By John Voket

RIDGEFIELD — It is true that multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Eliot Lewis has a ton of infectious rocking tunes all his own. But when he comes to play, he is always mixing in plenty of familiar numbers by his A-list musical colleagues.

That list of musicians and collaborators is pretty impressive: Hall & Oates, the Average White Band (AWB), Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Train, Rob Thomas, Grace Potter, Ben Folds, Booker T, Jewel, Rob Thomas, Keb Mo, Jason Mraz, and Darius Rucker to name just a few.

“One of the first writers to inspire me to write songs was Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, another favorite band of mine that I just worked with on Live From Daryl’s House,” Lewis relates in his bio.

Lewis, who grew up in neighboring Norwalk and now lives north of Hartford, is headlining a Sunday evening outdoor show at the Ridgefield Playhouse on June 20, when he will backed by a small group he said is pretty much ready for anything he throws at them — much to the delight of audiences who tend to be very familiar with most of the songs.

Lewis checked in with The Newtown Bee ahead of that show, and committed to delivering a set of tunes everyone will thoroughly enjoy.

The globe trotting guitarist has been all over as a member of the Hall & Oates touring band, as well as a key member of the Scottish funk outfit AWB (which was co-founded by Newtown resident Roger Ball). Lewis has also been the only musician to appear on every episode of Daryl Hall’s Live From Daryl’s House television show — besides Hall himself — while maintaining his own solo career.

Equally at home in front of 100 or 15,000, he has performed on the world’s most legendary stages, including Madison Square Garden, Japan’s Budokan, Colorado’s majestic Red Rocks Amphitheater, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, The Today Show, The Voice, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and many others.

At the earliest point in his professional career, Lewis worked alongside the late Dan Hartman and performed on several hit songs produced by Hartman, including Tina Turner’s “Simply The Best” and Joe Cocker’s “Unchain my Heart.”

But way before that, as an up and coming teen guitarist, he shook off being star-struck after being invited to jam with none other than Peter Frampton. These days, Lewis is simply proud that his talents are appreciated by the musicians he's working beside.

“Eliot is a musician who can do it all, great singer, songwriter and guitarist. He rocks and he’s got soul,” Daryl Hall has said of him. “No one does it quite like him.”

Having mastered four instruments over the course of his career — guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums — Lewis’s shows will find him moving from one instrument to another, even playing several at once. He has also carved out his own distinctive brand of rock and soul, and has written, performed, and produced all of his CDs including the latest, his first-ever all instrumental, titled Sonic Soldier.

He touched on these points and several others during an extended call from his Connecticut home.

The Newtown Bee: At what point in your childhood did music grab you and refuse to turn you loose?

Eliot Lewis: I grew up in a musical family. My mother was a classical pianist and my two brothers turned me on to all the great music from the late ’60s to the ’70s. I was 10 years old when I discovered the drums — it was my brother’s drum kit. That was such an incredible time to grow up around music. But after a while I took up the bass, and eventually guitar. From there, I decided I really wanted to focus my attention of songwriting.

The Bee: How did you nurture that particular talent?

Lewis: Well, during the '80s I got a publishing deal with Sony, and then with Warner Chappell, and I ended up doing sessions with Dan Hartman. It was also during the '80s that technology really started exploding, especially with the development of synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers. So I realized that by being able to play several instruments I could be a complete songwriter. That became my main focus — to be a self-contained artist and songwriter. That served me well because I was able to slot myself in to a lot of different situations, which provided me with a lot of variety. Looking back now, 40 years later, I still love doing what I do the same way I did when I was a kid.

The Bee: You've played all over, but I heard your first time playing Madison Square Garden — when you were just a teenager — was pretty special.

Lewis: My best friend from Norwalk who started playing bass when I was playing drums — his father was in the music business. One of the jobs he had was being Peter Frampton’s promotions manager, so as kids we’d go to Madison Square Garden where I was jamming with Peter, hanging out with Elton John, seeing The Who, and my first major concert with Alice Cooper. I think that firsthand exposure at such high levels when I was just a kid put the bug in my head that some day I wanted to play MSG myself — and I’ve been blessed to play there three [more] times.

The Bee: So what should the folks coming out to see you at The Ridgefield Playhouse expect out of your set?

Lewis: It’s going to be my own small scaled-down band with a drummer, my background singer, and a little bit of technology including some backing tracks, which are all me playing bass and keyboards running alongside the real players. I’ve always tried to take advantage of the technology available to me. I embraced it early on like Todd Rundgren has. I think making the best of it and using it wisely can be a real advantage. In Ridgefield I'll be doing some of the highlights representing artists I met in the Daryl's House show, so some Billy Gibbons / ZZ Top, a Joe Walsh song, maybe a Train tune, something I did with Gavin DeGraw, Todd Rundgren for sure, and of course a Hall & Oates song or two. These are songs I played with these artists so they all have a lot of meaning for me, and it's cool for the audience because they get a lot of material they're familiar with although I put my own twist on them. And I have to play 'Pick Up the Pieces' by AWB. It was the first song I learned on the drums, and it's magical that years later I got to play it every night when I was touring with them. I know [AWB co-founder] Roger Ball lives in Newtown. He's a lovely guy and a great player. He was part of the band a few years when I was with them, so we got to play together.

The Bee: In watching a few of your concert videos, you look like you lean on your electric Firebird style guitar — but it's not a Gibson, is it?

Lewis: I have a bunch of guitars and I've tried a lot of different ones. I guess you bond with certain ones for awhile and then move on. But I love the Firebird and I've always been a fan of that shape and sound. I'll be playing that at Ridgefield. And that's one of the new Epiphone models 'inspired by Gibson,' and they really do an incredible job replicating every aspect of that instrument to what the Gibson feels and sounds like. I've also been able to play some acoustic guitar, and [the one I use now is an] Epiphone. I'm also playing some G&L guitars, which are designed by Leo Fender after he left that company. I knew about them and I recently picked one up when I was doing a series of virtual shows with Todd [Rundgren] in Chicago. We were mostly locked down but I managed to get out to the Chicago Music Exchange and I picked this G&L up and really fell in love with it because it's almost like marrying a Fender and a Gibson together - it's got the best of both worlds.

The Bee: Your latest recording project is actually your first-ever all instrumental album — why did you decide to go that route with Sonic Soldier?

Lewis: I always loved instrumental music because I grew up listening to a lot of it, including stuff by Jeff Beck. And on almost all of my solo releases, I’ve put one or two instrumentals down. But for a long time I kept hearing from fans who thought I should do an all instrumental record. So I went back to re-record some of my early releases and put them together with four or five new songs I wrote that best represent my instrumental side. There are so many great ways to convey melody, and it doesn’t always have to be vocally — it can be instrumentally. I think the guitar is such an emotional instrument to present melody, and this represents my most recent release.”

The Bee: You were blessed to work with one of my all-time favorite players and band leaders — Tom 'T-Bone' Wolk — man, there was a talent you don't come across too often.

Lewis: Tom was one of the most inspirational people I ever met, and working alongside him he naturally brought the best out of every musician because he was so good, and because of his personality, he was a loving, gentle player who mastered a number of instruments. He was one of the ones along with Daryl who really believed in me. I had been playing keys with AWB, and they reached out to me to join Hall & Oates — but stepping into that group I really needed to up my game. Big shoes to fill. And it was 'T-Bone' who said 'El, I believe in you and you can do this.' I ended up actually replacing a good friend of his, and I remember him saying, 'You can be our new Bob Mayo, I know it!' That brings the best out of you.

The Bee: Todd Rundgren — soon to be elevated to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame — was also a huge influence, right?

Lewis: Todd definitely taught me by example. And certainly growing up listening to him and admiring the fact that he played all the instruments himself led me to really understand that he is a musical genius, and I don't say that about many people. The depths of his songwriting and lyrics are incredible. He's worked with the world's best musicians. And it is life changing for someone like me to work with a musician of that caliber. He's been an incredible inspiration.

The Bee: ...and it's almost a badge of honor to be cussed out, or thrown out of the studio by Todd Rundgren...

Lewis: (laughing): I've worked with him before the Chicago job, he was on Daryl's House twice and we did some other concerts together. But the first time I met Todd was after I joined Hall & Oates and Todd was our opener for a tour. T-Bone, the drummer and I were his band, so we'd do the opening set with Todd and then would come out and do the whole Hall & Oates show. I had heard about how Todd could be hard on musicians sometimes, and the joke is — if he doesn't call you out on something, you're doing great. He may never tell you that you're doing a great job, but not getting called out means you're doing ok ...and I never got called out, so that was ok! He so deserves being in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the Eliot Lewis show are $30 and available as touchless print-at-home tickets at ridgefieldplayhouse.org or by calling the box office, 203-438-5795. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a nonprofit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

Check out Eliot Lewis playing 'I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)' at The Strand Theatre in 2015:

Eliot Lewis covers 'Pick Up The Pieces' co-written by Newtown Resident Roger Ball:

Associate Editor John Voket can be reached at john@thebee.com.