Jay O'Rourke Band
Finding the
Sweet Spot
By Penelope Biver
photo by Pamela Lukas
I
f the Chicago music scene had a spine,
Jay O’Rourke would be one of its verte-
brae. He’s been around a while, worked
with some great artists as producer and
engineer, and tasted some brief major-label
success. But it wasn’t until now, 40 years
into his story, that he says he’s found his
voice. This month he’s releasing his fourth
solo LP Sumpthin’ Good on his own label.
Though his brief taste of success as a
musician was as backup guitarist and pro-
ducer for the late-‘80s Chicago roots rock-
ers The Insiders, his heart has always been
full of the blues. “Growing up outside of
Philadelphia, I was introduced to the elec-
tric guitar through Elvis, then the Beatles
and the Stones,” O’Rourke recalls. “I was
very inquisitive, and I went back to find
out where they got their influences. I was
one of those kids that stayed home and
practiced guitar from the time I got out of
school ‘til the very next day when I had to
go back. That’s where the Blues thing first
started for me; I was trying to figure out
where the Beatles and the Stones and
Hendrix came from. It led me to Hubert
Sumlin, Buddy Guy, and Muddy Waters -
the real icons.”
Until a few years ago, O’Rourke was
one-third of the Lucky 3 Blues Band with
good friends Jim Desmond and Frank
Raven. “We had worked for three years on
the Lucky 3, and it was going really well.
We were a small, compact unit, we were a
great opening act, and we were doing well.
And it was over in the blink of an eye.”
In 2013, Lucky 3 called it quits, and
O’Rourke took the band’s break-up hard.
“I sat around for a couple of weeks with a
bottle of Jack Daniels in my hand. Then
one night while my girlfriend was leaving
for work, she came up to me, put her face
against mine, and said, ‘You’d better do
something. I don’t know what, but…’ And
the next day I started writing songs.
“I was never really a songwriter
before,” he goes on to explain. “I had been
a producer and arranger, but I always
worked with what I considered to be very
good songwriters, so I never did it. So it’s
new to me, and on this record, I think it
shows - that I learned how to do it in a way
that kind of suits me and is flattering to the
way I sing. I mean, I hadn’t even been a
singer since I was a teenager either. It’s all
new to me.”
After a few “experimental” solo releas-
es, he sat down with his bandmates to put
some more thought into this fourth record.
“This record focuses a lot more on what I’d
call ‘garage-blues-rock,’ which I was
encouraged to do by the other guys in the
band.
“The thing about this band is – they’re
my oldest friends. I’ve played with the
drummer, Ed Breckenfeld, for 30 years.
The guitar player, Grant Tye, actually used
to live in my building here for six years. He
and Klem Hayes (the bass player) go way
back. And Frank (Raven) and I have
worked together in one way or another for
30 years. It’s a family affair, and we’re hav-
ing a ball doing it. And I hope that comes
across.”
Indeed it does: Sumpthin’ Good is ten
tracks of gritty rock with a traditional
blues backbone, the highlights of which
are O’Rourke’s expertly laid guitar leads
and Raven’s smoldering harmonica riffs.
The highlight tracks: “Blackout” has a laid-
back jazzy feel, and “House Full Of
Strangers” brings some Muscle Shoals
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