and low cut velvet blouses. and just party it up. Sometimes we would go to El Taxco in this run down Spanish neighborhood in East Dallas and meet Anson and his boys there after gigs. We'd sit at one giant table and watch the Mexican gangsters roll in--all this at 4:00 in the morning! What a great time we all had!"

By this time Cathy was now performing regularly in favorite Dallas blues clubs and sharing the stage with such luminaries of the '80's Texas blues scene as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Anson Funderburg, Mark Polluck , Robin Syler, and others. In 1983, She put together a band with David Watson, Anson Funderburge's x drummer and Doyle Bramhall's nephew (Doyle Bramhall was Stevie Ray Vaughan's mentor). Cathy with David's encouragement made a fine studio recording with Anson Funderburge on guitar (8 cuts), Robin Syler on guitar on 1 cut, Freddy Faro on drums, Doug Smith on piano and Rene Martinez on bass. There were 9 songs on that recording. Cathy was 24 years old and she sounded great!

Cathy has a rebellious streak, and back then often explored the dark side of life-- ran with what could be termed a dangerous crowd--and eventually had to leave Texas--yes--with "sirens blazing." She struggled with a serious drug addiction off and on for many years--something that eventually led to what became insight and maturity. "When you are addicted to the serious stuff--you see things--the addiction takes you to places people don't usually go--and you learn about life in a very real way. A snap judgment on a person can mean life or death--one false step, and you can end up dead. I learned about human nature--and I learned not to judge a person's moral choices. We all just do the best we can in this life and deal out the hand we're dealt.

In 1986 Cathy arrived on the Bay Area Blues scene and began working with harp player/singer Mark Hummell and blues guitarist extraordinaire Paris Slim. She even had a chance to open up and later hang out with for Paul Butterfield in 1987--a real interesting experience. During those years Cathy attracted the attention of Blues legend and star John Lee Hooker and soon became the opening singer for Hooker's touring Coast to Coast Blues Machine, performing along side some of the best blues men in the business: John Hammond, Elvin Bishop, Pine Tops Perkins, and of course John Lee Hooker, himself. Hooker was trying to get Cathy a record deal with Virgin Records at that time. She was working on songs that Hooker's friend and organ player Deacon Jones wrote. However, no real quality demo was ever made, and Virgin didn't bite the bait. "I over dubbed over Buddy Miles singing Deacon's songs, and all them songs were in the damn wrong key. Hooker was cheap---what can I say!"

Cathy also says of John Lee Hooker: "I learned so much from him. When we were on the road I took care of him. He could not read or write, so I would help him order his food, read signs in the airport, hotels, stuff like that. He was very proud. Once I offered to teach him how to read, but he would have no part of that! John was very sharp,and he knew the value of a dollar--and man, could he count that money! He also believed in people. I remember he was the one who got Elvin Bishop with the Rosebud agency. He knew he was having a hard time, and he wanted to help get him back on track. A lot of times, I felt bad for John, though. Now that he is gone, I still feel bad. People were always trying to get something from him. He would let them hustle him--just out of love for the person. He'd look for the good not the bad. But I think it wears you down. John at heart was a sweet and kind person. He was always encouraging to me. He said "Cathy--you a rrr rolling stone." And lord, back in those days I sure was, staying in hotel rooms in the Tenderloin or at his home in Redwood City, struggling with my demons. The last time I spoke with John, I said, "Aren't you proud of me John? I come through allright and I'm still singing!" He said, :"I am proud of you--you come a la la long way, Cathy." And he meant it. To me he was one of the greatest blues singers that ever lived, and it was a great honor to have known him, may he rest in peace."

Cathy Lemons eventually wanted to headline her own band. She knew she would have to take the harder road, so she pulled out of the Coast to Coast Blues Machine with John Lee Hooker and went back to live in San Francisco. She met with some hard times there but evenually met up with a very brilliant San Francisco based guitarist, Dave Workman who was originally a Columbus, Ohio blues star. Cathy says of Dave, "Oh he loved blues! He was very versatile and had played with many a blues great including Koko Taylor and Lonnie Mack. I played with him off and on for almost seven years and we really had a good sound. We made a couple of demos that I recently listened too, and they were really quite good." During the Lemons/Workman band years Cathy started to get her life together. She went back to school to study first at City College in 1990 and then San Francisco State University where she graduated magna cum laude in 1995 with a BA in English Literature. Her father, a retired English professor wanted her to try teaching at the university level, but Cathy just couldn't give up the music: "I loved the academic world and learning, but when I hadto make a career decision, I could not give up my music. That was around the time I started seeing Johnny Ace, my partner. Although I knew John since 1987, I always loved John as a person. We always had a wonderful connection. After I graduated from college, we teamed up in 1995 and started playing together regularly."

Since 1995 Cathy Lemons with her fabulous bass playing partner Johnny Ace, have worked with some of the finest musicians on the scene: Paris Slim, Steve Freund, David Maxwell, Danny Carron (guitarist for Charles Brown), Rusty Zinn, Ron Thompson, Anthony Paule, Johnny Talbot (guitarist for Bobbie 'Blue' Bland) ... the list goes on.

Cathy Lemons and Johnny Ace recorded their firstCD "Dark Road" on The Saloon Recordings label in late 1999. The CD received fabulous reviews from every major blues magazine in the United States. They are working on new, original, blues-based songs now for a second CD. Currently, they perform at all of San Francisco's premiere blues clubs: Biscuits & Blues, Lou's, and The Saloon, plus some of the out of town blues spots such as Mojo's Lounge, JJ's San Jose, and others. Pierre Le Corre is their lead guitarist along with Artie "Stixs" Chavez on drums.

The Cathy Lemons Johnny Ace Blues Band has performed at Slims in San Francisco and the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma. For festivals, they have performed at the Redwood Coast's "Blues By The Bay" in Eureka, California, The Sacramento Heritage Festival, the Metro Fountain Blues Festival in San Jose, the Stockton Blues Festival, the Rumsey Blues Festival, and most recently the Mission Veijo Jazz Fest, among many others.

You will no doubt be hearing more from this sultry, soulful singer and her partner, JohnnyAce, a consumate show man in his own right. They are a great team, so be on the look out for their next CD!

To purchase CD "Dark Road" go to our Buy Page

To read Cathy's professional resume go to: http://lemonace.com/resume/mclresume.html