With a self-deprecating laugh, Greg Townson makes a confession.
“I have lots of regrets about my youth.”
But obsessively collecting 45 rpm vinyl records isn’t one of them. It’s what made him the musician he is today.
Townson is known in these parts for guitar slinging with his Rochester-based roots rocking band, The Hi-Risers. The band still plays an occasional gig, and will sometimes escape to exotic locales such as Spain. More often now, though, Townson tours with national acts such as Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets, the surf-rock band notorious for playing shows while wearing Mexican wrestling masks. Townson just finished a six-week tour with Lowe and Los Straitjackets, playing guitar (mask and all), while opening for Elvis Costello & The Imposters at iconic venues such as the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and New York City’s Beacon Theatre.
“It’s almost surreal,” Townson says of the stages he finds himself on these days. (Or perhaps he’s speaking of the masks.)
Opening for Elvis Costello was a full circle moment, of sorts. When Costello’s first album, My Aim is True, was released in 1977, a 14-year-old Townson took note of the guitar that Costello was wielding on the cover. A Fender Jazzmaster guitar.
“I had to have that guitar,” Townson says. “It looked really cool.” And he found one, in a local want ad. A 1966 version, almost never played, for $165. “And I got harassed for buying this guitar,” Townson says. “It was so un-cool. It was the most uncool guitar. But I loved it. And now, of course, it’s this guitar everybody wants.”
The musicians Townson has been spending time with have an ear for vintage sounds; Costello among them, as Townsend discovered while they were on tour together. “He has a record player in his dressing room,” Townson says. “So I’d hear – and of course I love records – so I’d hear these records coming out, this music coming out of his dressing room. He’d invite me in, and we’d talk about whatever it was he was playing.”
T
ownson was re-discovering something about himself.
He’s been with Los Straitjackets for about 13 years, and has taken on major songwriting and arranging duties with the group. He’s also released four mostly instrumental solo records, and a fifth with the backing of his Hi-Risers bandmates, Todd Bradley and Caitlin Moss. More releases with Lowe and Los Straitjackets, along with another solo project, are coming.
This Friday, August 11, Townson takes on yet another of his music personas, playing a solo 10 p.m. show at Lux Lounge, with the devilishly appropriate address of 666 South Ave. A venue self-described as – and there’s some significant competition here – “The Best Little Dive Bar in Rochester.”
Equally intriguing is what follows Townson’s solo set. At 1 a.m., he takes over DJ duties, spinning the music he loves.
“When COVID hit and I was home bound, I suddenly realized, ‘Hey I’ve got these records,” he says. “And I’ve never been so grateful to my younger self, ’cause the music sounded so, you know, fantastic to me. I had these 45s that I hadn’t listened to in literally decades. All of a sudden that’s what I love. These 45s I’ve got.”
And sure, there’s plenty of junk to be had. “The power of mediocrity,” Townson says. “It always will be there.”
Sidestepping the likes of Larry Verne’s 1960 hit “Mr. Custer” and since rediscovering his own records, Townson has been building the collection, which he debuted for public consumption with a December solo show at Lux. First his guitar, then his records. “And it was an absolute blast,” Townson says. “People were dancing, and I got to hear my records at top volume, which is always a pleasure.”
It’s magic he hopes to repeat at Lux this Friday. Surf by The Ventures and the organ-and-sax of Johnny & the Hurricanes. R&B, soul and pop with Junior Walker & the All-Stars and Alvin Cash & the Registers. James Brown, “he did a lot of instrumentals,” Townson says. “I realized I loved instrumental music more than I remembered from an early age. It re-connected me to my past.”
And with 45 rpms, “The sound quality is incredible, running at a higher speed,” Townson says. “It sounds fantastic in a club.”
Lowe, Los Straitjackets and Costello know this. Townson knew it as well when he first held that 1966 FenderJazzmaster guitar.
“Jump ahead 40 years and I’m on the side of the stage,” Townson says of his recent tour. “And within this arsenal of guitars that is on the side of the stage, I said to Elvis’ guitar tech, ‘Is that the Jazzmaster that was on the cover of that record?’ And there it is, and I’m holding that guitar. That’s quite a journey.”
Jeff Spevak is CITY’s Senior Arts Writer. He can be reached at jspevak@wxxi.org.
This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2023.
