JD Simo with Black Joe Lewis

JD Simo and Black Joe Lewis are playing the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater at the Tobin Center on Thursday, November 5. It's a double bill of two guitarists who both lean into the blues, though they come at it from different angles.

Simo is the one most of you might recognize from the credits. He's worked with a wide range of names—Jack White, Tommy Emmanuel, Phil Lesh & Friends, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, and Beyoncé. He played every guitar part on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis soundtrack and spent 2025 on the road with Chris Isaak. His sound mixes Hill Country blues with psychedelic textures, deep grooves, and a lot of improvisation, and he'll be performing with drummer Adam AbrashoV.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears bring a different kind of grit. Theirs is a gut-bucket blues and garage sound that draws on James Brown, Lightnin' Hopkins, and the MC5. They've shared stages with Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Cedric Burnside, and Lightnin' Malcolm. Lewis has pointed to his last album, the difference between me and you, as a reference for where the band stands.

Between the two, you've got Simo's psychedelic leanings and Lewis's garage-blues roots on the same bill. The show is at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater inside the Tobin Center in San Antonio on Thursday, November 5.