|
The
Cosmic American Love Child Of Howlin Wolf and Link Wray!!! Known as a
"musician's musician", his praises have been sung by everyone from Bob
Dylan to Brit guitar gods Eric Clapton & Mick Taylor. Since his 1996
debut recording, the all-acoustic BIG MAMA'S DOOR, Alvin Youngblood Hart
has carried his musical message the world over. A devout follower of the
'no barriers' approach laid by veteran performers like Gatemouth Brown
and the late great Doug Sahm, Alvin continues to defy the so- called
purists.
After receiving the 1997
W.C Handy Award for Best New Artist, as well as 2 Living Blues Awards,
Hart's 1998 release, TERRITORY, a rousing tribute to all forms of
American music, received the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll Award for
Best Blues Album (and it wasn't even a Blues album). In the summer of
'99 Hart teamed up with producer Jim Dickinson to begin recording START
WITH THE SOUL. This record would be hailed as a new breed Southern Rock
classic & Alvin's return to the "sacred garage". START WITH THE SOUL was
chosen in the New York Times top 10 releases of 2000 as well as the
BBC's Blues record of the year. He also shared Living Blues Magazine's
best guitarist honors with fellow road dog Big Jack Johnson in 2001.
2003 was a busy year. Not
only was there a GRAMMY nomination, Hart also toured the world as a
member of Job Cain, a hard rocking side project he put together with Cry
Of Love/Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed. In August of '03 Alvin was
invited to fill in for Taj Mahal for five nights in Tokyo as a member of
Kip Hanrahan's Conjure, the worlds longest running jazz poetry ensemble.
Assembled to lend musical support to the words of Bay Area poet Ishmael
Reed, Conjure featured the talents of tenor sax giant David Murray and
also Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli. Alvin is still a member of the
revolving cast and recorded with them on the BAD MOUTH CD.
In 2004 Mr. Hart received
a Grammy for his contribution to BEAUTIFUL DREAMER :THE SONGS OF STEPHEN
FOSTER. In the Summer of 2005 He released the self produced MOTIVATIONAL
SPEAKER, a rock guitar free for all, paying homage to fallen & missing
rockers like Phil Lynott and Sly Stone. In 2006 Hart took time out to
work on the film BLACK SNAKE MOAN .He served as a guitar tutor to star
Samuel L. Jackson and recorded a duet with the film’s female lead
Christina Ricci for the soundtrack. In the fall of that year Hart joined
Austin dynamo Ruthie Foster and rock n roll legend Bo Diddley for a 2
month coast to coast US tour. Recently Alvin has thrown his talent into
the educational arena. In April 2007 he participated on a tour of
Mississippi high schools as a member of the Thelonius Monk Institute Of
Jazz.
The Summer of ’07 saw
Alvin hit the big screen as a juke joint musician in the Denzel
Washington directed film THE GREAT DEBATERS
Hart continues to tour the globe as a solo artist and with his Mighty
Muscle Theory band...
|