Two Tones Dueling Piano Bar – Never a dull moment

THE WOODLANDS, TX – It’s rare that you can find a job based truly on what you love doing and doing well, especially when it’s based off of your own school studies in your favorite class. But this is exactly what Tyler Lewis has found himself for his career. Tyler is the co-owner of Two Tones Dueling Piano Bar, which is so much more than what the name implies.

Born and raised in The Woodlands, he left the township just long enough to attend Sam Houston State University – majoring in musical theatre – and start his career path in Houston.

“While I was at Sam Houston, I was actually training to learn how to do dueling pianos at the same time. So I was in college, and I would drive to Houston four days a week to learn how to do it while still in school and graduating from there,” Tyler told Woodlands Online in an exclusive interview. “I started doing pianos over a decade ago. Even back then, my dream was always to bring a panel bar to The Woodlands. At the company I worked for, I told them several times, telling them the idea would work out great; but they just never wanted to do it.”

When the COVID pandemic hit the Houston area at the start of this decade, Tyler took the opportunity to take a chance, quit his current job, and start his own business, performing on piano in traveling shows. Then he took the leap to bring an establishment dueling piano bar to The Woodlands, his home. Flash forward to October 4, 2023, the day Two Tones opened its doors for business.

While the first known dueling piano bar was Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans, which opened in 1933, the modern format originated at Dallas nightclub Alley Cats in 1986. For those who only have that iconic two-duck scene in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ as a reference point, a dueling piano bar is much more than just two pianos and their pianists facing off trying to outdo each other.

“So we have two pianos on stage and we’ll have two entertainers on at a time, so both players will be on stage and they'll take turns playing a song. But every single musician is a multi-instrumentalist; we all play drums, we all play guitar, we all play bass, we play keytar [that hybrid synthesizer / guitar so popular in ‘80s music], anything you could possibly think of we have it here.”

The current weekly schedule for Two Tones – not counting special events and private parties – includes Jukebox Bingo on select Tuesdays, Ultimate Karaoke on Wednesdays, and Dueling Pianos Thursdays through Saturdays, with Late Night Karaoke Friday and Saturday nights.

While currently Two Tones offers ‘canned’ instrumental music like the typical karaoke bar, Tyler hopes to someday soon compliment it with live music played on the establishment’s karaoke nights. He boasts that each musician has up to 600 songs memorized already, and if a customer were to come up with a ‘stumper,’ the musician or band would only need a few minutes offstage with an iPad to learn it.
It’s this variety that keeps people coming back to Two Tones time and again, instead of visiting it as a one-off novelty.

“About 80 percent of our business is celebratory in nature, like birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and the like. That’s what we’re known for, but we’re always switching it up, making it different. We're learning new things. We're constantly working on new band songs with the whole band, and this gets people to come back again and again.”

Tyler stresses that Two Tones’ main focus is the audience interaction. “The piano players are not the star of the show; it’s the audience. And we always strive to help guide them to having a great time.”

The enormous risk Tyler and other co-owner Josh Herod took paid off nearly immediately when they opened their doors, praising the exuberance of Woodlanders seeking a new and unique musical venue.

“It’s been very, very receptive. Especially our first year; I mean, we were sold out three weeks in advance for every single weekend, and we have an occupancy of 380 here,” said Tyler. “In those early days, we had to turn a lot of people down; but today you can usually get a reservation booked a week or so out. We’re not super over-crowded, but we’re definitely steady.”

One decision that was consciously made in designing Two Tones was to keep it in a bar format, not restaurant.

“We mainly just serve alcohol. We do have a small kitchen and very good bar food, but like we always encourage people to eat dinner before they come. If you’re eating a full meal, you’re not gonna be participating. I’ve done dinner theater; I know,” Tyler laughed. “We want them to sing. We want them to clap. We want them to, you know, have a good time.”

Though there’s a minimum admittance age requirement of 21, there certainly is no maximum.

“We just have a really high energy, fun night. We have younger people who will come in here and we have older people who come in here. So it’s not like this is just for people over 40 or just for people in their 20s. This is literally a place where someone who just turned 21 can party with their grandma and have an amazing time. So it really is for every, every single person,” said Tyler.

Not only does Two Tones defy the quasi-curfew The Woodlands has when it comes to staying open late, but Tyler stresses another reason his bar stands above the rest.

“Not only are we open for your late nights, but we’re also the only place in The Woodlands area that is consistently having, you know, live entertainment. There might be cover bands at other places, you know, but we’re consistently like the ultimate live music entertainment venue for the whole area. Every week.”

Check out Two Tones at its business directory listing below to learn about themed nights and hours of operation.

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