Texas blues-rocker returns to area

By John Benson

After playing Sharon, Pa., last year, Texas blues guitarist and rocker Jim Suhler can’t wait to return with his band Monkeybeat in tow for a show Monday at Tully’s Pub & Grille.

“It was just a great experience,” Suhler said. “I always enjoy coming through Sharon. Tully’s is a good gig. We always have fun there. I think maybe it’s exotic to them because we’re from Texas. When you’re playing around your stomping grounds, people get used to you. And when you go somewhere else, you’re always viewed through a different lens. Maybe that’s a part of it because people really seem to respond to what we do there.”

What Jim Suhler and Monkeybeat do is offer music fans a special blend of blues-inspired rock ’n’ roll and roots music. The act has grown its fan base worldwide, and Suhler is the key ingredient with his talents often landing him on top-guitarist lists in the industry. Such critical acclaim was bestowed on the group for its latest CD, “Tijuana Bible,” which included guest appearances by Jimmy Hall, Elvin Bishop and Joe Bonamassa. Among the album’s original tracks are covers of Elvin Bishop’s “Drunken Hearted Boy,” Rory Gallagher’s “I Could’ve Had Religion” and AC/DC’s “Up To My Neck In You.” In talking about “Tijuana Bible,” Suhler admits he’s a product of his environment.

“Texas is a real melting pot of different kinds of music and cultures,” Suhler said. “I think it’s indigenous to this area. For a guitarist, it’s just a great place to have grown up. I mean, there’s a lot of great guitar players all over the world, but it seems like there is something [about being from Texas] where all of these influences are distilled a certain way. You have blues. You have country. You have the Tex-Mex stuff and rock ’n’ roll and western swing. It just seems to work out well for guitar players here, for whatever reason. I can’t really put my finger on it.”

In addition to his solo career with Monkeybeat, which plays roughly 80 shows a year, Suhler is also well-known as the lead guitarist for George Thorogood and the Destroyers. So how does Suhler compare his material to that of his work with the “Bad to the Bone” singer?

“I think we have more of a stylistic range, a broader range of influences and sounds than he does,” Suhler said. “Lyrically, I’d say it’s a broader subject matter. George has his thing, and he’s great at what he does, but he stays in certain confines and things I tend to get outside of.”

He added, “So anybody who is a fan of blues rock, of old blues, of classic rock-era stuff will enjoy our live show. We have a lot of things in the music that are very reminiscent of all that, and all of those things are touchstones for me to expand on. So that’s kind of the foundation of what we do.”