[Harp-L] Jenny Lewis

[Mick Zaklan]

   Was reading a Jenny Lewis interview last Friday in the Chicago Tribune.
For those who don't know the name; Jenny Lewis is a very successful
singer/songwriter/recording artist.  She's a national act, a headliner,
several million YouTube plays, etc.  Wouldn't be a stretch to call her a
"star".
   Wasn't expecting to find a harmonica reference in the interview.  Found
this one kind of interesting and even a bit poignant:

Q:  Your 2014 album "The Voyager" was written in the wake of your father's
death.  Can you tell me about him?

A:   He was a musician, a harmonica prodigy.  He started on the road when
he was 12 or 13 with a group called the Harmonicats.  He met my mother in
Los Angeles at the musicians union.  There was a bulletin board (with job
listings).  A Las Vegas lounge act was looking for a singer and a harmonica
player.  My parents drove out there separately and joined the band Love's
Way.  My mother and father split up when I was 1 or 2 years old, so I never
saw him when I was growing up.  I always wondered about him.  That's where
my songwriting began---the very first song I wrote when I was 10 years old
was about my father.

Q:   Were you able to get to know him later in life?

A:   At the end of his life he got very sick.  My half-brother in the
Midwest took him in and we all got the opportunity to hang out for the
first time.  It was really a luxury to do that.  Then my father passed
away.  He was inspiring.  He was a true show-biz person.


   Did a bit of research and found out Jenny's dad was the late Eddie
Gordon.  Gordon was a legend among the old-time players.  I've heard his
name mentioned many times at past SPAH conventions; always with reverence
and affection.  He played all the harmonica models well but was best known
for his chord playing.

Mick Zaklan