The music stops at Bayou Cafe: Remembering hits they played, celebrities who listened in

The Bayou Cafe will soon only be a memory as the doors of the iconic River Street bar and restaurant are set to close on Jan. 31 after 30 years.

The lights will go dark at the venue prized for live music seven nights a week and its Cajun style food menu.

The memories are many and beyond special, longtime Bayou performer Thomas Claxton said.

“It has been dedicated to live music,” Claxton said. “When the music starts the TV goes off.”

The Bayou Cafe closes:30-year River Street live music and food destination to close

Claxton has been performing at the Bayou, mostly a few nights per week, for the last 20 years. He also assists with booking talent for the cafe.

He was a teenager when he took a chance and headed down to the Bayou on a Sunday afternoon.

There Claxton met Jerry Zambito, guitarist and founder of the Bayou.

“He asked me if I sucked,” Claxton said. “I told him I didn’t think so.”

After playing his guitar for Zambito, Claxton was told to come back the next day.

Claxton thought he’d made the big time while his friends were excited about jobs at Pizza Hut.

“That was the start of it all for me,” Claxton said. “It was the first paying job I had as a musician — I was making $75 a week.

"Since then I’ve played all over at arenas, theatres. I’ve played with or been on stage with members of Pink Floyd, Huey Lewis and the News, and toured with Chuck Negron of Three Dog night.”

"It's tough to see the place go," Claxton said.

Memories

Some of the best memories for many regulars at the Bayou come from the years of the "Chief."

Chief Dennis Hinely played four or five nights a week at the Bayou for decades, before dying in 2011.

Chief was a big man, Claxton said, and he made an imposing figure on the stage.

“He was a teddy bear though,” Claxton said. “No one would cross him, but he had a soft soul."

Claxton said the Chief knew how to entertain a crowd — and pack the house.

Chief also created a “whine list,” at the Bayou.

“There were some songs that Chief just didn’t want to play much,” Claxton said.

The whine list of frequently requested songs also listed the price Chief would charge customers to play a  “whine” song.

“'Brown Eyed Girl' was the most requested,” Claxton said, referencing the Van Morrison classic. “It was $25.”

Claxton and former Bayor bartender Joel Solomon both recall Chief going home with lots of cash from the whine list songs.

“That tip jar would have $200, or $400 to $500 in it,” Solomon said.

“I saw him play 'Freebird' six times one night,” Claxton said of the Lynyrd Skynyrd anthem. “It was $20.”

Claxton said Chief was ‘incredibly popular” and a well-rounded performer, both as a musician and a comedian.

“People still come in that haven't been here in a while asking when Chief is playing,”  Claxton and Solomon said.

Actor Robin Wright, famous for her role as Jenny in the movie "Forrest Gump" and as Princess Buttercup in the "Princess Bride," among others, was also a Chief fan, Claxton said.

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"She thought he was so funny that she hired him for some private parties," Claxton said.

Solomon started his own business after working at the Bayou — Cafe Loco at Lazaretto Creek.

Solomon credits Jerry and Vincent Zambito for teaching him the business.

“I was in the Coast Guard at Tybee and then started as the doorman in 1991,” Solomon said. “I worked up to be the doorman selling beer-- to take some heat off the bartender.”

Before long Solomon worked his way to the upstairs bartender job and eventually became the bartender in the main room downstairs.

“The guidance they gave me let me start my own venue,” Solomon said. Jerry Zambito taught Solomon the live music business, he said.

Before Cafe Loco Solomon also partnered with Vincent Zambito at JJ Cagney’s, a blues restaurant and music venue/bar on River Street.

Solomon sold Cafe Loco after 17 years and now is a realtor with his father's Century 21 office in Savannah.

Solomon and Claxton both recalled the many well-known musicians who came to the Bayou to play, sit in for some jam time, or just to listen to the music.

“Back then if you were playing at the civic center you stayed at the Hyatt,” Solomon said. The Bayou is located a few hundred yards east of the hotel.

The Bayou would put a speaker in the window at night, drawing both musicians and tourists to the cafe.

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“They would come walking down River Street and hear the music,” Solomon said.

The list of well-known bands and artists who came to the Bayou, whether drawn in by the rock and roll wafting out of the window or word of mouth, is extensive.

The Black Crowes played on stage at the Bayou, Claxton said. Others include Edwin McCain and Derek St. Holmes.

McCain is from South Carolina and his songs "I'll Be" (1998) and "I Could Not Ask for More" (1999) were radio top-40 hits.

Derek St. Holmes played for Ted Nugent and was quoted on a music website stating that Nugent had shot him twice, albeit accidentally. 

Tom Arnold, ex-husband of Roseanne Barr, was another surprise visitor.

“Arnold can sing,” Claxton said.  “You just never knew who was going to walk in that door. There were just so many."

Musicians weren’t the only nationally known figures who made the scene at the Bayou.

Professional athletes were also known to pay a visit, including Jim Kelly with the Buffalo Bills, Kevin McHale with the Boston Celtics and the New York Yankees' Bernie Williams.

“Williams was here for the Savannah Jazz Festival,” Claxton said. “He’s an accomplished guitarist.” 

Claxton also said WWE heavyweight champ A.J. Stiles and his tag team walked in one night.

“I bought their drinks,” Claxton said.

Rolling Stone magazine also took notice and listed the Bayou as one of their Spring break top picks in a 2000 issue.

Family

Vincent Zambito took over most of the business from Bayou founder — his father, musician Jerry Zambito, who semi-retired a few years back. Zambito the younger said a large rent hike is causing the closing. 

“It’s pretty much triple,” Zambito said, “and it’s not sustainable for us.”  

Zambito is certainly sad over the closing but for now is ready to celebrate the musical history of the Bayou that his father started in 1991.

The Zambito family is originally from Jacksonville and Jerry Zambito was a part of the music scene in the North Florida city. 

Jerry Zambito’s musical credentials are solid, playing with legends such as Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers at after-hours clubs.

Zambito was in the band Tangerine, a precursor to the band Blackfoot, where Zambito was an early guitarist.

Jerry Zambito opened the Roadhouse in Garden City in 1978, and the following he built from that business helped make the Bayou a success.

Vincent Zambito started working at the Bayou when he was 15-years-old. He sold hot dogs out in front of the cafe.

From there he worked the kitchen, tended bar, became the cafe’s mechanical fixer and sound engineer. 

Vincent Zambito said nights where the Bayou had to be closed were few.

“We’ve really only closed for maybe a hurricane,” Zambito said. “We didn’t even close when there was a fire in the building.” The fire was in the Cotton Exchange, downstairs and in the same building as the Bayou.

When the lights go out and the music stops on Jan. 31, Zambito said what he will miss most is the people.

“All our customers and staff and the wonderful support they’ve given -- that’s the one thing I’ll miss the most,” he said.

For those looking for some Cajun dishes, the Bayou Cafe food trucks are running and their schedules can be found on Facebook.

DeAnn Komanecky is a business/growth and development reporter. Follow her on Twitter @deannsk.