This mini documentary was used as the introduction for Ernest Lane
when he played at the Soul Serenade, January 17th, 2008

Here’s a question: what does Robert Nighthawk, Earl Hooker, Canned Heat and the Monkees have in common? The answer is pianist Ernest Lane who’s played with them all in a long and varied music career. It would be some fifty years after playing on his first record that Lane cut 2004’s “The Blues Is Back!”, his first full length record.

Growing up in Clarksdale Lane had the right background for a bluesman; his father was a barrelhouse pianist, his boyhood friend was Ike Turner and Pinetop Perkins was a friend of the family who showed the youngster a thing or two. Ike fell in love with the piano when he peered in at The King Biscuit Boys, featuring boogie pianist Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins, rehearsing in the basement of his buddy Ernest Lane’s house. As he recalled: “Man, I never seen nobody’s fingers move that fast on a piano,” he said. “I didn’t even know what a piano was then, and I saw that dude, man. He was playing piano, and they was rehearsin’ at John Lane’s house. Ernest Lane and I was the same age, and we was comin’ home from school and we heard this noise. And we went over there, and boy, these guys-this guy was playing piano so fast, man, I couldn’t hardly see his fingers! And I said, ‘Damn, man! I wanna do that!’ Lane said, ‘Me too!’ Anyway, we started talkin’ to Pinetop, and he started teaching us different little boogie-woogie things.” When he was just a teenager Lane hooked up with legendary slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk. Nighthawk eventually took him to Chicago where his solid piano work graced a number of sides cut for the Chess label in 1948-49 including the blues classic “Sweet Black Angel.” After Nighthawk he played with Earl Hooker, Houston Stackhouse and others before heading to the California in 1956. There he worked with Jimmy Nolen, George “Harmonica” Smith and was recruited by old buddy Ike Turner to be a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. After leaving Ike he joined a group called the Goodtimers who eventually wound up backing the Monkees for about a year on tour. Through the late 60’s/early 70’s he played and recorded for Canned Heat before giving up music altogether. Recently Lane has been featured on a 2000 release by Eddie C. Campbell, played on Ike Turner’s comeback record and toured the US and Europe with Ike’s band.

I first spoke to Ernest several years before he issued his comeback record when I was doing some research into Robert Nighthawk. When he issued his record I interviewed him on my Bad Dog Blues radio show. Here’s a link to that interview that starts off with some music from the record:

Ernest Lane Interview 7/25/04 (mp3)

While doing research into Robert Nighthawk several years ago, I became friendly with Nighthawk’s daughter who I eventually met in Chicago. Her mother was still living in Chicago as well but didn’t want to talk about “that man” as she conveyed to me through her daughter. She finally did talk to me on the phone years later and I believe I was the only who she ever talked to about her years with Nighthawk. When I was in Chicago the daughter showed me a glossy photo of her mother, Ernest and Nighthawk which as far as I know has never been published before. In looking at the above documentary I see a similar (it may be the same - my memory’s a bit foggy) photo used which I thought I would reproduce.

Nighthawk Phot

Ernest Lane, Robert Nighthawk and Nighthawk’s wife Hazel McCollum circa late 1940’s