joe reyes

Guitarist Joe Reyes is well known for his guitar work with Mania, Mitch Webb & the Swindles, Lara & Reyes and Buttercup as well as his contributions as a session musician and a Grammy-winning record producer. While he can make electric and acoustic guitars do just about everything but walk, talk and fetch the newspaper, Reyes also is a singing songwriter whose influences include Ray Davies, Jon Brion and Elliott Smith.

Saturday at 8 p.m., Reyes will celebrate the release of his solo CD "Colours and Sound" with a free in-store performance at Music Town Record Store, 4714 Broadway. When left to his own devices, Reyes crafts lush, atmospheric pop/rock that features heavy, serious lyrics wrapped in layers of guitars, percussion and other instruments. One of the most outgoing people on the local music scene, Reyes' solo songs showcase an almost surprising introspective bent. But make no mistake, the guitar chops are still firmly in place.
— Jim Beal Jr. - san antonio express-news

He said he was going to sweat and cry and forget words and talk a lot and, if I remember the e-mail correctly, play some songs.

Joe Reyes did most of those things Friday night at the Twin Sisters at Sunset Ridge. Unfortunately, he didn't cry. I don't particularly like to see grown men cry, it's usually not much of a show, but it would have been nice to have a photo of Reyes in tears to go with the photo of the one I have of him in Spandex.
What Reyes, the guitar ace, singer, songwriter, producer and member of many local bands did at the restaurant was entertain a packed (and star-studded) house with songs from his "Ill-Equipped" solo EP plus selections from the likes of Elliot Smith, the Beatles and others.

When he works stages with the Swindles, Lara & Reyes, Buttercup, the Sabas Trio and other aggregations, Reyes has lots of help and somewhere to hide if he needs to. But the man is no slouch working alone.

His songs earned applause and attention, and lots of each, from an audience of musicians, hardcore music fans, actors and several people who probably went to Twin Sisters for the pot roast and were surprised when a concert broke out.

For a guy who's almost always upbeat, and who built his considerable reputation rocking and rolling on the one hand, serving up complex, Latin-based hot licks on the other, Reyes, when left to his solo devices, writes surprisingly introspective songs and chooses the same kind of material to cover.

Reyes' work, though, stands up nicely in that sensitive world. Songs such as "Comfy Coffins," from "Ill-Equipped," dovetailed smoothly with Elliot Smith's "Angeles" and even Burt Bachrach's "Alfie."

But one thing that keeps Reyes from fitting into the mope-folk world is an outgoing personality that no amount of shoe gazing can suffocate. So when Reyes went off on tangents about Captain Gus, Tom Waits and Willie Nelson's encores between songs such as "You Don't Have to Be (So World Weary)," moping's loss was fun's gain. But a few tears would have good.

(Jim Beal/Express-News) - san antonio express-news