The 24-year-old guitarist makes a point of learning the history of the musicians and movements that came before him. In doing so, he’s become well-versed in the teachings and playing of B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan — the guitar gods who serve as his personal Holy Trinity and inspired him to start learning the ins and outs of the instrument in 2019.
“The blues was on its way out before he picked it back up in the late ’80s, and here we are now,” Lear says of Vaughan’s influence on the tried-and-true genre. And on himself: After listening to Vaughan, he started teaching himself by playing "awfully long YouTube backing tracks." Then, after moving to Denver when he finished high school in Cincinnati, he got more serious about his music.
Lear points to current acts such as Rival Sons, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Samantha Fish as modern-day blues masters carrying the mantle. “As an aspiring musician, it’s nice to know people are still digging this stuff,” Lear adds.
He’s wearing a Marcus King Band T-shirt — honoring another soulful axeman he admires — while talking about how he put his namesake group together in 2022, recruiting local players at open-mic nights and through social media with the help of manager Josie Meere, all in an effort to spread the blues to younger local audiences. “A lot of people in our age range don’t listen to this type of music. I mean, it seems like nobody really listens to blues,” Lear says.
“We need more young cats like us doing this kind of thing. I had a friend one time come up to me after a show and she asked, ‘What kind of music is this?’ I told her, ‘This is blues music.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, I like the blues.’ I’m like ‘Yeah, it’s good.’”
He laughs, thinking about that now. The Stephen Lear Band began by gigging around town as much as possible, securing a Thursday night residency at the Lion’s Lair early on, but the group didn’t really gain traction until 2023, when it landed an opening slot at one of the city’s most iconic spots: the Mercury Café. Lear had heard of the legendary club, but hadn't experienced the space for himself before performing there.
Guitarist and leadman Stephen Lear shares the moment with fans during the band's release show in February.
Courtesy Jason Meyers
“It was my bandmates telling me, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the spot. You got to get in there and play,’” he explains. “So, I’ve heard it was a really good venue, but that was our first big one, like, ‘Okay, this is a really nice venue. We got to show up and really got to bring it.’”
Lear plugged into more than his amp that night, channeling the spirit of the legendary stage — a platform that had welcomed many an up-and-coming act, including Radiohead, Alanis Morissette, Stone Temple Pilots — during its fifty years of service, 35 at the Merc's final home at 2199 California Street.
“We ended up going over our set time by quite a few minutes by accident because we were just having such a good time. But I loved it...such a nice vibe to it,” he says, adding that the band got to play there several times after that first night.
“We’re very particular on what stages we like to play. Sometimes you play stages, and they don’t feel right. Sometimes you play stages, and you can just feel that energy,” Lear continues. “Mercury was definitely one of those places for me where I felt like it’s just got such good energy, every time we played there, and there was a good crowd. ... And I felt that the first time we were there.”
And the last: After hearing that the Mercury would soon close for good, Lear decided that the group’s self-titled debut release show had to be there. To commemorate the occasion and the impending end of an era, the Stephen Lear Band recorded its February 21 set and released it as a live album, A Night at the Mercury Café, on April 3.
At the Merc, the five-piece — which included drummer RJ Cox, bassist Hoyt Benson, keys player Tyler Treadway and sax man Alex Preston on that particular night — blasted through the ten songs on the record that had dropped the day before. For nearly two hours, the musicians let it all out for the Merc one last time, recognizing the evening's significance by offering a toast to the hallowed halls several times.
“It was definitely like, ‘Okay, this is our night. This is our thing. We’re going to make this recording. We’re all going to be on it. We’re going to sound good,’” Lear says. “There were definitely some pre-show jitters there for sure, just because we care so much. We wanted to make sure we went out with that show with a bang.”
But by the fourth song, “Find Yourself Another Man,” everybody felt locked in.
Guitarist and leadman Stephen Lear shares the moment with fans during the band's release show in February.
Courtesy Jason Meyers
Avery Swindell, the Mercury’s lead audio engineer, captured the occasion, while Paul Battle mastered the album. It couldn’t have gone better, according to Benson.
“I’d also say it’s just a song where you have to let everybody play their parts, and once you get that right and find everybody’s place in the sonic space, it’s magic,” he adds. “There’s nothing like it in the world. That night was absolutely on point.”
Since he’d joined the band a little over a year ago, this was Benson's first and only time taking in that Mercury magic from the spotlight. “It’s a venue I had always wanted to play because I had heard great things about it, especially it being a cultural center,” he says. “I was very happy that I was able to hop on the roster of shows there before it wound up not being a thing anymore.”
As evidenced by the applause that can be heard on the live release, the audience felt the same way, hooting and hollering when Lear, now in a Hendrix T-shirt, broke into a rendition of “Foxy Lady,” a setlist staple. As he and his bandmates lost themselves in the jams not only for the fans in front of them but to ghosts of gigs past, the night felt infinite.
“When we finished that show, I didn’t want to finish. I probably had another hour and forty in me, if I’m being honest. I could have played all night, but we were not allowed to do that,” Lear says. “It was a great feeling. I remember finishing that and being like, ‘Damn, we’re done now? Now I’m warmed up.’ But we were definitely satisfied when we walked off that stage. We curated a nice moment that night.”
A lively after-party at Lear’s Arvada digs followed.
“We were all just beaming with pride afterwards, giving each other hugs. It felt like at the end of one of those sports movies when the team is triumphant and they’re all in the locker room,” Benson adds. “It was no small feat getting a show like that. We put a lot of time into it. I was immensely proud. That’s the only word that comes to mind.”
With the Mercury closed, the Stephen Lear Band is now focusing on what’s next, including an upcoming gig at Boulder’s Velvet Elk Lounge and playing the first Friday of each month at the Lion's Lair. But it’s safe to say they won’t soon forget that last night at the Mercury.
“I’m glad it’s sticking around in some capacity,” says Benson. “It was good to enjoy it while it lasted.”
Concludes Lear: “It was definitely one of the coolest nights of my life so far."
But there's a lot of blues history ahead.
The Stephen Lear Band will play a free show at 8 p.m., Thursday, April 24, at the Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th Street, Boulder; get more information here.
