Alvin Youngblood Hart

Alvin Youngblood Hart (born 2 March 1963, Oakland, California [http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002475/Alvin-Youngblood-Hart.html Musicianguide.com biography - accessed January 2008] ] ) is an American musician.

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".cite book
first= Tony
last= Russell
year= 1997
title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
edition=
publisher= Carlton Books Limited
location= Dubai
pages= p. 117
id= ISBN 1-85868-255-X] 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. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wbftxqegldde~T1 All Music Guide biography - accessed January 2008] ] In 2005, Hart received a Grammy Award for his contribution to "Beautiful Dreamer - The Songs of Stephen Foster".

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

External links

* [http://www.alvinyoungbloodhart.net Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/alvinyoungbloodhart Hart's myspace site]
* [http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002475/Alvin-Youngblood-Hart.html Musicianguide.com biography and discography]
* [http://authenticblues.com/component/option,com_musicbox/task,viewAuth/Itemid,26/id,43/ Alvin Youngblood Hart at AuthenticBlues.com]