HANNIBAL — For the first time since its inception, Hannibal’s Music Under the Stars free summer music series, hosted by the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, had a season without opening and closing concerts by the local group, ‘Steppin’ Back.’
Paul Lewellen, drummer and a life-long local band member, reflected upon the curtain call for ‘Steppin’ Back.’
The end of the line for him came on the last day of May, 2024, when his long-time friend and band’s keyboardist, Gentry Youse, died.
The band was slated to open the season for Music Under the Stars just a few days later.
Another band stepped up to fill the void, and Paul – now in his early 70s – decided it was time to put down his drumsticks.
“I did it for 60 years. I had a heart issue and was out of the band for 6 months. Drummers have a lot of equipment. When we were playing, loading the trailer you could hear us moan and groan. We’re not young anymore.”
Paul has been associated with Music Under the Stars since its inception.
“I was involved getting the stage, raising money, getting it built. When they did their first concert,” it became tradition that “we always got to play the first concert and the last concert” of the season.
As a downtown businessman – owner of Main Street Wine Stoppe at 303 N. Main, and co-owner of Jackpot Junction – he has always been an avid promoter of the venue.
“There would be a thousand people down there to hear two hours of ‘bang bang bang’. Great nights when the weather was perfect, you could see (people in lawn chairs) on Hill Street clear up to Third Street. It was so neat.
“We had a great following, we always knew it would be crowded when we played. We hold the record for the biggest crowd,” Paul said. “I don’t understand why people wouldn’t go, it’s free.”
It is mostly locals in attendance, Paul said. “It’s a beautiful setting, old buildings and the river to (the band members’) back. When the weather is right. We only had one concert in all the years we played it we had to go to the armory because of weather.”
‘Steppin’ Back’ band members played songs that were popular during their youth.
“We are all about the same age give or take a few. We played good classics, what we played in high school. That music has never died.
“We like to play things that people know; they’re out there singing along, dancing and stuff. We always try to get the crowd going.
“Hang on Sloopy,” “Midnight House,” “House of the Rising Sun.”
“You see (younger people) lip-synching the songs. They were raised by their boomer parents, and we (as the parents) were raised back then with good music.”
‘Steppin’ Back’ performed together for 13 to 14 years, Paul said.
“No egos, the band just gelled, which is kind of unheard of, only two changes in personnel in that time, we were all pretty dedicated.”
The band members included: Paul Lewellen on drums; Gentry Youse on keyboard; Jim Phillips on base guitar; Dee Kendrick, female vocalist; John Cormier, on lead guitar; Greg Asmussin, and Bret Lewellen, Paul’s son, on percussions. “He played the congas, cowbell, tambourine, all the percussion stuff. He is a very, very good drummer,” Paul said.
Most of the band members were playing in bands since high school.
“Jim Phillips, he and I met in high school. His band was the Gavorks, I was in the band ‘Rock Foundation’. We were pretty much competitors. When we started ‘Steppin’ Back’, he was one of the founding members. Jim, Greg Asmussin, Gentry and me.
“In high school, Gentry was in the band ‘Mad Eagle.’ Greg was just kind of floating around, had played with several different bands. He was big in ‘Shanghai Lil.’ That was the name of their band.”
One bragging point Paul likes to recall was when he was a member of the Stage Fright band.
“Back when the Riverfront Amphitheater was going, we got to open up for the Beach Boys,” he said.
Another highlight: While still in high school, he played for the band ‘Generation’. They performed for the ordination of Rev. Mike Quinn at the Catholic Church in Monroe City. “At the time it was Dennis Spaulding, me, Bill Evans and David Gross, the four of us.”
“We accompanied the choir that sang that day.”
He also participated in a trend-setting performance at the First Christian Church in Hannibal.
“We had our first Youth Sunday. We turned all the hymns around and rocked them.
“We sang the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ to the tune of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. When church was over, we played ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.’
In the band Rock Foundation, “We drove around in a 1956 hearse. That’s what we used to haul our equipment.”
Rock Foundation played for four out of five of the Holy Rosary dances a year in Monroe City. “The gym was packed. It was loosely run, I guess you’d say.
“Every Sunday, we played at Crystal Blue Lake and that was a big deal. A lot of people remember that. They had a snack shack. They payed us $35 and all the snacks we could eat.
“I loved it. We didn’t have stars in our eyes, or a want for the big time. It’s just something we did, have fun. When I was at Culver-Stockton College, I paid tuition with the band money. “$1,250 a semester.
“A lot has gone on in my life last 60 years,” Paul said. People still come up to him and ask: “Hey, didn’t you used to play in Rock Foundation?”
Playing the drums “is built into me,” Paul said. “I can’t hardly sit down without tapping my foot when there’s music around. As a kid, I’d tap my plate with a knife and fork. I just feel it. Just do it. My mom and dad bought me drums for my 13th birthday. Dad said it was cheaper than buying new furniture.”
Now that Steppin’ Back has dissolved, what does the future look like?
“I’ve heard rumblings John and Dee are trying to put something together. I hope they are,” Paul said.