Lance Lopez

Lance Lopez

Lance Lopez is a blues rock and hard rock guitarist and singer from Shreveport, Louisiana, born in 1977. He grows up around music in rural Shreveport and starts playing guitar at age eight after receiving an acoustic guitar for Christmas. He later moves from an early Japanese Squier Stratocaster to playing the blues, shaped by hearing artists such as Joe Tex, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and a range of Delta blues figures including Robert Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters and Bukka White.

Early development

Lopez’s family connection to Elvis Presley also has an influence on him: his father serves in the US Army in Germany with Presley in the late 1950s and knows him personally. As a child, Lopez watches footage of Presley and is inspired by his career. In 1990 he moves to Dallas with his mother and attends the Benson and Hedges Blues Festival, where Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King headline. That experience pushes him towards blues guitar in particular.

He plays in bands with school friends in North Dallas, then moves with his father to New Orleans, where he begins performing professionally with older, more experienced musicians and absorbs funk and R&B. He later relocates with his father to the southwest coast of Florida and continues to work in blues and cover bands before returning to Dallas at 17.

Professional career

Back in Dallas, Lopez is hired by soul singer Johnnie Taylor and tours the Chitlin Circuit with him, backing other artists in that scene as well. About a year later, Lucky Peterson takes him into his band as rhythm guitarist. He tours North America and Europe with the Lucky Peterson Organization for three years and eventually becomes bandleader before starting his solo career.

In 1998 he forms a short-lived trio with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Chuck Rainey. He records and releases his debut album, 1st Things First, in 1999 on his own label, LaRoux Records, with co-production by Jay Newland. In 1999 he wins the Southeast Regional Jimi Hendrix Electric Guitar competition at Tipitina’s in New Orleans and receives a Fender Stratocaster from Fender and the Jimi Hendrix family foundation. In 2001 he wins Blues Band of the Year from DallasMusic.com and receives a citation of appreciation from Venlo in the Netherlands during his European tour.

Recordings and collaborations

Lopez releases Wall of Soul in 2003 on Grooveyard Records. He writes, records and produces the album with guitarist Eric Gales, who contributes guitar, vocals and production. Doug Pinnick of King’s X guests on the closing track, “Time”. The album combines power trio playing, hard-edged guitar work and more original epic-rock songwriting.

In early 2005 he reunites with Buddy Miles to form the side project Band Of Trouble, alongside bassist Tommy Shannon, formerly of Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Arc Angel. The group draws on the combined force of Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble. During this period Lopez shares stages with Rick Derringer, Joe Bonamassa, Chris Duarte and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

He follows Wall of Soul with Simplify Your Vision on Grooveyard Records in 2005. The record features a trio approach with session musicians from funk, jazz and R&B in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It includes “Day of Dreams”, “Shake Joint” and the title track, along with a version of Robert Johnson’s “Stones In My Passway”, which becomes a long blues-funk guitar workout.

Later appearances

Lopez continues to play live and opens for major artists including B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai and ZZ Top. He also appears as an opening act for ZZ Top on their 2008 European tour. He is associated with Supersonic Blues Machine.