Pint-sized prodigy plays the blues

Justin Lindsay, 11, practices the guitar at his
Scarborough home.

SCARBOROUGH — If you’re of a certain age, you’ve probably watched youngsters whiling away the hours on video games like Guitar Hero and wondered why they don’t just learn to play the real thing.

Well, that’s exactly what Justin Lindsay did. After mastering the blazing push-button finger action required to conquer the game’s plastic, guitar-shaped controller, Lindsay moved on to a genuine guitar. That was nearly five years ago. Now, at age 11, the Scarborough resident is making a name for himself as a prodigy, hailed as “the future of blues in Maine.”

“First of all, I really liked the music I was playing on Guitar Hero,” Lindsay said last week, days after a headlining turn at the Maine Blues Festival in Naples. At 6 years old, Lindsay played the game for hours with his older brother. Both boys were good, says their mother, Monica Morin, but with Justin there appeared to be something more going on than mere love of music.

Suspecting there may be some aptitude behind the enthusiasm, Lindsay’s father, Craig Lindsay – an avid rock fan himself, with a collection of more than 800 albums – decided to surprise his son with a child-sized guitar.

“It was definitely harder than Guitar Hero, but I figured out how to play a few songs on my own,” said Lindsay.

Early on, an uncle jokingly offered Lindsay $20 if he could learn to play “Sweet Home Alabama,” and, after making good, shut the spigot.

“I don’t think he was expecting me to do it so fast,” said Lindsay, with a broad smile.

But Lindsay didn’t need the easy money from his uncle. Before long, he was making money of his own, from tips at open mic night at Pedro O’Hara’s in Lewiston, to a share of the take when playing with The Rockin’ Recons, a band fronted by his grandfather, Ron Vachon. But the $100 he made for playing at the Blues Festival is his payday windfall to date.

“That was pretty cool,” Lindsay said. “We took a picture of the check.”

“There’s no doubt n my mind that he could definitely have a career with the guitar should he decide to do that,” said one of his two teachers, Denny Breau, a member of the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame. “But, my sense of Justin is that he would have a wonderful career in anything he decided to do. He’s a real sponge, eager to learn anything you throw at him.”

Lindsay’s other grandfather, Jim Lindsay, drives him to Lewiston for lessons with Breau. The brother of the late, world-renowned jazz guitarist Lenny Breau, Denny Breau is described by Jim Lindsay as “probably the best guitarist in the state of Maine.”

But Jim Lindsay and Morin are quick to praise Lindsay’s first teacher, Tom Dee of Portland.

“He taught Justin all of the basics really, really well,” said Jim Lindsay. “The two of them, I think, have a real, incredible rapport, and I think that’s where Justin has got his love of blues.”

Between regular lessons with Dee, time with Breau when his scheduling permits, and practice, Lindsay is determined to become a real-life guitar hero, although he admits some of what he does just seems to come easy.

“I work at it a lot,” he said. “I probably practice an hour a day. I don’t have to plan it or anything. I can just play, improvising off a pentatonic scale.”

“He’s certainly is a talented little musician,” said Breau. “I would say for his age he has an uncanny sense of good rhythm and good phrasing, meaning he knows what lick goes where. There are other young boys and girls who can play well, but certainly not around here and not with a grasp on a genre like Justin has for the blues.”

Breau said his focus is on exposing Lindsay to other styles and methods of play. Lindsay said he likes to listen to classic and alternative rock, but prefers to play blues, he said, because it comes easy.
Lindsay works to master what he’s learned from Dee and to pick up everything he can from Breau, he said, because he knows raw talent will only get him so far.

“I guess I know that I got on TV because of my age,” he said of an appearance on the WCSH program “207.” “But as I get older, I’m going to have to be even better to stand out.”

“He wants to make it big, he really and truly does,” said Morin. “And we certainly support him al the way if that’s what he wants to do.

“It’s funny, we’ve always thought he was good, but to hear all these third parties lately come out and say it, I'm starting to see this kid turn into something special.”

A CLOSER LOOK

To watch video of Justin Lindsay, visit the YouTube channel of his grandfather, Jim Lindsay, by searching “jlindsay2424.”