Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

Tell ’Em What Your Name Is! (Lost Highway)

By Christine Werthman
Published: March 26th, 2009 | 9:00am

When Black Joe Lewis plays live, the man brings it. He and his band, the Honeybears, are electric onstage, playing gutsy, brass-filled R&B with the punchiness of James Brown and the yelp of Howlin’ Wolf. You see a performer like this and you wonder if it would be difficult to transfer that energy and spunk to an album— and as Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! shows, it is difficult indeed.

The band’s album opens with “Gunpowder,” a tune that foreshadows what to expect in the other songs with wailing brass, revival-style organs, gritty guitars, and Lewis’ throaty vocals. Lewis can let out a brusque howl on command, but when he isn’t shout-singing, he has a soulful and easygoing voice. This gets some attention on the track “Big Booty Woman,” which also showcases another one of Lewis’ strengths: a sense of humor. He has an unabashed appreciation for females, but his odes to women come off a little rough around the edges, like on the track “Bitch, I Love You” from the group’s self-titled EP.

Tell ‘Em captures some of the basics of Lewis’ music but, when compared to the live show, it lacks in energy and does not do the band justice. Despite the fact that most of the album was recorded live in the studio, it does not sufficiently capture the bite of Lewis’ sound. It also has a strangely quiet sound, a weird idea for a group that has such a huge sound naturally. Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! is a good entry point for new listeners, but after having seen the live show, the album feels like taking a sip of Diet Lewis when what you really want is a big swig of regular.

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