Looking for New Local Music? Go Fish

Add this column to the ever-growing list of routines derailed by the pandemic. This is a column about local live music as a celebration; a gathering of the masses around the beating of the drum, as our ancestors would say. Such gatherings have now been on pause for nearly a year.
Being a glass-is-one-eighth-full type of person, I refuse to focus on what we don’t have. The silver lining of the live music semi-hiatus is that I’ve been able to explore the recorded music of local talent more aggressively. Last month, I shared my excitement about Freak Juice’s “They Call Us Juice,” this month I’ve got another good one. So consider this column, like the bulk of our daily routines, officially derailed. Instead of Searching for the Sound, this month, we’re fishing for the sound.

Saugeye
Saugeye is a fish. More specifically, it is a unique species of the perch family, a cross between the walleye and the sauger, not native to the sooner state but introduced in hatcheries, eventually filling newly-created niches in Oklahoma reservoirs. But that’s not important for this column. It hasn’t gone that far off the rails. Saugeye, as it concerns us, is a roots music collaboration from Tulsa musicians Jared Tyler, Seth Lee Jones, Jake Lynn and Casey Van Beek. The band’s debut, self-titled album, available at hortonrecords.com, dropped on Jan. 29.
Not-so-fun-fact: Jared Tyler at The Colony last March was the last time I enjoyed indoor live music. His shows never disappoint, and as soon as I get that shot in my arm, I’ll be looking for his next gig. The accomplished singer songwriter with three solo albums to his credit is the band’s frontman, playing acoustic guitar, dobro and handling the lion’s share of the vocals.
Another regular that I’m anxious to see in an indoor venue again soon is Seth Lee Jones, who plays every Thursday from 9 – 12 p.m. at The Colony. Jones, who plays electric and slide guitar on the album, is truly a guitar aficionado. A master luthier and a master slide guitar player, he is known for his unique hand-made guitars, and his one-of-a-kind gritty sound.
Saugeye’s rhythm section gives the band a strong foundation, with drummer Jake Lynn taking advantage of more down time than usual due to a limited 2020 tour with his other band, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, to join the collaboration.
Rounding out the rhythm section on bass is Tulsa Sound veteran Casey Van Beek, whose storied career in the music industry brought him from the Los Angeles area to Tulsa in 1975 to work with Leon Russell’s Shelter Records. Van Beek, who played in Linda Ronstadt’s band with Glenn Fry and Don Henley pre-Eagles, fell in love with the Tulsa music scene and never left, joining Steve Ripley and Jamie Oldaker to form the Tractors, whose debut album went double platinum in 1994.
My over explanation of the namesake fish wasn’t completely irrelevant. The hybrid saugeye represents the meshing of roots music genres: folk, blues, country and rock that Saugeye blends into spirited, heartfelt songs. These are not party songs about solo cups and pickup trucks (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but meaningful and relatable songs about something as simple as putting on a pair of britches one leg at a time, or a tear jerking ode to a loving dog.
Visit hortonrecords.com to listen to a few sample tracks and I think you’ll agree that Saugeye’s debut album is a must have for Tulsa music connoisseurs.

Free Facts
Branjae is taking aim at willful ignorance and challenging the notion that ignorance is bliss. “Holding to the notion our beliefs might save us. Swearing by the ignorance just won’t change us,” sings Tulsa’s queen of Soul, Funk and R&B in her recent single, Free Facts.
Speaking, or singing out on issues that matter is nothing new for Branjae, whose collaboration with Gangstagrass on the hip-hop/bluegrass fusion cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” was mentioned in last August’s issue of Rolling Stone for its socially conscious message. The iconic magazine called it, “a most welcome renovation of the folkie national anthem.”
The 2020 Black Wall Street Award winner for Best Female Artist, Branjae’s showcase of talent can only be fully appreciated in a live setting, as her stage presence puts her in a league of her own, her energy unrivaled. But there’s also a poignancy to her songwriting and a storytelling quality to her music that is easier to appreciate when we slow down and focus on the words and message of her songs.
Free Facts, a collaboration with producer and fellow Count Tutu band member Nathan Wright, is available on all streaming platforms.

We are in the darkness before the dawn as it’s too cold to be outside together, and too unsafe to be inside together. Fortunately, many local musicians are using their down time to record new music to get us by until we can all get back out there safely to keep searching, keep listening.