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days of recording, that’s all we really did because these guys are so good they do everything in
one or two takes max, I had lunch with Randy and John and they told me that they didn’t want
me to take those tracks back to the East Coast and initially in my mind I’m thinking oh my god,
were they terrible? You don’t want people to hear these. Like I can do better, I promise, and
they said no. This is exactly the vibe of what The Boneshakers started doing 25 years ago. We
think you should just come back, finish this album with the band and be a part of the band. I
never thought that that was what that conversation was going to be about, but it was a pretty

easy decision to make [laughing].

BiTS: This was really a complete surprise to you?

JL: It was.

BiTS: Absolutely tremendous. Now Randy Jacobs is well known for his funky performance
and so are you. You’ve got some real funk in practically everything you do. Where does that
come from?

JL: Thank you. Some of the music that I’ve been listening to my entire life came out of New
Orleans. I really love the music of New Orleans and bands like The Meters, for example, I feel
like you could listen to that band on repeat for the rest of your life.

BiTS: Yes, me too.

JL: The Neville Brothers and Dumpstaphunk and even
Betty Harris, every time I go to New Orleans, I go to a
record store there called Peaches, and they have a
section in their vinyl that is specifically for New
Orleans artists and they have some of the hardest to
find albums there in the store because they’re
produced locally. I always go through, and I like to find
some of the more obscure albums, and I’ve been doing

that since I was a teenager, so I think some of that has
also lent itself to how I write and how I sing now.

BiTS: I read somewhere that you are an inveterate
vinyl collector. Is that right?

JL: I am. I have a wonderful collection of vinyl here in
the house that spans some pretty hard-to-find jazz vinyl, through classic rock. A lot of blues, a
lot of New Orleans and yes, whenever I travel, if we have even an off afternoon, you can find
me trying to find a music store that sells vinyl so I can go through their dusty bins and just see
what they have.

BiTS: Why vinyl? Is it that much better than the current CDs and that kind of thing?

JL: I feel like we could have a whole hour-long conversation just about the benefits of vinyl
music [laughs]. Yes, I really think it is. I think for some people to them, music sounds like
music, but to me, there really is a difference in the quality and there’s a warmth to it and
there’s just something, I don’t know, there’s something really wonderful about holding it in
your hands and looking at the artwork and the process of putting it on the machine in the
spindle. It’s so much more than just hitting a button on your iPod. So I like the whole
experience.

BiTS: You, I think, are working at the moment with at least six bands of one kind or another,
including a duo that was set up during COVID. How do you manage that?