G. Love & Special Sauce at Turner Hall Ballroom

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In 1990, when Garrett Dutton was 17 years old, he made a decision that was both a short-term challenge and a longer-term commitment that continues to shape his life today, some three decades later when he returns to Milwaukee for a Jan. 14 show at Turner Hall Ballroom

“When I look back on that time, that was just such a classic time in my life,” said Dutton, who is better known by his stage name G. Love. “I had this kind of dream as a young person to pursue my dream of playing music. And it was the full passion. So for me, a big part of it was my kind of idolization of both John Hammond and Bob Dylan because of the fact that both of those guys had recorded their debut records when they were 20 years old. When I was about 17, I had this notion I have about three years to prepare and make this happen. So yeah, I definitely started kind of putting all my focus into that.”

Early on, Love stumbled onto a signature sound that combined his two favorite styles of music—a somewhat laid-back brand of blues and hip-hop as he was busking one night in his hometown of Philadelphia

Rapping the Blues

He hit on a blues groove he liked and started performing a rap from one of his favorite songs, Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” over that groove. Love knew immediately he was onto something unique and special.

“It really was a huge epiphany,” Love said. “I started rapping and I just realized ‘Oh, wow, I can do that.’ Then you know, man, I swear to God like that next day I wrote my first rap, which was over a slide riff I played on my dobro.”

Soon Love moved to Boston, where he felt he had a better opportunity to further his career. Not long after that, a fellow street musician called Love, asking if he could open a club show for his band after the planned opener canceled. Love jumped at the chance to do the gig.

“I performed for the band I was opening for, the sound guy, the bartender, the waitress and some strange guy at the bar,” said Love, who was used to playing to only a few people on the street. “I would just jump in and do my thing the best I could.”

The strange guy at the bar turned out to be Jeffrey Clemens, also known as the Houseman. After Love’s set, he complimented Love on his performance. And when Clemens said he was a drummer, that really got Love’s attention.

Finding the Special Sauce

They stayed at the bar talking well into the night and agreed to get together for a rehearsal. Love and Clemens played a few gigs as a duo and a short time later added bassist Jim Prescott (aka Jimi Jazz) to complete the lineup of the newly christened G. Love & Special Sauce. Things took off quickly from there as G. Love & Special Sauce gained quite the following in Boston, started work on the first album and got signed by Epic Records.

“It was basically nine months from our first gig, which would have been like halfway through January of 1993 until, I think, I penned the Epic Records deal shortly after my 21st birthday in October,” Love said. “However, I did succeed in my goal because most of the first record was done by the time we signed that deal. Then we did go back in December of ‘93 and we had a solid like two- or three-week session where we cut the rest of the songs and just finished the album. Then it dropped, I think, in April or May of 1994.”

Love, Clemens and Prescott started touring, and eventually the song “Cold Beverage” caught on at radio stations. When all was said and done, the first album had gone gold.

30 Year Anniversary

The first album essentially gave Love a music career. The three decades since have seen Love release 12 more studio albums and build a solid following that should enable him to record and tour for as long as he wants. And to start 2024, he is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first album on a tour that will run into March.

Love, Prescott and drummer Chuck Treece (who has replaced Clemens, who has retired from touring) won’t play the album in sequence. Instead, Love said, the order of the songs will be mixed up before G. Love & Special Sauce insert something special and unpredictable near the end of the set.

“We do a little hip-hop, we call it ‘Hip-Hop 50,’ celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop,” Love said. “We do a little kind of groove and I do a little freestyle. We cover a couple of classic hip-hop tunes and then we end the set with ‘Cold Beverage.’

The show ends with an encore during which Love plans to take a couple song requests from the audience. “It’s a classic show and it really paces well and celebrates that body of work and that vibe,” he said. “It’s all good.”