Biography
Alvin Youngblood Hart, a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, follows the trajectory set by acoustic blues figures such as Taj Mahal, Guy Davis, and other revivalists of the 1990s, yet his foundations reach back earlier to the classic approaches of Bukka White, Charley Patton, Leadbelly, and Blind Willie McTell.
Born in Oakland, CA, Hart joined his parents on summer journeys to his grandparents’ house in the northern Mississippi hills, where his attraction to acoustic blues first took hold. During stays at his grandmother’s home he observed life without indoor plumbing or telephones and encountered horse-drawn wagons instead of automobiles. Although music remained scarce around Carrollton, MS, his uncle ignited his curiosity through guitar playing and tales of Charley Patton, while his grandmother’s blues piano performances added further depth to his understanding.
Hart nevertheless credits recordings by Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones with advancing his blues guitar work. Because his father sold products for General Electric, the family relocated frequently. He took the nickname “Alvin” from the harmonica-playing leader of the cartoon group the Chipmunks. With access to his parents’ record collection, he began playing guitar in his early teens, absorbing the styles of Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, and Jimmy Witherspoon.
Once his parents settled in Schaumburg, IL, Hart started visiting Maxwell Street in nearby Chicago and became known to the resident musicians there as “Youngblood.” After community-college classes, the family moved to southern California, where dissatisfaction with local blues-club politics prompted him to perform acoustic blues solo.
Hart enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1986 and was posted to a riverboat in Natchez, MS, where he continued his blues education by performing in area bars during off-duty time. Following seven years of service he met Joe Louis Walker, who asked Hart to open several of his regional concerts. His initial major opportunity arrived in February 1995 when he opened for Taj Mahal at an Oakland jazz club; Mahal’s longtime road manager then arranged an impromptu jam at Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s studio.
Hart secured a management contract, and the resulting demo reached executives at Epic’s Okeh subsidiary, the former label of Blind Boy Fuller, Brownie McGhee, and Lonnie Johnson. In summer 1996 he joined the Further Festival, which sustained the Grateful Dead’s spirit after Jerry Garcia’s death in summer 1995, placing him before large audiences alongside Bruce Hornsby, Hot Tuna, and Los Lobos.
His acclaimed 1996 debut, Big Mama’s Door, issued on Okeh/Epic, earned broad critical praise and launched his international touring career; the album includes blues-inflected renditions of “When the Boys Were on the Western Plain” and “Gallows Pole” as well as the traditional pieces “Hillbilly Willie’s Blues” by Blind Willie McTell and “Pony Blues” by Charley Patton.
On the strength of that release and his live performances, Hart earned five nominations at the 1997 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, matching Luther Allison’s total; the nods covered Best New Artist, Best Acoustic Artist, Best Traditional Blues Artist, Acoustic Album of the Year, and Traditional Album of the Year. His next album, Territory (1998), drew somewhat less notice yet attracted attention for its range, while Start with the Soul (2000) shifted toward a blues-rock emphasis. Two years later Down in the Alley (2002) appeared, earning Hart his first Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Recording. Motivational Speaker was released on Tone Cool Records in 2005.
Born in Oakland, CA, Hart joined his parents on summer journeys to his grandparents’ house in the northern Mississippi hills, where his attraction to acoustic blues first took hold. During stays at his grandmother’s home he observed life without indoor plumbing or telephones and encountered horse-drawn wagons instead of automobiles. Although music remained scarce around Carrollton, MS, his uncle ignited his curiosity through guitar playing and tales of Charley Patton, while his grandmother’s blues piano performances added further depth to his understanding.
Hart nevertheless credits recordings by Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones with advancing his blues guitar work. Because his father sold products for General Electric, the family relocated frequently. He took the nickname “Alvin” from the harmonica-playing leader of the cartoon group the Chipmunks. With access to his parents’ record collection, he began playing guitar in his early teens, absorbing the styles of Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, and Jimmy Witherspoon.
Once his parents settled in Schaumburg, IL, Hart started visiting Maxwell Street in nearby Chicago and became known to the resident musicians there as “Youngblood.” After community-college classes, the family moved to southern California, where dissatisfaction with local blues-club politics prompted him to perform acoustic blues solo.
Hart enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1986 and was posted to a riverboat in Natchez, MS, where he continued his blues education by performing in area bars during off-duty time. Following seven years of service he met Joe Louis Walker, who asked Hart to open several of his regional concerts. His initial major opportunity arrived in February 1995 when he opened for Taj Mahal at an Oakland jazz club; Mahal’s longtime road manager then arranged an impromptu jam at Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s studio.
Hart secured a management contract, and the resulting demo reached executives at Epic’s Okeh subsidiary, the former label of Blind Boy Fuller, Brownie McGhee, and Lonnie Johnson. In summer 1996 he joined the Further Festival, which sustained the Grateful Dead’s spirit after Jerry Garcia’s death in summer 1995, placing him before large audiences alongside Bruce Hornsby, Hot Tuna, and Los Lobos.
His acclaimed 1996 debut, Big Mama’s Door, issued on Okeh/Epic, earned broad critical praise and launched his international touring career; the album includes blues-inflected renditions of “When the Boys Were on the Western Plain” and “Gallows Pole” as well as the traditional pieces “Hillbilly Willie’s Blues” by Blind Willie McTell and “Pony Blues” by Charley Patton.
On the strength of that release and his live performances, Hart earned five nominations at the 1997 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, matching Luther Allison’s total; the nods covered Best New Artist, Best Acoustic Artist, Best Traditional Blues Artist, Acoustic Album of the Year, and Traditional Album of the Year. His next album, Territory (1998), drew somewhat less notice yet attracted attention for its range, while Start with the Soul (2000) shifted toward a blues-rock emphasis. Two years later Down in the Alley (2002) appeared, earning Hart his first Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Recording. Motivational Speaker was released on Tone Cool Records in 2005.
Albums
