"Maybe music really is in my blood."

West Texas rock and blues guitarist Jesse Ballew could not help but consider that conclusion, for a variety of reasons. Even his grandparents played music, partly because there were no video games around to keep youths occupied while growing up.

His dad, Guy Ballew, and dad's brother, the senior Jesse Ballew, founded the much-respected Sparkles, a Levelland-based rock group first active in the late 1950s. Like Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, the Sparkles first tested the waters at Norman Petty's recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico, although the Sparkles' hits were recorded elsewhere,

Contemporary musician Jesse Ballew, 47, was named after his uncle, but has no memories of family conversations about music and the Sparkles while he was a youngster growing up in Levelland. Nor did his father teach him how to play guitar.

Although his dad did pay him compliments when he heard Jesse, at age 6, already singing harmony to songs he heard on the radio in the family's truck. He recalled his father saying, "Not even many adults can do that, Jesse."

Years passed before Ballew understood that his uncle had died in a car accident. Relatives told him that his father "took it hard and quit (playing music) shortly after that." All this happened before Ballew was born.

At age 10, while rummaging in a family closet when his parents were not home, he discovered a guitar and amplifier owned by his father. That was a figurative first step ... and Ballew was born to run.

Van Halen live

Ballew rapidly became a rock 'n' roll fan. On another night when his parents were out, older sister Vicki (now Vicki Winegeart) told her kid brother she was leaving to see a Van Halen concert in Lubbock. Ballew stood his ground and threatened to rat her out to their parents unless she took him along. He then "raided a piggy bank" for the $8.50 cost of a concert ticket.

He was a diehard Kiss fan at the time, but one night watching Eddie Van Halen play guitar was all it took to prompt Ballew to "toss all my Kiss LPs into a closet."

As a youngster, just 7 years old, Ballew took possession of a cheap, knockoff guitar. This was the instrument he used when Levelland musician Matt Simms devoted a year to showing Ballew proper chords and providing weekly music lessons.

Ballew worked in the oil fields from age 15 to 27. Every week, he recalled, he would get paid, then he would rush to buy a new album and learn every song on both sides, before taking another lesson from Simms.

He never learned to read music, though. "I tried, but I couldn't do it," he said.

His sister explained, "Jesse plays by ear. He hears a song and he has it down pat in a matter of minutes, both chords and vocals."



(There's a bit more to it, as he listens to each song multiple times before feeling confident.)

It would be years before Ballew realized what a rare and special gift he has. After all, most of Ballew's best friends developed a completely different interest: "They all played football," he said, "but they accepted me as the guy in high school who played guitar."

Studied rock guitar

His parents paid less attention to his progress. On nights when Ballew told them he was driving "to the library to study," he actually was frequenting such libraries as the Main Street Saloon in Lubbock, where he would study rock guitar at jam sessions.

Bands began to notice him.

Of course, Ballew's music never was a secret at home. Winegeart recalled, "Growing up, there never was any peace, quiet or serenity. He was playing guitar relentlessly.

"... That was so annoying. Jesse played consistently in our basement, and it rocked the entire house."

But Ballew kept getting better.

Following high school graduation, he pursued music classes for two years at South Plains College. He never stopped earning what he calls "good money" in the oil fields. That allowed him to begin investing in guitars. He owns 34 - and he has given each instrument a name, said Winegeart.

"After he left the oil fields," she added, "I knew he was going to play guitar and chase a music career."

Ask Ballew to name an influential local guitarist and he cannot stop at one. For example, he quickle mentioned his admiration for John Sprott with the Nelsons, Darren Welch in Ground Zero, Tony Adams and Robin Griffin playing together, and Mike Carraway.

Slaton band The Swet Adicts was the first to recruit him as a guitarist. He began singing after joining rock band Zone.

Two-guitar sound

He was hired to play bass with the Darren Welch Group. Later Welch and Ballew, who both were teaching guitar classes at South Plains College, hired another musician to handle bass and instead earned attention by opting for a more powerful, two-guitar sound.

Ten years ago, Sprott told A-J Media, "Jesse is a student of rock 'n' roll who can reel off what amp was used by which artist with what guitar on which tour with dizzying detail. His guitar-playing and singing are products of talent and long years of experience."

In many ways a journeyman guitarist, Ballew is not a complainer. He insists that he is "picky" only about making good music.

He keeps up with gifted Lubbock musicians who move elsewhere and later return to Lubbock, and once told A-J Media, "Some of the greatest guitar players I know are pizza delivery guys in Austin,"

He remembers being sad when he and Welch "missed our big chance." Proud of newly written and tested music, the duo had serious plans to play and shop their music across Europe.

Then al-Qaida terrorists brought down the World Trade Center towers with hijacked passenger planes.

Americans felt like targets in Europe and aboard subsequent international flights. In Ballew's eyes. and heart, an opportunity was lost.

Stroke at 45

Not long afterward, Ballew dodged a figurative, lethal bullet at home. He underwent hip replacement surgery on Aug. 23, 2013. On Oct. 10 - "while in perfect health at a drug-free 45" - he suffered a stroke.

The right side of his body was affected. His face "dropped," his right hand lost grip strength, guitar-playing speed ("never fast to begin with," he said) slowed, and his "acoustic finger-picking style" was lost.

More important: The word stroke terrified Ballew, his mom and sister. "You cannot understand how that feels if it does not happen to you," said Ballew.

After all, he lived to perform. He attempted to explain, "The day I cannot play guitar, I won't be one of those musicians who takes up painting. There is nothing else for me."

Fear found him back on stage, playing guitar, a mere three days after leaving the hospital. Truly recovering his health and regaining his confidence would take longer.

Ballew stays busy, and is not difficult to track down.

He and Sprott play together each Monday at the O-Bar on 34th Street, and whenever the Jesse Ballew Band is booked.

Matures as guitarist

Sprott, an elder statesman of Lubbock musicians who has played guitar 44 of his 57 years, said Wednesday, "Jesse has matured and improved on guitar. I'd say two factors contributed to that.

"The biggest was all his years playing with Darren Welch. Also, the variety of musical styles he encounters while gigging with various area musicians has sharpened his lead guitar playing. ... Audiences respond well to Jesse's guitar playing."

Ballew has developed a good rep, hosting jams and playing with two fresh bands:

� Bad Monkey: Rhonda Talor, vocals; Ballew, guitar and vocals; Lance Fry, guitar and vocals; Sean Frankhauser, bass; and Jeff Hammond, drums.

� The Jesse Ballew Band: Ballew, guitar and vocals; Sprott, guitar and vocals; Frankhauser, bass and vocals; and Robert Smith, drums.

Ballew said that bands tend to eventually break up "because being in a band is like being married." He feels that pressure builds for married musicians, and even more so when they become parents.

Winegeart pointed out, "He (Jesse) has lots of guitars, and he considers all of them his children. They all have names! Jesse takes the music business seriously. He never misses a gig, and he could fill up a short bus with all of his 'kids' (guitars)."

Ballew just laughs and points out, "I was in a band with Darren (Welch) for 15 years. That's longer than any of my personal relationships have lasted."

william.kerns@lubbockonline.com • 766-8712

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