Nestled in the woods, high in the mountain pass where time almost stands still, is a Sunday afternoon experience not to be missed.
When not on tour, they can be found at Cold Spring Tavern saturating listeners’ senses with their own unique upbeat version of the blues. The pair performs in concerts, clubs and festivals all over the world and was the only musical act to play all four venues of the 1984 Olympic Games.
Together and individually, they collaborate on film scores, TV soundtracks, commercials and have appeared on television. Frequent guests on National Public Radio, they have eight duo albums which have garnered critical, worldwide acclaim. Their music from the film Over the Edge won the prestigious Telly Award in 1994. But to focus only on their accomplishments is to miss the real jewel – the sparkle that is Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan – and that’s their music.
“They have such an interesting chemistry. They promote and play music that is down and dirty,” says Tom Lee who sometimes sits in with the guys. He stops to consider. “The material they choose to play is feel-good, good-time blues,” he tries again. “No, that is probably too label-y.”
The bottom line is that the music they create is as much traditional American Jazz as it is totally different from anything else. And while they use microphones, the volume is set to a level that is respectful of the environment and to listeners’ long -term hearing. You can sit and listen contentedly from 1-4 p.m. and leave with only a melody or two stuck in your head, rather than a ringing sensation in your ears.
Sitting on logs, often with youngsters dancing in the dirt nearby, the Cold Spring Tavern audience ranges from bikers long past their youth to young couples flirting over drinks. Silver-haired twosomes, hand in hand, take in the music and the warm afternoon breeze. Like the Gershwins’ show tunes that slide into your head and stick, there is something familiar, fun an infinitely memorable about the well-crafted words and up-beat tempo that stirs feet to tap and fingers drum. It’s wonderfully infectious. Ball first wrapped his hands around an acoustical guitar at the age of 11, and though he stills plays well today, he is better known for his talents on the harmonica. He began playing at 13. A short six months later, he was a member of the Yerba Buena Blues Band. “The criteria for a teen-aged musician is a little lower,” he chuckles as he recalls his exploits in the mid-1960s when he played Love-Ins and Sunset Strip nightclubs. “It was a lot of fun and a great way to meet girls.”
In 1978, Ball teamed up with Sultan. They’ve been together ever since. The duo occasionally has Lee on base, and Jody Eulitz, on the cardboard box, sit in. And the two do almost as much work independent of each other as together, but that never takes away from the strong bond that encapsulates their music and their relationship, they say.
More recently, Ball played with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band on the soundtrack to the film Hoot, and with Kenny Loggins on his latest two CDs, “All Join In” and “How About Now.” When Ball isn’t performing, he is writing, music, instructional books and has even authored a couple of novels.
Sultan has also written books, made videos, has two single CDs and does a great deal of teaching when not otherwise performing. He blames his love of blues on his brother, who introduced him to the art when Sultan was a teen. Inspired both then and now by the music of T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sultan spent much of adolescent years playing electric guitar in garage-style rock bands. He graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he majored in music/ethnomusicology. But some of Sultan’s most important lessons about music were learned outside the classroom. “I learned the hard way never to turn down an offer,” he says casually, and with only a hint of regret. “I could have had a Grammy,” if not for an ill placed ‘no thank you’ to an offer to participate in a project. Sitting in the warm afternoon sun in his backyard overlooking the ocean, he explains how so many offers in the music world never pan out. Blend that with a home, nestled at the water’s edge on the Santa Barbara coast, it’s not too difficult to see why he is reluctant to leave home for long.
“We go on tour for no more than two weeks at a time now, but we did our duty,” says Sultan of the early years when the tours came more frequently and were longer in duration. “Look where we are,” his arm sweeping across the vista of blue ocean, off-shore islands and light wispy clouds dusting an azure sky. “Who’d want to leave here?”
One project he nearly said no to was a meeting with Martin Guitars. The idea of being offered a signature line was appealing, but other artists who have them include Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Joan Baez and Judy Collins, so it was hard to believe Martin would do one for him. “You have to wear your pride in your back pocket,” says Sultan. He learned to expect to be turned down.
The 000-18 Kenny Sultan Starburst Custom Edition was released in January 2007 and features 14 frets, a solid Adirondack spruce top and mahogany sides. In perfect keeping with Sultan’s unassuming style, his signature is discreetly located inside, rather than on the neck. The line is sold out.
“Yeah, it was a very good design,” says Chris Jensen, of Jensen Guitar and Music Co. in Santa Barbara. “He managed to get some materials for his guitar that are very rare – flamed mahogany. It turned out really well.”
“It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done,” he says, eyes bright, voice animated. “When you are designing something for the world . . .” he looks to Ball, who has taken to sitting back and letting Sultan carry the conversation. In the momentary pause, the kinship between them is tangible. “Tom helped,” he says, as if stating the obvious.
Ball will never have a signature line harmonica, as the typical instrument under normal conditions lasts anywhere between two weeks and six months. He keeps a full case on a stool at his side when he performs, one for each key and a back up for each. It is simply a matter of practicality, he says, as is the name of their band: Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan. “If you have your name on a duo, you’re immediately recognized,” explains Ball. To this, Sultan grumbles amiably that he’d like his name first. “Yeah, it’s alphabetical,” comes the reply, with a wry smile and ever so slight roll of the eyes – all for affect.
“We do a lot of projects on our own; the name recognition is important,” says Sultan. Neither man has had a job outside of music since their first forays into the work world as young teens. “Thirty years ago, our income was 100% from gigs. These days you have to have revenue streams coming from all over. Only 20-30% of our income comes from playing now,” says Sultan.
“It’s a really small percentage that can make a living with music,” he says, and all of those are self-starters, willing to work hard and be diverse. To make it in the music world, you need to be more than just good at what you do. You have to be willing to invest your talents into a myriad of musical venues from education to videos and writing to marketing. “I do as much work now a day on my computer as I do on my guitar,” though he adds that performing, especially at Cold Spring Tavern, remains a favorite.
But whether it is performing before a sold-out crowd in a huge venue, or under the umbrella of ancient oak trees alongside an old stagecoach route, it is the music and not the fame that drives them. Although not shy of publicity, both men are soft-spoken, exceptionally polite and loyal to both each other and their families. Ball’s been married for 28 years. Sultan is a dedicated single dad of a 14-year-old son, and he has a yard littered with skateboards and golf clubs to prove it. “Nothing in my life is better than that,” says Sultan.
Their dry and witty humor leaks out in their conversation and music, the full impact of which often takes a moment to sink in. By then, they are four bars down and conjuring up a whole other image – most likely a sardonic observation about money, women, luck or – well, it is the blues, after all.
So the next time you’re in need of an uplifting, toe-tapping Sunday afternoon, complete with good eats if you’re of the mind, stop on in at Cold Spring Tavern. For more information on the band or their books, visit them at tomballkennysultan.com.or tomball.us.