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Performer Leon Featherstone is back. He has returned from Great Falls, Mont., and is singing and playing guitar with Honky Tonk Asylum and Jake and the Blue Lights or is performing solo.
He has assembled material from his 50 years of stage and studio work, combined original works, rarities and classics and created a one-man show.
Featherstone’s musical career began when he was 17, serving in the Air Force in Pakistan. He played the piano with The Episodes at the airman and officers clubs.
“They mostly played blues and standards and I only knew four chords and two progressions — they (the band members) were incredibly encouraging and generous. We had a guitarist, but the band hired a lead player, Gary Armisted who played a Les Paul through a Fender Twin. He played ‘Pipeline’ and it was the beginning of the end of my piano experiment. I bought that guitar for $80 and joined my first guitar band, The Cyclones with Tom and Dan Peek,” Featherstone said.
The band broke up after Featherstone was reassigned to the States. Dan went on to join the band America and Tom joined the Air Force. (Sadly, Dan passed away last year).
Featherstone moved to Placerville in 2007. Before then he had been playing all along the coast from California to Canada.
“I was thrilled to meet B.B. King and John Lee Hooker and open for Buddy Guy. I was fortunate to play guitar for a variety of artists as they recorded their albums. And I had a lot of fun recording jingles for commercials, making various artists’ demos, and most recently, playing the Boulevard in Hollywood with my step-daughter, Molly,” Featherstone said.
“My solo shows will be a reflection of everything I’ve been through: folk, blues, rock and country,” he said.
Featherstone and Honky Tonk Asylum can be seen most Fridays at 7 p.m. at the Forester Pub and Grill, 4110 Carson Road in Camino; with Jake and the Blue Lights at the Rusty Nail, 6042 Pony Express Trail in Pollock Pines, on Saturday, Sept. 15; and on the first and third Wednesdays at the Brick Oven Pub, 2875 Ray Lawyer Drive in Placerville.
Follow Featherstone at Leonandtheguitar.shutterfly.com.
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