Cobb >> Paul and Rich Steward share a lot more than just a familial relationship. While most musicians thank their parents for getting them started in their field, many don’t go on to form a duo and pursue music professionally with their mom or dad. But the Stewards aren’t a traditional father and son pairing. When Paul Steward was 14, his father bought him his first electric guitar, which more or less marked the birth of their musical duo, Twice As Good. The pair will be performing at the Village Pub in Cobb Saturday night.
“My dad is a guitar player and he taught me how to play and since then we’ve been playing together,” Paul Steward said. Though they didn’t take Twice as Good name until 2003.
But there’s another person to credit with Paul Steward’s introduction to the music scene: BB King, without whom the Stewards’ foray deep into blues music may not have occurred as it did. “I heard a CD by BB King and I really liked it,” Paul Steward said. “Later on when my dad started teaching me he showed me some of the style of BB King … We both agree that he is the king of the blues.”
Before even exiting his teen years, Paul Steward knew he had a knack for music. Every talent show he entered with his friends, he placed in the top three. He recalls thinking, “Clearly we must be doing something right.”
In 2003 Paul Steward decided a music career was what he wanted out of life. And instead of panicking like many parents, Rich Steward never wavered in support of his son. “I was just graduating high school and I thought, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ I believed that I had a talent to share with the people,” Paul Steward said. “I may not be a great athlete, I may not be a great scientist, but I believe I’m a great musician … So I just kept up with it and my dad always encouraged me too. He never wanted me to stop.”
When deciding to pursue music as a career, Paul Steward said it was about more than just himself. “Without a doubt [music] is work, but the end result, to create a work of art, a song or a sound or a performance to entertain people, it brings such joy to people. It seemed like it would be a great way to spend my life.”
It may seem like there could be some difficulties sharing a band and a stage with a parent, but Paul Steward insists that their relationship is nothing but advantageous. “I’d say that working with my dad is great because at the end of the day he’s my dad. He’s a great supporting father. He’s always been a great partner,” he said. “Because we are family. We’re not two professional individuals who work together and have to fulfill contractual obligations to each other. We are both 110 percent invested in it.”
Paul Steward also feels an extra level of pressure to perform well because of his relationship with his father. “If I were to do a crappy job I’m not just cheating my band mates, I’m cheating my dad.”
Paul and Rich Steward have spent the better part of the last 12 years perfecting their sound. “We just learn songs and listen to music and talk about music and artists that we like. We began to develop our own way of doing things,” Paul Steward said. “I would say when my dad and I began to craft our own sound and style it was from going out to concerts. We really loved that old school blues … We bring a real house rocking fun style of blues music.”
Part of the appeal of blues was that it’s a more obscure genre in today’s pop-laden music scene. “Over time it was fading. There were less and less blues artists out on the scene. I thought, ‘Well if I cant find it, I’ll just have to make it myself,’” Paul Steward explained. “It’s an art form that’s beautiful and it hasn’t been an art form that’s been at the forefront of pop music … People love blues. It’s just not out there in the main stream but that doesn’t mean it’s bad music.”
Though that’s not to say that Twice As Good is strictly blues. They know a wide variety of genres and nothing is off-limits. “I will gladly sing anything,” Paul Steward commented. “I am a musician and I have developed my art and my craft to serve my audience.”
The age gap between the two Steward’s is also an advantage in this regard. “Maybe my dad is old school and knows a lot of the old music. That’s a benefit and he can share it with me. I can introduce him to modern pop that I hear that he doesn’t hear … Between the two of us we’re able to share those two sounds and find what links them,” Paul Steward explained. “It’s not just good, it’s twice as good,” he added, laughing.
Some artists the duo admire, aside from BB King of course, are Albert Collins, Luther Allison and Magic Slim, the last of whom they looked to for instrumental inspiration. “We liked his stripped down sound,” Paul Steward said, explaining that Slim used the simplest lineup of two guitars, bass and drums. “For many years we performed in that similar vein.”
Aside from covers of these talented artists and many others, Twice As Good also perform their own songs, totaling 31 originals written by Paul Steward. “I get inspiration from a story, I get inspiration from a TV show, I get inspiration from real life, I get inspiration from another song,” he explained. “There’s no any one method or any one source of inspiration I think for songwriting.”
Paul and Rich Steward are also from the Elem Indian Colony in Clearlake Oaks, which Paul Steward said has given him a different outlook on life. This no doubt has had some influence on his songwriting process. “Definitely being Native American and coming with a deep background of Native American ancestry it gives me a different perspective,” he said. “It’s the only perspective that I know. But it seems to be a different perspective of life and the world and history other people may not see.”
Paul Steward also said that this unique view is part of what helped draw him to the blues genre as well. “Blues music comes from African American people in the South who suffered from hard times and poverty … They began to compose a simpler music that soothed them and that drew me to it as well,” he said.
When Twice As Good perform, they regularly play with a rhythm section, who they’ve named the 2XG band, though they do switch it up when the occasion calls for it. Sometimes they have an entire horn section while in other instances they use only a harmonica player. “It varies depending on a type of show we’re going to present,” Paul Steward explained.
But whatever band is backing them, Paul Steward guarantees the audience will be in a for a good show. “[Twice as Good] is blues and soul with a dancing beat and a screaming guitar and some sweet vocals,” he said.
He hopes to see a large crowd at the Village Pub Saturday night. “Come and be our friends, be our guests,” Paul Steward urged. “We want all of our performances to feel like a gathering of friends.”
The show is Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. at the Village Pub in Cobb, which is located at 16365 Highway 175. There is a $5 cover charge for the show.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
