Diesel keeps the blues away in lockdown tutoring the Jane Barnes Band and recording his new record

Diesel has kept busy during the pandemic, playing with his Barnes family, recording his daughter and enlisting his son to shoot the cover of his new solo record.

Mark Lizotte was the secret weapon in plain sight of the Jane Barnes Band performances which have kept Australia from singing the blues in lockdown.

The acclaimed guitar-slinger and soulful artist known as Diesel was not only a regular guest for the online gigs by rocker Jimmy Barnes and his wife but also Jane’s occasional tutor as she dedicated herself to mastering the acoustic guitar over the past year.

Diesel sporting his Jane Barnes T-shirt with Paul Clarke, Jenny Morris and Jep Lizotte. Picture: Supplied.

“Jane has turned into a music mogul, she’s onto everything about the guitar now. She called me the other day asking for advice about her guitar calluses, whether she should snip or file it. I told her to file it,” Lizotte said, laughing.

“And I’ve trained Jimmy up to be her guitar tech through Covid because they couldn’t get any of their crew over to change strings.”

He also co-wrote six tracks on Flesh and Blood, Jimmy’s recording-breaking No. 1 record.

My incredibly talented brother-in-law Diesel has just released his new album 'Alone With Blues’. It’s pretty much all of us in isolation. We've joined him on 'Lost and Lookin’ for my Baby’. Full vid on my FB page

Listen to the album: https://t.co/b8BXeqaxSHpic.twitter.com/QNfHt5g6jC

— Jimmy Barnes (@JimmyBarnes) July 16, 2021

In between tutorials with his brother and sister-in-law, Lizotte was teaching himself more than a few new tricks while making his new record Alone With The Blues in isolation in his Sydney home studio.

With restrictions also preventing him from working with his bandmates, the handy jack of all trades recorded himself playing every instrument including double bass, blues harp, cello and percussion.

Diesel played and recorded Alone With The Blues entirely on his own in lockdown. Picture: Supplied

“It was a bit like musical method acting,” he said.

“You had to approach playing the bass or the drums almost as a different person, you would have to get inside its role so I’d workshop it for a few hours until I could smell (wife) Jep’s cooking downstairs.”

The album is Lizotte’s captivating adaptations of his favourite blues songs from the greats including Hoochie Coochie Man, Shame Shame Shame and Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

But in the middle of the album sessions, his musician mate and Daddy Cool/Mondo Rock legend Ross Wilson delivered the unexpected delight of a new song from the pair which had been lost for thirty years.

The Blossom aka Lily Lizotte enlisted her dad’s skills on her EP. Picture: Supplied/Jesse Lizotte

They co-wrote Six Steel Strings in 1991 after he disbanded Johnny Diesel and the Injectors to pursue a solo career.

Lizotte had been searching for a homegrown song to cover, influenced by the passion of his late mate Michael Gudinski who had been a champion of Australian blues artists, with 70s band Chain one of the first signings to Mushroom Records.

“Michael Gudinski was always in my ear about the origin of Australian blues and his beginnings; that’s how Mushroom started,” he said.

“So in the middle of looking for a song, Ross Wilson emails me with Six Steel Strings which he found on a cassette when he was moving house last year.

“It was exactly what I needed for my record. I think back then Ross saw me as a young bluesman and he asked about my life and put details into the lyrics, a tongue-in-cheek take on my life story in demo form that we knocked up together in an hour.”

Diesel’s son Jesse shot the cover for the new record. Picture: Supplied

His home studio was also busy during the gigs shutdown with Lizotte co-producing his daughter Lily’s acclaimed genre-busting debut EP Bleeding Buttercup under her artist pseudonym The Blossom.

He also worked with emerging R&B artist Liyah Knight who recently released her new single Moon Baby.

There was one collaborator inside the Lizotte family bubble who assisted on the record – son Jesse is an acclaimed photographer who has not only shot his uncle Jimmy Barnes for his album artwork but also the recent Drizabone campaign featuring Buddy Franklin and Johnathan Thurston.

Lizotte’s mate Ross Wilson found a blues song they wrote together 30 years ago. Picture: Supplied/Jesse Lizotte

His father pays tribute to the sought-after fashion and portrait photographer by wearing one of his artworks on his jacket in the Alone With The Blues cover shots.

“I showed him a finished copy of the record and he laughed, saying how cottage industry this whole project is from recording it at home to him shooting the photos just a few blocks from where we live,” Lizotte said.

While he has been happily playing guitar and singing alongside Jimmy and Jane Barnes at their home singalongs, Lizotte said he’s unsure whether his own family’s secret lockdown loungeroom sessions will be shared with his adoring public.

“I’m crossing my fingers I’ll be able to tour this record by September but in the meantime, we’ve been doing this thing every night where I go downstairs and do double bass karaoke with my family,” he said.

“I’m just the guy in the corner with the double bass singing Sam Cooke and The Drifters.”

Alone With The Blues is out now. For all Diesel tour dates, dieselmusic.com.au

Originally published as Diesel keeps the blues away in lockdown tutoring the Jane Barnes Band and recording his new record