‘Catalyst Sessions’ recap: Tony Tyler

The Catalyst Sessions rocked and rolled Tuesday, as musician Tony Tyler, in his home studio, performed a pair of original songs – playing all the instruments, and singing.

“Looping,” Tyler said, “for a multi-instrumentalist is a good way to write songs, I suppose. And performing, too. It’s a lot of fun to perform with just your brain to kind of contend with.”

Yet … “There’s no replacing the real camaraderie of playing onstage with a full band. I miss it a lot.”

With his power trio, the Tony Tyler Trance, he plays Hammond B3 organ and sinewy electric guitar and slide – it’s blues/rock cut from the classic early ‘70s cloth of the Allman Brothers Band and other hard-charging electric outfits.

Tyler, no surprise, is a native of Macon, the Georgia city that not only gave the world Little Richard and Otis Redding, but Capricorn Records – Southern Rock Central in those glory years. The Allmans themselves lived and worked out of Macon.

When Tyler found himself in Florida, he was invited by former Allman guitarist “Dangerous” Dan Toler – who lived in Bradenton – to play second six-string in a new band.

For three years, that’s what Tony Tyler did, touring the country, until Toler’s untimely death in 2013.

“I was 22, and just a disciple of all that music,” Tyler said. “And for him to offer that opportunity, I had to take it … I did a lot of listening and a lot of learning in that band.”

Today (Wednesday, May 6): La Lucha

The Catalyst Sessions streams live, weekdays at 7 p.m., on the Catalyst Facebook page.