Review: Seth Lee Jones 'Flathead'

Seth Lee Jones

By Mike O’Cull

Tulsa-based blues/rock slide guitar innovator Seth Lee Jones puts his incredibly deep style into full effect on his brand new album Flathead. Released on Horton Records, the record is a collection of rocked-up and reinvented blues covers recorded 100% live with no studio trickery involved at Tulsa’s Teegarden Studios. Jones and his band tracked everything in a mere seven-and-a-half hours straight to tape and the result of that single session is a nine-song set of music that honors the blues’ rich history while still letting Jones express his unique take on the genre in an unlimited way. “What you hear on that record, it’s what you’re going to get live,” says Jones, proudly. Together with his rhythm section of bassist Bo Hallford (Paul Benjaman) and drummer Matt Teegarden (Chris Duarte), Jones has cooked up a potent roots music sound that flies in the grill of the cookie-cutter approach so common in today’s algorithm-driven scene.

Seth Lee Jones is a third-generation guitarist, a master luthier, and a Tulsa native. He was born to a musical family that moved to Los Angeles when Seth was 15. He went on to study classical and jazz at L.A. Valley College and also graduated from Hollywood’s famous Musicians Institute. Jones returned to Tulsa in 2010 in search of affordable living and a spot in the city’s exploding and inspiring local music community. His debut effort as a leader, Live at the Colony, dropped in 2018 and Jones has been steadily building his brand ever since. His highly-individualized slide guitar style employs string-bending palm pedals and baritone instruments and keeps Jones in his own creative space no matter who he’s standing next to.

Flathead begins with Jones’ slinky take on Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and he immediately puts listeners on notice that they’re about to hear something fresh and invigorating. His inches-thick guitar tone throbs with tremolo and enhances his largely non-standard sound. His rhythm work and chord voicings are expressive and personal, allowing Jones to build his own world of blues where pentatonics, pedal steel licks, volume swells, and even shred tactics can play in the same sandbox. His vocals are equally up to the task and make this dynamic cut soulful and warm.

Roger Miller’s “Half A Mind” is sweet, slow, and full of a chordal, chromatic, and crying guitar performance that’s borderline experimental, especially in the world of roots music. If you hear “slide guitar” and expect to encounter one more Duane Allman imitator, Jones will lead you bravely into uncharted lands. He weaves his voice and guitar into a single tapestry like the blues players of old and leaves a spellbinding experience in his wake. By this point, you’ll be looking up his tour dates.

“Driving Wheel” by Roosevelt Sykes gets a steady-rockin’ blues treatment that’s a no-doubt dancefloor hip-shaker. Jones’ vocals are gruff and lowdown and his guitar locks into the band’s pocket like the biggest dog on the block. Like all the tunes here, Jones bends Sykes’ blues into a new shape that reflects where he wants to take his music.

One of the most enjoyable songs on Flathead is Jones’ chugging slide blues retelling of Don Williams’ 70s country hit “Tulsa Time.” It just makes sense, right? Jones digs way down into his country/blues combination bag here and splits the difference in a way that’ll rock any roadhouse you put him in. Other standouts on Flathead are “You Gonna Wreck My Life” from Howlin’ Wolf and “Mary Ann” from Ray Charles.

Seth Lee Jones is one of the most intriguing American guitarists working right now and he’s going to take a whole bunch of people to school if he’s given half a chance. Buy Flathead and do your part to make sure he gets it.

Watch “Tulsa Time”