A story about John Stez ..........by Randal Byrd

John Stetz was a pal of mine, even though I never really knew him that well.

That is, John was a hard guy to know. I must say, though, that he definitely had an impact on my life and on the lives of others still to this day.

John mentored me on the harmonica. When we first starting hanging out, I was playing cowboy songs and other folk music on the harp. John told me about Paul Butterfield, and I went down to Poplar Tunes at Thomas and Poplar, and bought my first Butterfield Blues Band LP. Thanks to John's guidance, Butterfield probably has influenced my playing style more than any other player. John, though, was the guy who showed me about "crossharp" for the first time.

I remember during our senior year, a group of us used to go backstage in the auditorium before school and during lunch where we'd gather around the grand piano. Mark McCluskey knew three chords on the piano, which he'd play over and over and over. John would play the blues harp on top of those chords, and others of us joined in. Besides me, I believe Chris Ruess played a bit of harp too. I stopped John in the middle of one of his "licks," and asked him, "How do you get that note?"

Even though we were both playing C Harps, John was playing a note that was not on my harp. I sang the tone to him. He laughed and explained that he got that note by bending the number 2 reed on the harp...and that it flatted the tone a whole step. That was when I had my "Aha! Moment." John explained that even though we were using C Harps, we were actually playing in G.

Dang, what a breakthrough! We were playing what is known as "cross-harp" style - - that is using a harmonica tuned a fourth above the key signature the music was in. All the blues cats were doing it, and John probably thought I was a dork for not knowing this. No more cowboy stuff for me.

Eventually, I figured out how to play the thing much like John did. I wound up, through a meeting with Jack Holder, playing lead blues harp in bands, and with Andy Black's help, getting into the studios to do session playing.

This led to my being recruited to teach the "cross-harp" method at U. of Memphis, which I did for 12 years.

Through my harp-playing and through my association with the University, I had the good fortune to become friends with one of the world's top harmonica players of all time - - Pete Pederson - - and with one of the baddest, toughest, Saturday Studio Wrestling harmonica players of all time - - Billy Wicks (whose daughter Debbie is a Frayser alumna too, circa '70 or '71 or so).

I owe all this to John. Because of John, I was able to teach countless students over 12 years how to play the blues and have fun with their harmonicas. Because of John, I now do music ministry every week to
members of my parish. John continues to touch people's lives in ways he probably never would have imagined. But then, with John, who knows what he imagined.

John, my man... I think of you often. And I thank you for helping me to
discover the gift of music and for all the difference you have made in
the world.