Lazy Lester got his break playing harmonica on a recording for Lightnin’ Slim. Producer JD Miller discovered that Lester could also sing and play guitar and drums. Those talents earned him recording gigs with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Slim Harpo, and Nathan Abshire. It also got him noticed by Nashville’s Excello Records, for whom Lester cut solo 45s from 1956 to ‘65. Lester passed away on August 22, 2018, at age 85.
Nick Spitzer: How does a man get a name like Lazy Lester?
Lazy Lester: JD Miller gave us all our stage names. Lightnin’ Slim, Lonesome Sundown, Slim Harpo, Whispering Smith. And he gave me that name because I was never in a hurry, you know? I never get in a hurry to do nothing, I always said if it’s worth doing, it’s worth taking your time, you know.
NS: What got you into being interested in music, was there music in your family?
LL: My mother used to sing all the time, and we’d listen to the Grand Ole Opry. They didn’t have any blues station or anything like that, not then. They had some guys that used to come to the house when I was very small, I remember, to play cards with my dad. They had a little bluegrass band. They would play the music and my mother would make tea cakes, fried bullfrog legs and all that good stuff, cooking turtle, fish and everything. And they was playing the music and playing cards and I was listening. It just stuck to me that I want to do that one day.
NS: Would you say you love country music almost as much as you love the blues?
LL: I think I like it better, haha.
NS: What is it that actually led you into the blues?
LL: I was on a bus, and I saw this guy sitting back there and I said, well I know this old dude, you know. And it was Lightnin’ Slim. I didn’t mention that I wanted to play any kind of music. He said, well I’m going over to Crowley to do some recording, cut a record. I told the bus driver, I said here’s a quarter more, I said I’m going to go over here to Crowley to see what this recording is all about. Got off the bus at Crowley, went around to the studio and met J Miller. He said, “well, we got to go get a harmonica player.” Never found him. He said, “well Lightnin’, I don’t know what we’re going to do.” I said, “what’s so special about this harmonica player? Hell, I can play better than that.” He said, “what?” I said, “go get me a G and an A.” I headed over to the guitarist, said “let me hear what you got.” And Lightnin’ hit “Sugar Plum.”
NS: The sound of swamp blues, or swamp pop, what is the sound that makes this music from Louisiana sound Louisiana? What makes it different from Chicago blues or other kinds of blues?
LL: We have a little country flavor to it. A little cajun, zydeco, or whatever, French. It’s widely spread now, but you know, there’s something about it nobody else was doing but us.
NS: Which record of yours that you did with JD Miller, over time, do you feel the proudest of when you hear it back all these years later?
LL: I wrote most of my material myself, but I like certain songs that he did like “Sugar Coated Love.”
To hear more, tune in Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m to WWNO, or listen at americanroutes.org.