Check Out Mike T. Lewis of the Twangtown Paramours’ Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike T. Lewis of the Twangtown Paramours.

Hi Mike, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am lucky to be married to my favorite singer, MaryBeth Zamer. She and I are known on stage as The Twangtown Paramours, and we’ve written songs, performed live, and produced records since 2010. Though we have not made a fortune in the music business, we feel blessed to write, perform, and record only the music we really love.

We just finished recording a new project called Double Down on a Bad Thing. This album is an exciting change of direction for us and will be released to terrestrial AAA, Americana, and Blues radio on February 4, 2022. Two singles from the record have already been released to Spotify.

Our past albums have consisted of all-acoustic productions with a fair number of very serious songs. We were lucky enough to have some of those songs recorded by other artists, win us the Wildflower Songwriter Contest in Dallas, and help us to become finalists three times in the Kerrville New Folk Contest. Our two previous albums got to #2 and #11 on the Folk DJ chart and our most recent single release went to #2 on the same chart this past January.

In contrast, our new record is fun, groove-oriented, hard-hitting, and electric. It is also quite retro in a lot of ways, drawing on influences of the early Beatles, Memphis soul, and the blues. Writing and recording Double Down on a Bad Thing kept us sane during the pandemic. It kept our spirits up and it is our hope that it will cheer other folks up in these tough times.

We’re proud to say Double Down on a Bad Thing features some of the best musicians to be found anywhere. Players include world-renowned Shawn Pelton (SNL band, Shawn Colvin, Roseanne Cash) on drums and percussion, Dave Keyes (2-time Blues Society Pinetop Perkins pianist nominee), Rave Tesar (keyboardist and music director for the band, Renaissance), Steve Conn (Sonny Landreth’s right-hand man), Ed Alstrom (renowned session pianist and organist), and horn players Dan Nigro and Vinnie Cutro (Smokey Joe’s Café). It’s a feel-good album with Blues-Brothers-Esque pep, explosive vocals, and carefully crafted pared-down lyrics.

Though the vibe is vintage, this album isn’t some kind of retrospective. It’s a reminder of the strength, confidence, and we- can- do- anything attitude of the early 1960s. It’s meant to be an inspiration for having fun and for making better things happen, even during times like the present. We almost called the project, “No Whining Allowed.”

The first song to be released to terrestrial radio will be the Christmas bonus track, “My Gingerbread Man,” It’s a 40% nice and 60% naughty retro Christmas tune in the style of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock.” We’re looking forward to it being on the radio in the U.S. and the U.K. in time for the holidays. We’re particularly excited that it is also being programmed by Spectrio radio to play in Best Buy, Staples, Sprint stores, Carmax, some Walmarts, some Whole Foods, 1100 hair salons, and a number of malls across the U.S. during the entire holiday season.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being somewhat older than the average would-be famous performers in town, we’ve had to forge ahead knowing it was unlikely we’d ever have a record company sign us or distribute and promote our music. With our new album, we’ve had to do all the tasks ourselves that a record label would normally do.

The pandemic, of course, has been a big challenge, as it has been for most artists. We had a lot of gigs canceled or postponed, and that has not helped our visibility.

The pandemic also strongly affected the way we recorded our upcoming album. About a week before the lockdown began in March 2020, we were fortunate enough to finish all the construction of our new 700 square foot recording studio. For the next year, we felt blessed every day that we had such a studio to record in, but we couldn’t let anyone in the door, except ourselves. Meaning, we could not use our usual wonderful drummer or keyboard player.

This was a challenge and an opportunity. Because no one could come over to our studio and record with us live, we had to record a lot of parts remotely. We were able to take care of the guitars, bass, vocals, and some keyboard parts ourselves, but when it came to drums, horns, organ, pedal and lap steel, and trickier keyboard parts, we asked some terrific folks we had worked with before to contribute from where they were.

Shawn Pelton, played drums and percussion in NYC, Dave Keyes played piano and B3 Organ in NY State, Rave Tesar played keyboards from a separate location in NY state, Dan Nigro played saxes from yet another location in NY state, Vinnie Cutro played trumpet in New Jersey, Ed Alstrom played piano from another location in NJ, Gary DiBenedetto played pedal steel in South Georgia, Steve Conn played piano only ten miles away from our studio, and Mark Deffenbaugh played lap steel just five miles away from our studio.

All the musicians on our album not only had to be great players, but they also had to have quality recording facilities and have some really good engineering chops.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We write, record, and perform the kind of music we love. We were Kerrville New Folk finalists three times, won the Wildflower Contest outside of Dallas, have opened for some great artists such as Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Claire Lynch.

Other artists, such as the Price Sisters on Rebel Records have started to record some of our songs. Folks who are fans of our music are usually drawn to MaryBeth’s soulful lead vocals and to the pathos or humor of our song catalog.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Here’s some advice for anyone who wants to take it: Work hard at your craft. Don’t beat yourself up when you screw up or are told “no”, but be relentless about always improving. Find the best songwriters to learn from, work with the finest musicians available to you, always practice with a metronome, and only get into this business if you truly love what you do. If you want to make a lot of money, start a hedge fund.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.thetwangtownparamours.com
• Instagram: @twangtownparamours
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTwangtownParamours
• Twitter: @twangtownparam1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twangtownparamours

Image Credits
Scott Simontacchi