CESAREO GARASA: Ernie Lewis makes friends, good music with 'Waltz'

Ernie Lewis is a highly regarded performer in a variety of musical circles in town, most notably playing with Johnny Owens and the Bakersfield Sound.

He's a true unsung hero in our local community, having paid his dues in the local music scene for decades.

His latest release, "A Bakersfield Waltz," is now available on all streaming platforms. Physical copies will be available at a future date at World Records.

Around halfway through "A Bakersfield Waltz" is the song "These Burdens," which starts and ends with a choral vocal arrangement by singer Deedra Patrick that wouldn't feel out of place on a gospel album.

Soon, the song settles into a laid-back ukulele-strummed feel, the lyrics a meditation on the weight of self-made limitations, absolution and regret.

The rest of the album is just as soulful, heady and sonically diverse. Much like last year's fascinating album "Cotton Ghosts" by Wandering Cain, which Lewis performed on, "A Bakersfield Waltz" is a collaboration between Lewis and Wandering Cain's composer Ian Perry and lyricist Fidel A. Martinez. The album was produced by Lewis and Martinez with Martinez serving as executive producer.

The creation of "A Bakersfield Waltz" was a fairly quick one, taking about two and a half months to create.

"He (Martinez) wrote the majority of the lyrics, some of (which) we co-wrote," Lewis said via phone interview. "I was basically given lyrics and then I composed all the music to perform."

Both albums also feature a roster of strong, multi-generational talent lending a solid sense of maturity and polish to the releases. Lewis did most of the major lifting, playing on multiple instruments including mountain dulcimer, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, bass, guitar, piano and, yes, ukulele. He was joined intermittently by Perry on bass guitar and vocals, local phenom and Lewis' Johnny Owens' bandmate Kyle Appleton on guitar and banjo, Chris Neufeld on keyboards, Jill England on accordion, Paul Perez on saxophone, Brian Boozer and Joey Wilson on drums and Robert Martinez on percussion.

Along with Lewis, the vocal duties were shared between Deedra Patrick, Jennifer Keel, Latti Patterson (all three of whom had quality releases last year: Patrick and Keel with "Gold Inside" and "Bakersfield Believes," respectively, and Patterson with the singles "My Name's Latti," the catchy "Brand New Day" and "Twice Out Loud"), and Reygun Brown from local Americana duo Jean Coyote. Brown's vocals on the track "Young Joan" are a knockout.

There's a cosmic, regal heft to Martinez's lyrics. They carry a particular rhythmic cadence that Lewis has gamely deciphered into solid vocal melodies. Each word is heavy with purpose and it's a testament to the strength of each of the singers here being able to make them cascade weightlessly and sparkle.

"You know what? It's just another example of Bakersfield just putting out good music still," Lewis said. "I don't mean to pat myself on the back but it is a good album, and, Bakersfield, we're still pushing out music and I'm just part of the collection of artists doing it."

Are there any songs he's particularly proud of?

"I'm really proud of everything that was done," Lewis said. "I'm very much proud of 'The Padre Hotel's Ghosts,' which turned out to be very thematic and cinematic with the cello (by Braxton Porter)."

"One of my favorite tunes on there is 'Even in Anger,' which is really about the love people have for each other. That's to the point whether you're mad at them or not, you still see past that anger and all you see is the love. To me, that's just a powerful song."

Even the title track, which could be the closest the album gets to a breakup song, still has a happy ending — I think. The main character just can't quit the object of their affection. Based on the song title, it's pretty easy to deduce who — what — that is.

Anyone who's ever felt the vortex back to Bakersfield after leaving here knows that gravitational pull all too well. Like the lyrics, and album cover, say: "Always wanting to leave her, one step away, two steps back."

It makes sense that Martinez and Lewis are currently working on a Valentine's Day EP of love songs named "Shelter."

The 13-song "Waltz" clocks in at around 48 minutes making it a pretty brisk listen, rewarding passive listening as well as those that take the time to pay attention to the details. Its mood and lyrics are generally positive, celebrating love, partnership, resilience and joyous optimism such as on the track "My Beautiful Hope." In Lewis' hands, just like on "These Burdens," the songs take on a meaning that can be interpreted as spirited and/or spiritual. It all depends on the direction you take them.

"This project was very challenging but it's been very rewarding and if anything I've made some really neat new friends out of this," Lewis said. "A lot of friendship has been built out of this project from guys I would normally not get to work with, so it was nice."