‘My music has kept me alive'

Musician returns to concert hall after death of his son, By Rosa Kasper “Joy” is the first word that came to mind when Steve Lutke pulled dazzling cascades of music from one of his banjos, and threw back his head and laughed. But when he stopped playing, there were tears in his eyes. Lutke says he hasn’t done much laughing since a drunk driver took the life of his 20-year-old son Jonathan last April 2. “Jonathan was not only my son, he was also one of my closest friends,” Lutke says. “My music has kept me alive. That and Odie, my wonderful boxer puppy.” Lutke stops and caresses Odie’s ears, while the dog looks up adoringly at his master. The dog, he says, was Jonathan’s parting gift to him. Two weeks before the accident, Jonathan insisted that his father adopt Odie, Lutke said. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he kept saying, ‘Dad, you need this dog.’” As a nine-month-old puppy, Odie proved to be quite a challenge. “At the end of the first week, I was ready to call boxer rescue to come for him,” Lutke said. “He’d chewed up everything in the house except my banjos. But Jonathan said, ‘Dad, ‘if you don’t keep this dog, I’ll never speak to you again.’ Now Jonathan can’t speak to me at all. But I have Odie and with love and good training, he has turned into the best of dog companions and I couldn’t manage without him.” In the accident, Lutke suffered a broken collarbone and leg, as well as head injuries. For a long time, he couldn’t play his banjo without pain, but with good physical therapy, the pain is lessening. During the past year, Lutke has been doing a lot of composing. “At first the music was dark and sad,” Lutke said. “But then I thought that Jonathan would want to hear beautiful bright sounds, and the melodies and variations kept coming to me like gift.” “Listen to this n I composed this song when I hummingbird came tapping at my window.” When Lutke plays one of his banjos, the sounds he creates are like no banjo music you ever heard. Lutke’s soulful virtuosity, near-perfect intonation, and spot-on phrasing recall guitarist Django Reinhardt, or supreme banjo artists Béla Fleck or Earl Scruggs. The music is so richly textured that the listener has the impression that it can be seen as well as heard, a waterfall of music spreading out into a rushing stream of sound. The concert will feature Lutke’s new compositions as well as music from “Appalachian Uprising,” Lutke’s most recent CD for which Lutke composed all 15 instrumentals. The music ranges from jazzy riffs with classical nuances to “new acoustic” or progressive bluegrass. Accompanying Lutke on guitar will be his brother Kevin, and former Kentucky Roots fiddler Travis Wetzel on fiddle. Lutke and his brother Kevin say they have music written on their DNA, and both men credit their “fantastically talented” mother, Ginger Dinning Lutke, with never accepting anything less than musical perfection from them. Former lead singer of the Dinning Sisters, Ginger Lutke led the group’s Oscar-winning song “Buttons and Bows” in the 1948 movie, “The Paleface,” starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell. The sisters also sang the feature song in Walt Disney’s 1948 animated film, “Blame it on the Samba,” starring Donald Duck. A collection of The Dinning Sister’s songs recently has been released on the Collectors’ Choice label. Appalachian Uprising will be appearing in concert Lycean in Sugarloaf on Saturday, May 19. For more information, visit lyciancentre.com