A musical memorial
Howell Joseph Lewis’ life was music.
“Ever since Joe was born, he was into music,” recalled his mother, Mary Ellen Lewis, formerly of Washington. “When I was pregnant with him, he was kicking in my stomach when music came on. I always heard him upstairs in his bedroom tapping his foot, playing his acoustic guitar, writing his songs.”
But Joe also battled drug addiction and depression.
On Dec. 18, two weeks before Joe was scheduled to travel to Richmond, Va., to record his first album he died from a fentanyl-laced heroin overdose. He was 26 years old.
But Joe’s family and friends didn’t want to let his album go unfinished, so they decided to record Joe’s songs for him.
Just days after Lewis’ Dec. 22 funeral, his bandmates, which included his brother, Bill, 11 months younger, and longtime friend Tristan Mills, headed to Sound of Music Studio in Richmond to produce the album.
Joining them were Joe’s cousin, Jason Weber of Pittsburgh, who filled in on vocals (he had never sung in public until he sang one of Lewis’ songs at the funeral) and Joe’s father, Dr. Howell W. Lewis of Peters Township, an orthodontist and assistant professor of orthodontics at Seton Hill University, who sat in on drums.
“I called his brother and said we had the studio paid for, why don’t we just go in and do it,” said Mills. “We had always said our biggest goal was to record our music. This is what we loved and what we loved doing together. We always said that even if it’s just us who hears it, we had to do it.”
The group spent six days in the studio, working almost around the clock. The result: a 10-song country rock album called “Beauty of Pain” – most of Joe’s lyrics dealt with his battles with depression and drugs – that’s available on Spotify and iTunes.
In the fall, when they were planning the album, Joe and the band had settled on the name Howell and the Broken Hearts. The group dropped Joe’s first name and settled on The Broken Hearts.
Producer/engineer Alan Whitehead, who also played guitar on the album, said recording it was unlike anything he’d been involved in.
“I was initially surprised when I got the phone call that they were still coming down to record,” said Whitehead. “But it always felt comfortable. It was obvious that everyone was in it to do this for Joe. Gradually, through meeting so much of his family and, of course, from his music, I feel like I came to know Joe on whatever level I could. His music will live on. It’s one thing that is real. It’s special to have these guys who cared so much about him to honor his memory by playing his music.”
Bill Lewis said his brother would have liked the album, but he, Joe’s father and Mills agree that it isn’t the same one they would have recorded if Lewis were playing with them.
“That’s not to say I’m not pleased with it. It just couldn’t be the same without Joe. He really just had something special,” said Mills. “We definitely played behind him. He had that ‘it’ factor. He had such a profound impact on everybody he met. He was so genuine and caring, and he had this charisma about him. You couldn’t help but want to be around him.”
The Lewis family moved to Tucson, Ariz., in 2001, and Lewis formed a band in high school that was voted the Best Band in the Southwest and played throughout the Tucson area. After high school, he graduated from the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, Calif., and headed to Nashville, Tenn., in 2008, where he worked on music projects and played at music clubs, bars and parties. He also worked other jobs to help support his music career.
His parents, now divorced, had moved back to the area, so Joe traveled between Nashville and Washington County, and often performed at venues in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
“He was a great kid. Everybody loved him,” said his father, who recalls Joe and Bill setting up equipment for him when they were 3 and 4 years old and he had his own band.
“Things sort of fell apart in Nashville. I’m not sure when the drug use started. He went to rehab so many times and he’d be clean for three or four months and then relapse. I was so scared something would happen to him. I wanted him to record so I could have something to remember him by.”
Joe went through the Celebrate Recovery program at Washington Bible Chapel, where his mother attended church, and he also performed his music there. Mary Ellen Lewis said Joe loved to play at the Washington City Mission, where he sang in front of men who were struggling themselves.
For eight years, Joe, Bill and their father sailed to the Caribbean on the Lynrd Skynrd Simple Man Cruise. The iconic Southern rock band, along with up-and-coming bands that included the likes of the Zac Brown Band, performed aboard the boat, and the elder Lewis said that Joe, outgoing and eager to talk about music, got to know almost everyone on board.
“They all knew Joe. Some of them struggled with similar issues as well. Joe was fun to be around and everyone had a fun time with him, but he had his times when he couldn’t overcome the drugs and depression,” said Bill Lewis.
Two years ago, Joe missed the cruise because he was in rehab. His absence did not go unnoticed. The crew, band members and passengers got together and held up signs that said, “We Miss You Joe.” His father took photos and sent them to Joe.
“It’s become a running thing,” said Mills. “We continued it at the funeral and at the studio we incorporated it into the music video. There’s a Facebook page with an album of ‘We Miss You Joe’ photos.”
Bill Lewis said the band would like to play aboard the cruise ship and plans to record more of Joe’s music.
People cope with grief in different ways. Joe Lewis’ family turned theirs into a tribute to a musician who died too young.
“He was a great son. He was very tenderhearted, as many people who fight addiction are,” said Mary Ellen Lewis. “The album meant everything to Joe, and I’m grateful that my son Bill and the band took it upon themselves to get his music out there. He wrote a lot about his depression and the problems that he struggled with, and I hope it helps someone who has the same struggles Joe did. If it helps save the life of even one person, then I hope what happened to him is not for nothing.”
To see the video of “Devil’s Highway,” go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP2vmcwIDcI