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Honey Stump to jam at Duggan's Pub
By JOEL GEHRINGER / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Sep 30, 2005 - 12:03:10 am CDT

All aspiring musicians in Lincoln should take a tip from Honey Stump: You get by with a little help from your friends.

OK, maybe John and Paul figured that out first, but the members of Honey Stump know plenty about the power of collaboration with friends.

The formula starts out pretty simple — Jeff Iwanski writes the songs, John “Honeyboy” Turner sings, and Mitch Vandestowe fills in the gaps.

But considering the fact Honey Stump uses no drums or bass guitar, things get a little tricky. Without those instruments, the band has to find alternative ways to generate the low end sounds.

“It’s a challenge when you’re three guys and you’re playing quiet instruments,” Turner said. “But it’s amazing when you don’t have those things how you fill them in.”

The boys in the band have it figured out, using any combination of harmonica, stump fiddle, jaw harp, electric guitar, lap steel, mandolin, spoons, banjo, bowed saw and accordion to boost their jams, which aren’t quite blues, jug band, alternative or country, but certainly are pure rock and roll.

Honey Stump will sample its sound and test a few new, “less laid back” tunes tonight at Duggan’s Pub, 440 S. 11th St., in a show that will also feature Lincoln harmonica master Shawn Cole and alt country newcomers The Motherwells.

Lincoln music aficionados might recognize Turner’s name. He’s been around as a blues musician for about 15 years, but last summer he felt his interests in other types of music tugging at his sleeves.

“I’ve definitely played blues for a long time, but I’ve always been a fan of alternative or experimental music,” Turner said.

Last summer, he turned to Iwanski, with whom he attended Grand Island Senior High and played in the band “Shaking Leroy and the Emotion Commotion.”

Iwanski had been writing songs, and Turner asked if he could perform them.

“I really wasn’t looking to get into a band,” Turner said. “I just wanted to sing Jeff’s songs so much.”

The duo discovered a perfect combination, with Iwanski writing and Turner signing. In a basement recording studio, they recorded one song a week for seven week and took the EP to Eric Wickizer, label chief of Lincoln’s Lone Prairie Records.

“Jeff just knocked on Eric’s door and said, ‘What do you think of this?’” Turner said. “Eric was interested.”

Wickizer then introduced the duo to Vandestowe, and Honey Stump was ready for its first show – a gig at the Lincoln Regional Center’s forensic unit.

“That was an interesting show, to say the least,” Turner said.

But a recording of the show became the band’s first album and one of the recordings in Lone Prairie’s rare bootleg series.

The band released its first album in May to unsurprising local acclaim and is set to release a second album in early 2006. Turner said the new songs bring a clearer alternative sound to Honey Stump.

“We’re still buzzing from the first one,” Turner said. “This new CD is going to 15 songs, and we probably already have seven or eight more done for the one after it. There were definitely some elements of the first one you could lump into folk or bluegrass, but the new ones definitely seem to be more on the alternative side.”

Turner said the band is looking forward to showing off its new material tonight at Duggan’s. Hopefully, he said, it will be the beginning of newfound recognition and expanded opportunities.

“Our goal is that we want to keep getting recognition and branch out, maybe over to Omaha or Manhattan (Kan.),” he said. “I know the audience wants to rock and roll, so we want to turn up the volume.”

Reach Joel Gehringer at 473-7254 or jgehringer@journalstar.com.