Career
Though born in Oakland, California, Hart had family connections with
Carroll County,
Mississippi, and spent time there in his
childhood, hearing his relatives stories of
Charlie Patton,
"being around these people who were there when this music was going on"
.
[2]
Thus influenced by the
country blues, Hart is known as one of the world's foremost practitioners of that genre. Hart is also known as a faithful torchbearer for the 1960s and 1970s
guitar rock of his
youth, as well as Western Swing and vintage country. His music has been compared to a list of diverse artists ranging from
Leadbelly,
Spade Cooley to
Led Zeppelin and
Thin Lizzy.
Hart plays
acoustic and
electric guitar as well as
banjo and sometimes the
mandolin. Bluesman
Taj Mahal once said about Hart that
"The boy has got thunder in his hands."
Hart himself said
"I guess my big break came when I opened for Taj Mahal for four nights at Yoshi's.
In 1996 he made a powerful and individual album debut,
Big Mama's Door
, playing street, slide and standard guitars and banjo on a mixture of dug-up and new-grown blues.
In 2003, Hart's
album Down in the Alley
was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.
[3] In 2005, Hart received a
Grammy Award for his contribution to
Beautiful Dreamer - The Songs of Stephen Foster
. Hart was featured in the 2003 Wim Wenders film "The Soul of a Man," which was featured in Martin Scorsese's film series "The Blues." Hart was also featured in the documentary "Last of the Mississippi Jukes."
Discography
1996
Big Mama's Door
(
OKeh Records)
1998
Territory
2000
Start with the Soul
2002
Down in the Alley
2005
Motivational Speaker
Awards
- W.C. Handy Award for best new artist - 1997
- Downbeat
magazine award for best blues album of the year for Territory
, 1999
References
- Musicianguide.com biography - accessed January 2008
- The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
- Allmusic biography - accessed January 2008