Bill Lewis, Owner of Muddy Waters Cafe, Brings Eclectic Live Music to Santa Barbara
Megan Sullivan
Last year I meant to sit down with Bill Lewis -- the owner of Santa Barbara's Muddy Waters Café and music venue -- and talk about music. Bill and I never had the conversation I'd hoped for before I moved north to San Francisco (Bill called me a sell-out when I told him I was leaving), but luckily, Dave Mount of Awesome Stuff That Rules was fortunate enough talk candidly with Bill as I would have liked to. Dave moved to Santa Barbara from Boston in September 2008, and he started his blog Awesome Stuff That Rules to familiarize himself with the Santa Barbara music scene. It's not quite as accessible as Boston's, he learned, but he's been excited to find some great music in unexpected places.
Like Muddy Waters -- an awesome venue disguised as a dive-y little café. When Dave asked Bill how Muddy Waters is able to pull in such big and unexpected names, Bill responded, "I can't say exactly why we have been able to get some of the bands we have...One thing I do know is most players do not start in huge places. Most start in garages and crappy places like the Mud. So, I think some dig being able to get back to that vibe." It's clear from the interview that Bill knows music and the local music scene better than most. And there's a lot of overlap between One Night Music sessions and Bill's favorite bands to host at the Mud. In our first year we recorded Kyle Nicolaides of Martyrs (now Siren Son), Phil Taylor of OSO, and The Finches, and last August I recorded Rey Villalobos in Muddy Waters' storage closet. And when Bill reminisced about the first show he hosted at the café -- Automatic: Automatic -- I couldn't help but think of its band members Ralph Lowi and Brad Reeves, former bandmates of mine in the honky tonk project Holdfast Rifle Company, featured in this One Night Music blog post.
Be sure to read the full interview of Bill Lewis on Awesome Stuff That Rules. And start going to shows, dang it!
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