They’ve Spent 4 Decades Loving the Blues

Playing music usually is considered a young person’s game. Few working musicians retain their youthful enthusiasm after years of dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that come with the musician’s lifestyle.

But two performers whose careers fly in the face of that conventional wisdom are playing in the Valley this weekend.

Miss Lavelle White of Austin, Texas, who’s performing at Cozy’s tonight, and Johnny Dyer of Los Angeles, playing at B.B. King’s on Friday, both started their music careers back in the 1950s.

After his uncle wrote to him about the burgeoning blues scene here, the Mississippi-born Dyer moved to Los Angeles in 1958. He eventually joined the band of Los Angeles blues legend George “Harmonica” Smith, playing second harp in a two-harmonica band through the early 1960s.

But then musical tastes changed. The Motown sound--the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations--became popular and blues bands fell out of fashion.

“Things went bad in the music scene, but I had to make a living,” Dyer said. “So I started driving trucks.”

Dyer’s hiatus from music lasted more than 16 years. He reemerged in the early 1980s, made a few records and began to perform with a new wave of L.A.-based blues talent including Rick Holmstrom, Shakey Jake, Harmonica Fats and Rod Piazza.

“I started doing concerts and playing music in movies,” Dyer said. “It’s been particularly nice the last four or five years.”

Dyer’s harp has been featured on commercials for Budweiser and Nabisco, and in several film and television projects. He’s also been doing “quite a bit” of traveling. In February, he’s going to the Mesa Blues Blast near Phoenix and then on to the Brussels Blues Festival.

Dyer’s performance at the Universal City venue will be with his new band, a partial reunion of the George “Harmonica” Smith band, circa 1960. The reunion cannot be complete, however, since Smith and guitarist Pete Lewis died and keyboardist Bill Goodlow has dropped out of sight. But, Dyer said, “I’m hopin’ to get as many as I can.”

Smith band alumni who will be playing with Dyer are Curtis “T-Man” Tillman on bass, Chuck Thomas on drums and Dyer himself on vocals and harmonica.

“It’s a thrill to be back at it again,” Dyer said. “I love music so well.”

* Johnny Dyer performs Friday night at B.B. King’s, Universal CityWalk. $12 cover. Call (818) 622-5464.

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Miss Lavelle White’s debut album on Antone Records is titled “It Haven’t Been Easy.” I spoke to White by telephone from a tour stop in Alpine, Texas. I wanted her to explain the significance of the new album’s title.

“ ‘It Haven’t Been Easy?’ ” I asked.

“It haven’t been easy,” she answered. “But, it’s been easier the last four years.”

White cut her musical teeth in the 1950s Houston blues circuit. She lists only one major influence.

“What inspired me was my mother,” White said. “I started singing when I was 12 in church, that’s when I grasped the opportunity. I didn’t sound like anyone else.”

Later when she started performing at clubs, the initial response was anything but encouraging.

“I knew I was horrible,” she said. “People would laugh at me, but I kept trying.”

By the late 1950s, White was recording for Don Robey’s Duke Records. Her regional hits included “Yes, I’ve Been Crying,” “Stop These Teardrops” and “Why Young Men Go Wild.” During the 1960s, White toured with Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, the Drifters, the Isley Brothers and James Brown, among others.

In the 1970s, White relocated to Chicago where she reigned as house vocalist at Kingston Mines, one of the city’s top blues clubs. She left the Windy City in 1986, and finally made her way to Austin and Clifford Antone’s nightclub and recording label.

“It Haven’t Been Easy” is her first album in a 40-year career.

“It’s great. I’m enjoying it,” she said of the touring that now occupies a great deal of her time. “Especially when I’m coming to California.”

She describes the music on her new album as “like funk, but a little bluesier, a little jazzier.” The album is dedicated to Johnny “Guitar” Watson, who died last year, a friend of White’s since the late 1950s.

“He was a great guy. I loved the man and all his family,” White said. “He was a great musician.”

Even though it haven’t been easy for White, she claims she never thought of quitting.

“You can never give up music altogether,” she said. “ ‘Cause it’s from God Almighty.”

* Miss Lavelle White has a record release party tonight at Cozy’s, 14058 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $8 cover. Call (818) 986-6000.

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Youthful or otherwise, there is certainly no shortage of musicians in Los Angeles. Bassists, drummers and guitarists abound. So why doesn’t the duo Breech--singersongwriter Missy Gibson and guitarist songwriter Philip Watts--fill out the band?

“Truthfully, we’re not set into this configuration, but it works in a way for me,” Gibson says. “Music is not always about sound, it’s about open space.

“When you’re playing in a duo, there’s very little place to hide. It’s always on the edge--it’s exciting--in the moment,” she says. “I played in rock bands for years, but when I started doing this duo, I saw I was missing out on those things.”

Originally from Detroit, Gibson picked up Watts while living in Cleveland. The duo arrived in Los Angeles in June and are shopping their tape around town while playing places such as the Whiskey, the Crooked Bar at Coconut Teaszer’s, Genghis Cohen’s and Highland Grounds.

“Everybody wants to niche you out,” says Gibson, who labels Breech’s music as “punk baroque.” Combating the aloof stage manner of other performers, she’s adopted an “in your face” singing style--roaming the audience, making direct eye contact with audience members.

“I don’t want to make people uncomfortable,” she says. “I want to respect people’s space, but sometimes I think I cross that line.”

* Breech plays Friday night at Coffee Junction, 19221 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. No cover. Call (818) 342-3405.