Jonathan Tyle

“Lights” return to roots in Tulsa

Sarah Szabo, Staff Writer

Jonathan Tyler modestly describes his band, Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights, as just a bunch of boys from Dallas playing music. What makes them special, and what he did not mention at first, is that the group has shared the stage with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple and Erykah Badu. Now this up-and-coming blues band is bringing its tour to Tulsa.

The band will be playing at Cain’s Ballroom on Wednesday alongside The Effects and again on Oct. 28 with Cross Canadian Ragweed.

Tyler says that his band’s energetic shows feature a unique batch of southern-fried blues rock and promise a good time for all concert-goers.

The music evokes an atmosphere of lantern-lit barns and whiskey-soaked bars, a not-so-unfamiliar scene to Oklahomans and well-suited to an historic venue like Cain’s Ballroom.

They have a library of songs diverse enough that everyone can find something to dance to, with twangy-guitar crooners like “Sunshine” and scream-into-the-microphone rockers such as “She’s From the Other Side.” These both, in unique ways, hearken back to blues-rock acts of days past like Stevie Ray Vaughan or Led Zeppelin.

The band members are a Texas and Oklahoma mix who spent their early days playing shows in the Dallas area and gaining accolades such as “Best Blues Act” from the Dallas Observer, “Best Group,” “Best Male Vocal” and “Best Blues Act” at the 2009 Dallas Music Awards. Owing to their southern roots, the boys feel comfortable when playing in a place like Tulsa.

It would not be surprising if this feeling of familiarity is something the band has missed, busy as it has been with touring the country, signing an album deal with New York-based Atlantic Records and recording its major label debut in Nashville, Tenn. The upcoming album, “Pardon Me,” is due in early 2010.