Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | spring 2006
Paul Lasley

 


SPRING 2006
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On the road with Paul Lasley and The Guys

Paul Lasley by day: Rural sociologist.

Paul Lasley by night: Swinging bass player in a big band combo.

Lasley’s two lives are not as divergent as one might think. A long-time professor of sociology at Iowa State, Lasley heads the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology and is an often-quoted expert on how changes in agriculture affect rural communities.
As a stand-up bass player in “Paul Lasley and The Guys,” Lasley clearly sees the connection between music and society.

“Music brings people together,” he says. “Music is a great social lubricant. When you get together and start playing, socio-economic differences completely fade away.”

Music has been a part of Lasley’s life since he was a child. He took his first music lesson on his grandmother’s lap. Both of his parents are musical, too: His mother plays an upright bass and his father plays acoustic guitar.

Lasley played clarinet, and then baritone saxophone. After college, he started going to bluegrass festivals and began playing the stand-up bass in a bluegrass band. He joined The Guys about seven years ago, and the four-man group averages 40 to 50 gigs a year, playing wedding receptions, anniversary parties, company picnics, retirement homes, and community celebrations.

“We don’t play nightclubs or bars,” Lasley says. “We don’t travel very far. We’re too old. I’m 53, and I’m the baby of the group. We don’t like to stay out too late; we’ve done all that. We just like to play music that people can dance to.”

-- C. Gieseke

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