Dick Deluxe Does New Orleans: SweetDeluxe And More
JULY 27, 2015by: LAURA DEFAZIO0 COMMENTS
Photo by Irene Sage, courtesy of Dick Deluxe
“Why isn’t this guy famous?” has got to be one of the most frequently heard reactions to a Dick Deluxe performance.
Porn star-like name notwithstanding, Deluxeis actually a musician—a captivating singer and guitarist, a prolific songwriter, and a subtly magnificent bandleader who seems to have an encyclopedia of obscure country tunes tattooed somewhere on the inside of his skull. He’s also apparently played with every type of band under the sun.
So, why not more famous? It probably has something to do with his workaholism-fueled sticklerism for being technically adept, rather than focus his energies on self-promotion. He’s the kind of guy that says things like, “I started off as a frontman, but then got good enough to be a sideman.”
Lately, he’s finally been wheedled into a bit of self-promotion. His own qualms aside, it’s fantastic for the rest of us. If anyone deserves his turn in the spotlight, it’s Dick Deluxe.
The Wisconsin-born childhood trombonist switched to guitar in time to “run away to San Francisco during college to play some rock and roll.” His colorful history has taken him all around the country before finally landing him in New Orleans a couple years back, where you’ll find him most often playing around Frenchmen Street with percussionist/harmonica-extraordinaire Jimmy Sweetwater. Their project is called “SweetDeluxe,” which is a much better name than “DickWater” would have been.
Both members sing, and the multi-talented Sweetwater complements Deluxe’s guitar with wailing harmonica and a rhythm section driven by his one-of-a-kind washboard, a homemade contraption decked out with countless bells, whistles, and other percussive doodads.
Their duo is sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric, and often not a duo at all–a rotating cast of musician friends is always at the ready to sit in. For over a month this summer, for instance, the weekly SweetDeluxe Marigny Brasserie gig was a quartet, with drummer Pete Bradish and upright bassist Ryan Donohue filling out their sound. (Bradish and Donohue recently departed to tour Europe with Kim Carson.)
A typical set list features original compositions, old country tunes, folk ballads, rollicking blues numbers, even a few rock/pop hits, and more.
“We do a lot of American music of all different kinds,” Sweetwater explained. “Everything from country to blues to folksy music… I don’t like the word ‘Americana,’ though. We’re songsters. Doing all the stuff we like. That’s it.”
“I think of myself as a kind of a song connoisseur,” Deluxe said. “Whether it’s my material that I’m writing or covers that I’m doing. And I take exception to the word ‘cover,’ at least as it applies to me. What I do is interpret. I interpret my own songs differently almost every time I play.”
The act is in a class of its own, for many reasons.
“We think like a jazz band,” as Deluxe put it. “I might call a different tempo at any different time, I’ll play an introduction different, I’ll do an ending–none of the endings are ever really the same. We’re improvising.”
Photo by Christian Banfield, courtesy of Dick Deluxe
“To really know a song,” he explained, “you’ve got to have it hardwired into you. Then you can interpret it. If you’re worried about the lyrics, or reading it off a sheet of paper, you’re not gonna be digging deep. Which is one of the reasons I’m such a stickler for being vocationally sound. I can play the bass part and sing all the parts, and, you know, I could play the drums if necessary. That’s when I feel like I really know a song.”
“I tailor my songs to my musicians too,” he went on. “So, if I have a more of a ‘jazz guy’ like Ryan [Donohue], I can be free to play anything I know how to play, with some pretty sophisticated chord changes. The thing that makes me employable as a leader is that I’m pretty good at selecting. There’s a talent ceiling, but there’s also a taste ceiling, and a choice ceiling.”
“It’s the knothole theory,” he grinned. “I always wanna be the knothole. If I’m the knothole, I’m in a pretty good place.”
As much as he relishes being the “knothole” within a band of exemplary musicians (although it’s hard to imagine that being the case very often), he digs his solo gigs too. “I have total freedom then,” he explained. “It’s more of an intimate, personal thing.”
His solo acoustic act is also a great showcase for a quite distinctive fingerpicking style. Its rich, pianist quality marks Deluxe as a truly remarkable musician to anyone with a trained ear. That being said, you don’t have to be a trained musician to appreciate his talent.
He can interpret Hank Williams, followed by Earl King, followed by Stephen Foster, and he nails the vibe each time.
“If you put me in a room full of people, I’ll entertain the motherfuckers,” he laughed.
Deluxe has had a lot of success over the years playing with jazz and blues bands because, as he admitted with a modest shrug, “I can swing pretty much anything. And that, to me, is–I don’t care if you’re playing rock, punk rock, polkas, whatever. It’s still gotta swing.”
Photo by Irene Sage, courtesy of Dick Deluxe
The versatile song connoisseur can also be found jamming at the Old Arabi Bar, playing bass with Mike Darby’s House of Cards, or performing with Jonny Two-Time’s noise/punk band.
“You’ve seen me doing that silly punk stuff, right?” he asked. “And it’s laughable, but I love it. And I think it’s pretty cool! I mean, we’re not gonna win any Pulitzer Prize for being in tune or anything, but it allows us to just be completely nutty.”
He also puts together various duos around town, usually playing guitar but occasionally bass or mandolin. The “Dick and Rod Show,” with the Iguanas’ Rod Hodges, is a particular favorite.
“Rod’s a great country and blues guy,” Deluxe said. “I can pull out my most obscure stuff, and he loves it, and he does the same. That’s always total fun.”
Of all the performers he admires in New Orleans, “Washboard” Lissa Driscoll (who OffBeat featured this past spring in our Faces of Frenchmen video series) is up at the very top of the list.
“She’s something. I love playing with her,” he emphasized. “She’s got the most authentic feel for country blues I’ve ever heard, even from the people she’s learning it from. She–I mean, you’d swear Jessie Mae Hemphill was there, or Etta Baker. The way she plays time. I would argue she’s a genius, you know?”
“I mean, she’s crazy as fuck,” he continued with a grin, “but her feel is so strong. I think she’s right there with Lucinda Williams. I really do.”
He would know, having certainly studied under and played with his fair share of genius over the course of his career. Bill Barrett, Joe Paquin, Danny Ott, and John Perry are just the beginning.
While living in San Francisco, Deluxe also spent a decade playing with Richard Marriott’s modern jazz outfit “Club Foot Orchestra,” a Ralph Records act that provided the soundtracks to silent films.