Six Strings Down – Wailing for the dead

S ix Strings Down guitar player and vocalist, Jon Lisi, used to live near a cemetery. And from time to time he would go out to it, pull up a tombstone and play slide guitar for the dead.

“I would go there as the sun would set and just watch the sun change the complexion of the stone. The stone would receive the light differently as the sun set. So, it’s kind of neat and kind of fun to play dobro music around,” said Lisi. “You can sit in a graveyard with a dobro and entertain yourself and spirits for hours.”

But Lisi wasn’t sure how much his audience appreciated his music.

“There was definitely some things I felt. I don’t know if my mind was playing tricks on me or if it was for real,” said Lisi.

But he said he is actually more tripped out by the people alive in New Orleans than the people who are dead and haunting New Orleans.

Lisi is one of four guitar players/band leaders in the group Six Strings Down.

The four guitar players/band leaders are Jon Lisi (vocals, guitar, mandolin), “West Bank” Mike Doussan (vocals, guitar), Bill Iuso (vocals, guitar) and Josh Garret (vocals, guitar).

They each also have their own bands: John Lisi and Delta Funk!, Billy Iuso and the Restless Native, Josh Garret and the Bottomline, and “West Bank” Mike and the Fisher Projects.

And they each are veteran performers and students of some of New Orleans’ finest musicians.

Lisi has recorded and performed with Henry Gray, Tabby Thomas, Raful Neal and the “Big Chief of New Orleans” Monk Boudreaux.

Iuso befriended the Neville Brothers and the Meters and has performed and recorded with many of the members from the bands.

Doussan has been featured backing Walter “Wolfman” Washington and an array of Mardi Gras Chiefs. He has also recorded with New Orleans trumpet player James Andrews.

And Garrett, who maintains his strong ties to Houma, has often shared a bill with Snooks Eglin and Sonny Landreth.

Besides having four guitarists and vocalists, the band also features two drummers, Brian Besse and Steve Randall.

“As soon as they got in the same room together, it was like it was their idea. They were like two peas in a pod,” said Lisi.

And the band’s one lonely bass player is called, “Cujo.”

“Hey, he’s a bass player. He chose the wrong instrument,” joked Lisi.

He goes by the name, “Cujo,” because “this bad mutha #@%&*@ bites,” Lisi explained.

Randall comes from Lisi’s band. Cujo was once in Lisi’s band, but is doing his own thing now.

Besse comes from Iuso’s band.

The band takes its name from a song that first appeared on Jimmie Vaughan’s album “Strange Pleasure” back in 1995. The song, “Six Strings Down,” was written by Art Neville, Eric Kolb, Aaron Neville, Cyril Neville, Kelsey Smith and Jimmie Vaughan.

It was written as a eulogy for Stevie Ray Vaughan and other deceased guitarists.

The four guitarists in the band performed together for the first time at the 2006 Voice of the Wetlands Festival.

“To my recollection that was like seven million years ago in gig terms,” said Lisi. “You know how a dog ages seven years? Well every gig is like six weeks ago.”

They were brought together for what was supposed to be a kind of guitar showdown, but instead it turned into something more, something surreal for the soon-to-be band mates.

“Yeah, it was cool. I just got together with people I dig and respect. And one thing led to another. We didn’t really talk a lot about it. Everyone just said, OK, I’m going to front a couple of songs, you’re going to front a couple of songs,” said Lisi. “We made sure they were all on the same key and the same tempo and the next thing you know, we were being pulled offstage, saying y’all are done. We were like, ‘Holy crap, we just started.'”

The band is scheduled to perform at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival on Friday, Oct. 12. There, they plan to debut their self-titled first album.

Six Strings Down will also be at the Ybar in Houma on the evenings of Friday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 13.

For more information, check their MySpace page at: www.myspace.com/sixstringsdown2.