Vinnie Scarano Photo.
Eight to the Bar.
How many people can say they have been doing what they love for fifty years? Cynthia Lyon can, and she’s been doing it with style and swing. Eight to the Bar, the band she founded out of her Chapel Street apartment back in 1975, is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and, in apropos fashion, will be doing so with a live show this Thursday at another New Haven institution celebrating their fiftieth year, Toad’s Place.
As a bonus, the band will be celebrating with not only their current lineup, but a dazzling array of musicians, many from their original lineup calling themselves as the “75ers” who will offer songs from the band’s earliest days.
Eight to the Bar currently includes Lyon on vocals and keys, Collin Tilton on sax and flute, Brinna Jones on percussion and vocals, Eric Kuhn on bass and vocals, Justin Blackburn on drums and vocals, and George Lesiw on guitar and vocals. They have also toured all over the world and continue to play a wealth of shows in Connecticut and beyond, even winning Connecticut magazine’s Best Musical Group in 2024.
Lyon is eager to celebrate her life’s work, the work that she has been practicing since she was 25 and dissatisfied with the variety of jobs she had attempted and not connected with.
“This sounds like a lie, but it isn’t,” she said. “I sat up in my bed [one night], and I said I’m going to start a band.”
Lyon’s musical background was a family affair. Her mother had been in a singing trio similar to The Andrew Sisters during WWII with her own two sisters, so ’40s music had always been a big part of her life. Add to that a father who played the ukulele and her own background in classical piano, and she decided to go for it. She put an ad in the paper that said, “Female musician piano player wants to jam” and got a response from pedal steel guitarist John “Bubbs” Brown, “very lighthearted optimistic sort of person.” He suggested they form a western swing band in the style of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and Asleep at the Wheel.
Add in Lyon’s sisters Todd and Barbara on vocals as well as Rob Jockel, Tom McNamara on bass, John Baker on drums, and Matt Simpson on guitar, and the band was eight members strong. They rehearsed three times a week for a year before they played out, then quickly became popular with not only their western swing but also classic country covers, especially at The Anchor in Bantam, Conn., where they “really got traction.” Lyon called those early years “the golden days” as they made their way and built their following. She felt she had finally found her place in the world.
“I had been such a misfit,” she said. “I had been falling off a cliff, and I grabbed a branch. It turned out to be something to hold onto, and I never stopped.”
The band has seen its changes in lineup as well as musical focus. When Brown left the band for Nashville, they changed from western swing to classic Motown and some regular big band swing with the late Paul Nigro and his saxophone added in the early ’80s.
The early’ 80s is also when Lyon started to write songs and more original music became a part of the band’s repertoire. One of her songs has become “an anthem” for their outdoor shows, a rocking tune called “Play It On Your Saxophone.”
“I wrote it because my sax player at the time [Nigro] was such a charismatic person that I wanted to celebrate him,” she said.
One of Lyon’s earliest songs from the late ’70s, “Little Wheel,” was included on their 2022 album The Light Fantastic. They have another album that was made in conjunction with their 50th anniversary this year. Eight to the Bar: The Wild Wester Years was suggested by former band member Polly Messer (who will be one of the performers returning for this week’s show). In the early years they had recorded a Live at Toad’s Place album before changing musical direction. Recorded this past year at Lyon’s in-house studio, the new CD includes 15 western swing songs with original members who will also be playing live this Thursday, including Cynthia on keys and vocals, Polly on vocals, Barbara Lyon on vocals, Rob Jockal on vocals, Brown on pedal steel, and McNamara on bass. Former member Paul Fargeorge will be playing live on drums and Mike Roth will be on guitar, and both are on the record as well. Original members Todd Lyon and John Baker also appear on the record as well as former member Paul Irwin and musician Steven Baldino. The CD has already been a hit at the band’s recent outdoor summer shows.
“They’re going like hotcakes,” Lyon said.
The band has seen their share of lineup changes and bumps in the road. They even took a break in 1985 after near-constant touring left them fatigued and in need of rest. But after a year working in insurance, Lyon missed it too much to not return.
“I said, ‘God I’m going to make a deal with you: If you let me put the band back together again, I promise I’ll never leave,’” she said. She contacted musician Danny Cipriano, who helped her get the band going again. When he left a couple of years later, she reached out to a saxophone player named Collin Tilton, who was well known for his work with Van Morrison on the album Moondance as well as Etta James and Clarence Clemons. That connection stuck: not only did he join the band and start writing songs with Lyon, but they also fell in love. The two have been together since 1990 and married since 2001. “He’s my kind,” she said with a smile.
Lyon expanded upon how many great songwriters she has had in the band, and how many of their songs have become fan favorites and celebrated around the world. One song, called “Walk of Shame,” has people from as far away as Korea on video doing “a mean line dance” to its infectious beat. She also found out recently from her granddaughter that the band’s soulful and sassy song “Dirty Dog” — written by Lyon — has become popular on Tik Tok.
“The tag line is ‘You’re such a bad dog, but you’re my dog,’ but people are singing it to their pets,” she said with a laugh.
A far as live shows go, Lyon can’t wait for the big hometown show this week at the venue where they were regulars back in the day.
“Playing at Toad’s was the best, and still is!” she exclaimed.
It is one of three anniversary shows the band had scheduled for this year, the first two being at the Knickerbocker in Westerly, Rhode Island, where they also played in the earlier years and still have a big following; and a “really cool” sell-out show at the Litchfield Community Center.
The forever fans keep Lyon and the band energized, and they continue to reciprocate, making the live shows an experience like no other. But what would she tell those who had never experienced the band live before and might want to check out this week’s show?
“We’re a very fun, high-energy band,” she said, noting that if you like “tons of dancing” this would be the show for you. She added one more thing with a big smile, a piece of advice that has done her and the band well and would probably behoove all of us to follow:
“Don’t take yourself too seriously.”
Tickets are still available for the Toad’s Place show on Thursday, Aug. 28. Please see Toad’s website or the band’s website for more details and/or to buy tickets.
Photo provided by Cynthia Lyon.
Eight to the Bar circa 1975