John Evans Interview

John Evans interview by Amber Phelps

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Sitting at the cantina table at Guero’s Taco Bar on South Congress, Austin TX, a foreign place to me as it was, anxiously waiting on my interview for the day, and not knowing if I was even at the right restaurant!  I knew what he looked like and I was nonchalantly trying to view each person coming in the door, when I glanced through the side window and spotted him right away; the tall slender man walking down the sidewalk in the black pearl snap shirt, white denim, black crocodile boots and signature hair.  John Evans walked in and shot me that smile and all the anxiety vanished.  I had met John Evans quite a few years back through a mutual friend, and immediately fell in love with his passion for music.  He is an original rockabilly Texas country blues man and had always had the band and wardrobe to boot.  

I had never been to Guero’s Taco Bar before and being John’s suggestion, I asked what he recommended and as a self-proclaimed foodie, I learned a few things!  We ordered queso and along with that he ordered a side of chopped onion, chopped jalapeno and chopped cilantro.  Mixed it all together and I can tell you, I honestly will never go back to regular queso!

Guero’s Taco Bar was a delightful atmosphere with an all-embracing friendly wait staff, the perfectly colorful place to begin our interview alongside a plate of darn good fresh tacos!

John Evans has been rockin’ Texas bars and performing rockabilly music since 1999.  Wanting to know more about how he got into the rockabilly style of music he says, “It’s really more an energy thing, I mean honestly, a lot of what makes a song a certain genre is just the presentation of it.” 

“Growing up I was into all sorts of things.  When I was real young my mom listened to a whole lot of delta blues and jazz, the old stuff.  She grew up in Itta Bena, Mississippi, B.B. King was born and grew up there and Robert Johnson used to play on the street corner and it was kind of like home of the blues.  So that was a big influence growing up and every summer we’d go and stay with my uncle and that’s what we’d listen to and that’s what was good!  I didn’t really get into the country thing until college, when Dwight Yoakum started hittin’ the radio.”

John Evans is also quite the diverse creature as well.  He played football in college then onto the World League of American Football for the New York/ New Jersey Knights (that later turned in the NFL Europe).  He’s a father, dating another rock star, worked with the Junk Gypsies for the past eight years at the Junk ‘O Rama Proms, is a producer, a writer, and is busy recording and kicking ass in the rockabilly industry!

John Evans is getting ready to release a new record, Feb 2014, as he explains, “instead of using my core groups of players from my band for this record, I’ve handpicked guys from around town to come in and record because I was doing kind of an eclectic record it’s like a cross between Harry Neilson and Elvis Costello it’s a cool record, a pretty record.” 

Check him out at The White Horse in ATX and at www.johnevansband.com and keep an eye out for him in our event calendars!