Streetwise G. Love surfs into the House of Blues

Randy Matin

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 9:02 a.m.

G. Love says that James Brown hit the nail on the head. According to Brown's philosophy, a performer should dress "like somebody you would pay to see." And ever since he began busking on the streets of Philadelphia, as a teenager with a couple of sauced-up friends, the stylish G. Love (aka Garret Dutton) has subscribed to Brown's code.

With his acoustic guitar and head-racked harmonica, Love also subscribes to the lessons of life as passed down by Bob Dylan and John Hammond.

"And that I am, the modern-day, Philly-style street blues man," says Love, 28, by cell phone from an elevator in New Orleans.

Once Love and his band Special Sauce (Jimi "Jazz" Prescott, acoustic bass, and Jeffrey "The Houseman" Clemens on drums and percussion) hit the West Coast (including a date Saturday at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues), they will be headlining dates in support of their fifth and most eclectic album to date, "Electric Mile."

Incorporating feels and grooves from hip hop, jazz, blues and various styles of reggae, Love calls the album "a statement; a late-night inspiration. 'Electric mile' is a catchphrase for what we do without too much regard for people's expectations."

Bringing even more musical flavors into play are a small group of guest stars, including percussionist Billy Conwayfrom Morphine, and the keyboard creations fellow genre bender John Medeski, of Medeski, Martin and Wood.

And, in an echo of "Dreamin' " from G. Love's 1999 album "Philadelphonic," there is a hard new reggae song, "Unified," co-written by Love and the Long Beach Dub Allstars' Ras.

Love connected with the Dub Allstars on tour in 2000 and was invited to play on that band's record.

"I said, 'Yeah! Love to,' " Love says. "The minute I found out I wrote the song 'Dreamin' (a tribute to the Dubs fallen frontman Brad Nowell when the Dubs were known as Sublime). But we couldn't make the scheduling work. So I ended up puttin' it on my record."

East Coast beach boy Love, who's been surfing at the New Jersey shore as long as he's been playing guitar (since age 8) also makes room for a song by his sideman Clemens on "Night Of The Living Dead."

From Zombies to Zen, G. Love & Special Sauce also presents a more spiritual side, which comes, this time, in Jamaican dub form on "Praise Up."

Love, who calls himself a "searching soul," says, "The song is like a message that you can find examples of how to live from nature. It can be as simple as birds flying or the strength and tenacity of a growing tree. Whatever. You can learn a lot from nature about how to become a more spiritual person."

Growing up in Philadelphia, Love learned many lessons by taking his music to the city's South Street district filled with cafes and street performers.

"It was just a joke the first time out. We had nothing to do on a Friday night," he says. "A bunch of us were drunk so we took our guitars to the street and just started jamming. Then we started doing it more."

Taking the busking more seriously then, his friends, G. Love continued to work the streets as a solo act playing Beatles covers and other rock.

"To get an idea of my sound at that time," G. Love says, "take a listen to 'Comin' Home' off my second record ('Coast To Coast Motel' released in 1995)."

While busking, G. Love got turned on to the blues. He listened to Dylan records and searched out recordings by other artists plying their wares with solo guitar and harmonica.

"Then I found John Hammond, and that just opened up the whole world of blue for me," Love says. "Since I heard that, it changed my life."

Hammond's influence is felt strongly on "Poison" from the new album.

Signed to Okeh/Epic, G. Love put out his self-titled debut in 1994 and found himself getting confused for and trounced by the similar-sounding Beck. Despite the competition, and featuring songs such as "Cold Beverage" and "Blues Music," the album is past the gold mark.

The two albums that followed, along with a series of self-released bootleg recordings sold at his live shows, did not do as well commercially. But Love continued honing his songwriting and fusing elements of acoustic blues and hip-hop into a unique and increasingly infectious blend that Love calls ---what else -- "Philadelphonic."

In addition, Love was recruited to play on Little Milton's latest album "Me And My Woman," and, with Special Sauce, he contributes a cover of Brick's funky '70s hit "Dazz" to the soundtrack of "Muppets In Space."

"We continue to be creative by creating new music," Love says, "That way you can stay true to what you are doin' and it keeps the older songs sounding fresh, too."