(APRIL/MAY 2001)

BY Michael Richardson

Cathy Lemons--"She got it!" says John Lee Hooker. Lemons dedicated her debut, self released CD Dark Road to Hooker with whom she toured in 1988 as part of the Coast to Coast Machine. They have continued to maintain a friendship over the years. Like a road child Cathy moved 15 times before she was a teenager. Between 13 and 26 she lived in Dallas, Texas. However, the young Cathy found Texas not to her liking. "You needed a shovel to find culture. It's better now but back then you needed to seek out the music. Dallas was a simple city in a stark landscape. Then at the age of 18 I stumbled across the blues. I met Anson Funderburge and sat in with him and my life got changed." She would later record with Funderburge and get connected to the music world.

But the Dallas nightlife was hard on a young woman blues singer and she sometimes ran with a rough crowd and eventually took a sabbatical from music. Laughing, "I left Texas one step ahead of the law. I almost got a red lights and sirens flashing escort to the airport!"

By 1986 Cathy was a regular on the San Francisco blues scene. She was influenced by Mark Hummell but John Lee Hooker became her music mentor. Touring with John Lee Hooker in 1988 taught Cathy a lot about music she didn't know. "I learned so much from John Lee Hooker. He taught me about timing; he said I was in too big a hurry. He taught me all about stage presence. Hooker commands the stage when he is performing."

After the Hooker tour Cathy began putting together her own groups with a changing assortment of musicians. In 1995 she teamed up, romantically and musically, with Johnny Ace. Together they put together a "Texas rhythm with Chicago flavoring" sound that defines the Cathy Lemons/Johnny Ace Blues Band. They are virtually the house band each Sunday night at Biscuits & Blues, one of San francisco's premiere blues venues, joined by Danny Carron (of Charles Brown) and drummer Rick Sanke.

The debut CD Dark Road has 14 tracks with five originals.Tommy Castro joins in with David Maxwell on Keyboards, Rusty Zinn on guitar, Steve Freund on guitar, Johnny Ace on bass and Kevin Coggins on drums. Cathy of course handles the vocals. Cathy Lemons plans to release a second CD in the near future and for the first time in years she and Johnny Ace are ready to travel. John's kids are grown, it is time to take the show on the road."

Cathy is philosophical about the blues. "It is a fight back music. The Delta musicians who created the music fought back against oppression. Blues is both simple and profound. Blues is primal and direct. It is a feeling music. To do the blues you must live the life and be in that life. Blues is a cut to the chase kind of music. The blues is a great art form."