By Chris Epting
Eliot Lewis is familiar to many music fans as the longtime keyboard player/ singer both on the popular TV show “Live from Daryl’s House” as well as in the Daryl Hall and John Oates touring band. But the accomplished and versatile musician (who spent several years as a key member of the Average White Band) also has a busy solo career which has attracted many followers. Lewis has released several solo CDs which feature his impressive guitar playing in addition to his singing and songwriting.
Lewis’s solo material is often injected with a soaring, frequently uplifting flavor that creates a solid platform for his infectious personality and thoroughly engaging live performances. Raised as a rock ‘n roll child of the 1970s, he is clearly paying attention to the many luminaries that have passed through Daryl’s house over the For the title track of his latest CD Crusade, Lewis enlisted the talents of director / producers Jay Johnson and Ronald Michael to create a compelling new video shot rights on the streets of New York City. As Lewis told Vintage Rock, it was a chance for him to tap into the MTV sensibilities that helped raise him.
“Like a lot of kids, I came of age with MTV and couldn’t wait to see all the latest releases by my favorite artists. Visual presentations always really excited me as a musical expression, which is why think I’m still so passionate about making my own videos. For this particular song, I give Jay and Ronald a lot of credit for absorbing the lyrics in understanding what I was trying to say. All of those people that you see in the video were rounded up by them and then given their own chance to create their own expression within the video. It was an amazing experience for me and I’m already in the middle of planning my next series of videos. For a while I thought the video era had sort of disappeared but that’s clearly not the case and I’m really having a good time doing this. so stay tuned.”
You can check out the video below for yourself. We think you’ll enjoy both song and the way real people were incorporated to help bring to life Lewis’ universal message.
