What's a blues/folk singer to do when he's growing up in the age of hip-hop?
If you're Garrett Dutton, you come up with a sound that's your own. Try to imagine John Lee Hooker meets Bob Dylan meets the Beastie Boys.
Dutton, better known in the music world as G. Love, and his band Special Sauce bring their unique blend of acoustic folksy-rap to the USANA Amphitheatre Thursday. They'll be opening for Hawaii native and professional surfer turned filmmaker turned musician Jack Johnson and his own special blend of acoustic music.
"(Johnson has) gotten himself into a pretty great position to be in," Love told the Deseret Morning News in a phone call from Lake Tahoe earlier this week, just hours before the opening night of their tour.
"Lots of tours got cancelled this summer. This tour is almost completely sold out across the board. A lot of people relate to what Jack does. I think they'll enjoy (the show)."
A lot of people have also been taking note of what G. Love and Special Sauce do, and the numbers are growing.
Love was raised in Philadelphia. He cut his teeth in the entertainment businesses as a street performer in Boston in the early 1990s. At that time, he said he was heavy into blues records and developed John Lee Hooker-like vocals.
But it was also impossible for him to ignore the musical atmosphere around him.
"I'm a kid. Hip-hop was the music of my generation," he said.
One day while performing on the streets in Boston, Love had what he called a "musical epiphany," playing guitar while rapping "Paid in Full" by old-school hip-hopsters Eric B. and Rakim.
"I always wanted to be original," he said. "There was really no one else doing that, rapping and playing guitar. There were plenty of people playing Bob Dylan. But no one was combining that with hip-hop. Now we have our own little niche."
Soon after, Love was spotted by his future bandmates and the trio of G. Love and Special Sauce was born.
Love said the first time the name "special sauce" was ever used was actually when he was in high school and raided his parents' liquor cabinet with his friends. One friend said he would mix up the right blend of alcohol to come up with the "special sauce."
Love said he originally wanted to just call his band Special Sauce but had G. Love added at the insistence of his drummer. But he admitted that the band name wasn't something he spent a lot of time thinking about.
"Usually when you think about it too hard it's not funny," he said.
G. Love and Special Sauce's new album "The Hustle" was released Tuesday. Love calls it a "good summertime record" that gets back to his original "funky hip-hop blues feeling" of his early records.
"I'm in a place right now musically where I've absorbed all my influences," Love said. "Where I'm at right now I don't really emulate, I do my own stuff. Everyone (in the band) has kind of found their own sound. The music comes from us. The influences are stuff that happens."
Love and the Special Sauce have also been regulars at private parties during Sundance in recent years.
"People have always been very supportive of us (in Utah). Every year at Sundance we just have awesome vibes. It's a good place for us to play."
If you go . . .
What: Jack Johnson with G. Love and Special Sauce
Where: USANA Amphitheatre
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
How much: $35
Phone: 467-8499
Web: www.usana-amp.com