Gallery: John & Irene Williamson

“Lester was the next great blues harp and vocalist … somehow he really got it! Really got it and lived it! One of the truly gifted great artists who knew ‘what is was all about’.”

— John Williamson, Los Angeles

An early L.A. account with Lester Butler

By John Williamson, Los Angeles

This is an early L.A. account of Lester Butler. The first recollections of Lester were seeing him out at the Crying Towel, a neighborhood bar in Reseda. Irene and I went to see a friend’s band, John Marx and the Blues Patrol. John had a second rhythm guitar player, Dave Melton. Dave was like Lester, done his homework and was (is) great and very traditional. I think Dave and Lester were in the same age and music groove. Anyway Lester got up to play and I was knocked out immediately. I remember elbowing my wife Irene and saying, “Man this kid is the shit! If anybody still gets it, what with all the Texas-style ‘too modern blues’ everywhere, then he’s gonna do real good. Well Lester did a couple of Little Walter songs and then Sonny Boy’s ‘Cross Your Heart.’ Man it was electrifying. The only thing close, I remember thinking, was Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs the first time I saw them at Cathay de Grande in Hollywood. Anyway that day I started to keep an eye on Lester and soon he had a Monday night gig at the King King, then Bruce Willis and Johnny Rivers and the Hollywood famous parties and real fame. In my opinion Lester was a truest of blue souls!