Good Gravy and Grit: Kyler J’s Blues Evolution

Kyler Jakubowski

Kyler Jakubowski plays like someone twice his age—an “old man trapped in a young body” as his bandmate Jesse Perez puts it. The 30-year-old North Carolina-born guitar player can rarely be seen wearing anything but some wide-legged vintage trousers and a collared shirt buttoned at the neck, and a sweet Mr. Rogers cardigan. The man himself is a time warp, with a nostalgic blues sound and sharp, self-deprecating wit. He’s humble. But most geniuses are.

“No, I’m from North Carolina,” Kyler says when asked if he’s a San Diego native. “I moved here 18 years ago when I was in fifth grade. Mostly raised here.”

Now a fixture in the city’s music scene, Kyler plays with just about everyone. His writing fuels the bands Good Gravy and Gypsy Sally, and he adds his guitar skills to the sounds of Rey Wolf, Taryn Donath, the Wellsprings, and Natt Wise. And he’s not just a guitarist for hire; he writes, he leads, and he seems to be relentless in pushing himself into new creative spaces.

Kyler’s musical journey didn’t start until he was 16 or 18—he can’t quite remember which. “I think I started getting interested in music around then. I liked the Beatles, and I liked Jimi Hendrix. A girl I was dating really liked the Beatles, so she would show me their music.” That led him to pick up the guitar and, from there, a fascination with the blues took hold.

“It’s mostly blues,” he says of his sound. “That was everything I wanted to learn—just straight blues. I learned all the electric guitar styles and all the acoustic styles as well.”

Kyler describes blues as a living history. “Blues is universal. It’s an early form of music that’s not written down. You have classical music and it’s always written down, i.e., sheet music. Blues isn’t because it comes from an African tradition. It’s oral history. I always like the idea that it comes from anybody, and anybody plays it.”

But his approach is far from purist. He recognizes that the blues, as a genre, has evolved—and not always in ways that sit well with him. “These days blues is so different. People say ‘blues’ and I’m like, ‘That guy does not play the freakin’ blues—that’s white lady jazz.’ The worst is when they’re singing a blues song about a blues singer. When people mention ‘I’m listening to B.B. King’ in their song to legitimize that they’re playing the blues. Who wrote this song and why?”

Kyler’s own songwriting process appears to be deeply personal, born from lived experiences and as evidenced in the lyrics of his own songs. “I have to wait for terrible things to happen to me. Then I can write a song.” His debut EP, With Love: The Kitchen Sessions, is proof of that emotional depth. “They were just songs that I wrote. Two of them were new, and two of them were songs that I’d had for a couple years. They all just seemed like the same song to me, even though they were different.”

The project came together after a performance at Writers Round San Diego. “I was trying to think of songs to do when I was featured, and I thought all these songs are sections of the same piece; I’ll just do all of those and it’ll be its own thing.” The EP was recorded five times in various settings before settling on the final version. “When you listen to the album there are buses and horns and cars going by. I think these are the best songs that I’ve written. So, I always just imagine if I die or get hit by a bus at least I’ll have a little something, y’know? I want to leave something behind.”

Kyler J plays music and gets  haircut at Natt Wise’s barbershop.

Good Gravy, Kyler’s old-timey blues band came together in the most grassroots way possible—by busking. “During COVID, I met Pat and Jesse right before it hit. We hung out once or twice and did a little jam. Obviously after the shutdown, no one could do any gigs, so we started just playing on the IB pier. And we started playing in the road in Little Italy. We’d play on the street for tips. Busking. People really wanted music then because they couldn’t actually go and see any bands. So, people would give us 20s just for being out there.”

The band name was a fun little… accident. “I remember we were joking about “gravy” as a sexual thing. The song I wrote called ‘Stir that Gravy’ started it all. It’s about exactly what you think it is. We were joking and saying we ‘want that good gravy’ and it became an inside joke. One day someone asked us what we were called and Juan [Carlos Castellón] said ‘Good Gravy!’ and ever since then we started calling ourselves that.”

Good Gravy, Kyler center. Photo by Liz Abbott.

Jesse Perez, Good Gravy’s harmonica player and singer, describes the band’s ethos: “Kyler, Juan, and I are just so in love with the blues that the band was inevitable. Whether we are playing in front of people or not, we are always playing, and it’s for us first and I think that translates well in our performances. I’m excited to keep playing, recording, and getting our music out there for people to hear on their own time. And while this was never an original intention of the band, in a time where black, brown, and women’s history in America is being erased in front of our eyes, it’s more important now than ever to keep the band going and keep our history and the blues alive and well.”

As the world opened back up, Good Gravy moved from street performances to amplified gigs, which was a relief to Kyler. “Pat moved away, and we started gigging out after things opened back up. It was so fun using microphones and not having to yell. I used to move the capo up to get a really high register so I could sing louder so people could hear me. They would call me ‘Poppa String’ because every time we played, I would break the high E string because I’d be picking it so hard trying to get volume. So, getting to be amplified was a game changer.”

As expressed by his Good Gravy bandmate, Juan Carlos, Kyler’s style is unmatched. “Kyler is undoubtedly one of the best guitar players in town, with an exceptional vocabulary and an ability to adapt to any kind of music style. Whether playing complex solos or simple melodies, he has a gift for making the music come alive.”

Kyler’s guitar playing is unique and recognizable, but according to him—it’s all made up. “My guitar playing is really goofy. I think I’m really squirrely. I listen to some other guitar players around town, and their playing seems so well thought out. They planned this. I go back to Jimi Hendrix as an influence. If you listen to any of his songs—they are completely different every time he plays it.” He questions the idea of true improvisation. “People say there’s no such thing as improvisation because everything you do is based on something you’ve done before. I think that’s true but what if you could break that?”

While Kyler’s first love is very clearly blues, he’s diving deeper into a genre inspired once again by Hendrix. “I’ve always liked soul music because that’s where Jimi started out. The guitar style I play is kind of like Hendrix copying Curtis Mayfield. I always really liked learning those guitar parts. Soul is a very popular genre right now. A little modern without being too retro. Sometimes I listen to Thee Sacred Souls and everyone’s like ‘Whoa, so retro,’ and I’m like—but it’s also so modern. I really like them and what they’re doing with it.”

When it comes to the San Diego music scene, Kyler J has no interest in the cutthroat competition that defines other major music hubs like Los Angeles or Nashville. “I don’t want competition. I want to get along with everybody. I want to take care of them and have them take care of me.” This man walks the walk of camaraderie, which extends to the venues he prefers to play.

He’s not drawn to flashy spots with influencer appeal but to places where music is the main attraction. “My favorite venue? Probably the Black Cat. We always just have a really good time there. The owner is very nice.” The intimacy and authenticity of a dive bar suit him much better than affluent clubs he frequently plays. “I like playing dives like the Black Cat. People that are there want to be there because it doesn’t look good on Instagram. You have to live in that moment there.”

Kyler’s taste in music tends to gravitate toward artists who push boundaries and honor tradition at the same time. “C.W. Stoneking is someone I’m listening to a lot right now. He is a unique artist. I don’t even know how to describe him. He does a lot of old blues.”

But his interests don’t stop at American roots music. His appreciation for international sounds runs deep, as evidenced by a recent jam session that felt almost surreal. “I was listening to Los Tres Ases. They’re from a genre in Mexico called trios romanticos. The other night I was at a party with these mariachi guys. We ended up jamming out on all these Mexican songs I knew. It was like a dream. He let me play all the lead parts. I was able to hang with them all night. I didn’t want to stop.”

Closer to home, Kyler has been drawn to the work of rising San Diego songwriter Justin John Rodriguez. “I’ve been listening to him a lot. I really like his song ‘Death’s Door’ and ‘Fireflies and Dust.’” I just like his own approach to the blues. The music Kyler admires is rich with melancholy, soul, storytelling, and history.

With a new batch of songs ready to go, Kyler is eyeing an exciting recording project. “I have all these new soul songs, so hopefully I’ll record them. I want to do maybe a quartet. I have them all pretty much done and I think it would be what I do next. I want to do bigger venues too. I want to do Belly Up. I love the Belly Up. I played there once and it was incredible. It’s beautiful, the people are really nice. I also want to play with more people and different groups.”

One thing is clear—Kyler J is living the blues, shaping it, and ensuring that it evolves in an authentic way.

You can catch Kyler J and Good Gravy at some of San Diego’s best haunts:

• Show at the Ould Sod: April 3rd (w/ Alex Bergan and Justin John Rodriguez)
• Black Cat Bar: Every First Fridays
• Prohibition: Every First Saturday
• Blind Lady Ale House: Second Wednesdays