After five years of paying his dues as the leader of the house band at Chicago`s Kingston Mines blues club, guitarist-singer Dion Payton is getting ready for a crack at the big time.
Payton`s first record in a six-album deal with Virgin Records is scheduled for release by early summer. But the 41-year-old bandleader, who appears Friday at Hugh`s Too, 720 S. Barrington Rd., Streamwood, says he does not want to be pigeonholed as just a blues artist.
”What I do is blues, but more or less a rockin` blues,” he says.
”Usually when you hear blues, it`s so sad. I wanted to liven it up.”
Payton says his exposure to the blues when he was growing up on the South Side consisted of what he`d hear when he`d pass by a bar or when he`d listen to his father playing guitar at home. His music interest leaned more to disco and black pop music.
It was disco diva Millie Jackson who put Payton in touch with the man who remains a major influence, guitar genius Albert King.
”She was a friend of Albert`s and arranged for me to audition for him when he stayed at a hotel in Chicago,” he says. ”They stuck records on the record player and had me play along.”
Payton was hired as second guitarist in King`s touring band, where he says he learned how to reach an audience emotionally.
”I learned a lot from him, like it doesn`t matter how many notes somebody plays,” he says. ”When we`d do a show and my turn for a solo came, I`d play everything in the book and get an ovation.
”But then Albert would play two notes and make everyone forget what I`d done. It was so intense that he`d bring a hush over the house. He`s about the only guy I`ve seen that can do that. That`s where I got my motto: If it`s from the heart, it reaches the heart.”
After touring with King, Payton became a fixture on the local blues scene and hosted jam sessions with visiting rock musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and U2`s Bono.
”Matter of fact,” Payton says, ”I`ve probably played with more rockers than blues musicians.”
In 1990, Payton`s ”All Your Affection Is Gone” caught the ear of Virgin Records executives. The deal was sealed when talent scouts scoured Chicago record stores asking who their most requested blues records were by. ”When they found out I was the most popular guy here, they signed me,” he says.
Dion Payton and the 43rd Street Band begin their first show at Hugh`s Too at 10:30 p.m. after an opening set by Cross Roads. Cover charge is $6. Call 708-213-1456.
