UltimateJonMcLaughlin

All eyes were on Jon

“Beer and blues,” were literally the first words I heard as I approached the House of Blues, patrons wrapped around the block in the blistering evening heat. Frankly, the majority of the concert goers were well above the drinking age (contradicting my expectation of a mob of teenage girls) and, rightfully so, came to the House of Blues for, well, beer and blues. Coming specifically for the opener, Jon McLaughlin, I felt bad for the guy, expecting a barrage of booze, nachos and chicken wings to be thrown on stage and for the piano-pop star to be chased off with hoots, hollers and six-shooter backfire. I was ready to see if this young Indiana cat could hold his own in the south at his House of Blues (Dallas) debut.

Sitting backstage in an ill-lit corridor where they stash the equipment, Jon and I spoke very candidly about music, life and love.

Strictly for laughs and for the sake of being a cliché journalist, I popped the question: “How are the ladies?” Modestly, Jon giggled and told me about his wife and their healthy relationship despite his mounting rock-star status, the lengthy tour and of course the women obsessed with his tender love-lyrics and his boyish good looks.

“Yeah, I got married last year and my wife is actually here. She’s been with me on tour since the beginning. I’ve been on tour for about a year and a half now and I love it. You know, you get used to it.”

Every musician’s claim to fame is unique and Jon McLaughlin is certainly no exception.

“I was raised in a very musical family and I’ve been into music from the very beginning. I stopped playing for awhile after the wreck and then picked it back up my senior year of high school and just kept going and learning from there.” After shattering both of his wrists in a car accident – a horribly ironic scenario for any pianist – Jon lingered on, no longer concerned with or enthused by music. “I got back into it through the church and I just kept learning and playing.”

Finally, wrapping up with a personal inquiry, we spoke about his name and its correlation with venerated jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. “Yeah, I’m actually named after him. Its funny, my dad was pretty big into jazz and The Mahavishnu Orchestra [John McLaughlin’s jazz ensemble] and that’s where the name came from.”

In typical blues bar fashion, hoots and hollers arbitrarily spurted from all directions in the crowd, most of which beckoned headliner Johnny Lang. Nonetheless, it was time for the show and time to witness the Cinderella story of piano playing.

The curtain rose, Jon jammed and instantaneously he commanded the focus of the aloof crowd. He played like a man who’d broken both wrists and kept fighting, high energy with a level of on stage virtuosity that I certainly underestimated from a pop-star. On stage Jon McLaughlin transformed into a piano playing beast, striding, jabbing and playing eight finger chords with ease, completely surpassing my expectations of the modest, self-possessed guy I met backstage.

All eyes were on Jon as he pounded the keys, rarely staying seated on his piano bench. Supplemented with guitar, bass and drums that you could feel in your chest, Jon’s subtle and powerful vocal melodies rang pleasantly through the venue. Although not the blues, the forty-five minute set possessed its signature soul and poise, at times cutting loose into solos that made me salivate. Somebody get this man a Lonestar, he’s on fire.

Jon described his crowd pleaser, “Beautiful Disaster,” as a song about “self worth and truth and....convincing the woman you love that she’s beautiful.” He wrapped with a birthday wish and my favorite track from his debut LP Indiana, “Industry.”

Jon is living proof that impeccable vocals, beautiful lyrics, mastery of piano, piercing baby-blue eyes, a humble heart and an unflinching love for what you do will get you ahead in life.

Good guy, great show, bravo, Jon McLaughlin.

Source: www.fussmagazine.com