Biography
Gerry Hundt commands multiple instruments including guitar, bass, harmonica, and both electric and acoustic mandolin while based in Chicago, where he has served as a utility player for Nick Moss & the Flip Tops since 2004. He appears on the Blue Bella label, which has chronicled the blues resurgence of the early twenty-first century through numerous releases; Hundt has contributed to many of those sessions and has also taken on production and engineering duties. His first outing fronting a band arrived in 2007 with Since Way Back, an album intended to renew interest in mandolin blues by extending the lineage established decades earlier by Yank Rachell, Johnny Young, and Carl Martin. The record further reveals Hundt as a versatile singer whose delivery shifts between boisterous, affable, and deeply soulful registers.
Born in Appleton, WI, on May 29, 1977, Hundt relocated with his family to Rockford, IL, at age three. His middle-class upbringing included early exposure to Sesame Street’s jazz and roots-music segments, Sha Na Na, and the soundtrack to The Jungle Book. A nursery-school instructor once informed his mother, “Gerry has a great love for music and dancing...He has many friends who look forward to seeing him.” He began composing songs as a child yet steered clear of the piano instruction given to his sister. Alto saxophone in fifth grade proved unappealing, but Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary,” encountered in seventh grade, proved pivotal. Throughout high school he amassed Hendrix material, then contracted the blues after his friend Myke Weiskopf—now an electronic-music artist in L.A.—supplied the compilation Story of the Blues. That collection spanned the genre from the Fra-Fra Tribesmen through Elmore James, embedding Bukka White’s “Parchman Farm,” Leroy Carr’s “Midnight Hour,” and Big Joe Williams’ “Wild Cow Moan” in his memory; the last of these introduced him, unknowingly at the time, to Yank Rachell’s mandolin style.
At Middlebury College in Vermont, Hundt pursued Latin and ancient Greek, graduating cum laude with a B.A. in 1999. A sports injury in fall 1993 prompted him to purchase Buddy Guy & Junior Wells: Alone & Acoustic—the first harmonica-fronted album he encountered—and he quickly adapted to the instrument. Guitar lessons with Paul Asbell, whose résumé includes work with Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin’ Hopkins, imparted jazz theory and finger-style technique. During breaks in Rockford he played harmonica with the Fellartones, covering Fenton Robinson, Phish, and War; Hendrix-inflected phrasing further steered him toward the blues. He also frequented Glenn Davis’ Silver Moon club in Wisconsin for weekly jam sessions, absorbing Davis’ stagecraft and guitar approach that fused traditional and contemporary elements—traits Hundt later incorporated into his own playing.
Post-graduation, an uncle arranged construction work in Golden, CO, where Hundt met the ClamDaddys at an open-mike night and joined them for a weeklong Idaho tour on bass. “Mo Walker from the ClamDaddys has a great history of training guitar players to play bass,” Hundt recalled in a 2007 interview. “Simply throw the baby in the water. The ClamDaddy repertoire is diverse, full of really fast tunes that have ragtime chord progressions -- lots of chords -- and arrangements that change in the middle of the song and from night to night. If you can hang with the Daddys on bass....” He began contemplating music as a livelihood, moved to N.Y.C. to work as a stagehand at MTV, VH1, and assorted venues, and performed garage rock monthly with the Push Ponys while recording indie-rock projects alongside Quinn Raymond and Ben Gitenstein. College acquaintance John-Alex Mason, then working professionally in Vail, invited Hundt to play harmonica for a week of Delta blues dates in March 2001; a second week followed in July, prompting Hundt’s relocation to Colorado for a September 14, 2001, appearance with Mason at the Telluride Blues Festival.
For several years Hundt alternated between Colorado and his parents’ Illinois home. In October 2003, while hosting a jam at the Lakewood Grill, he encountered Nick Moss, who sought a Saturday-night booking for the Flip Tops. Hundt supplied the gig and sat in upon the band’s return; when Moss’ wife Kate, the group’s bassist, became pregnant, Hundt volunteered. Moss added him as a fifth member on guitar and harp. By April 2004 Hundt had joined the Flip Tops full-time and settled in Chicago, where he remains. He integrated seamlessly into the band’s rigorous touring and recording schedule and became a key figure at Blue Bella Records, the imprint Moss founded to document Chicago’s early-twenty-first-century blues revival. Hundt has recorded with Moss, Bill Lupkin, and the Kilborn Alley Blues Band, and he also produces and engineers. His debut leader date, Since Way Back, appeared in 2007, spotlighting his vocals and mandolin work; it earned a nomination for the 2008 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist—Other (Mandolin).
Only a few years into playing mandolin when Since Way Back was tracked live in the studio with minimal overdubs—several numbers, among them “The Lakewood Bump,” were improvised on the spot—the album drew strong notices, one reviewer observing, “Hundt’s phrasing is reminiscent of piano greats like Otis Spann or Johnnie Johnson.” Hundt responded in 2007: “I was thrilled that someone took the time to listen and really think about (the record)....Some of my favorite Johnny Young recordings are just Otis Spann and him. They were having a musical conversation, and it seeped into my playing. There are a lot of two- and three-note 'rolls/trills' that I play. You can play them on the piano exactly like you can play them on the mandolin. I've been learning piano recently, so it was fun to figure those out. I have such reverence for Chicago blues piano, so this was one of the greatest compliments to me, if not the greatest.”
“One thing I love about blues mandolin is that there isn't a huge repertoire,” Hundt continued. “There's a lot of room for expansion of its vocabulary. When I play, I really feel like I'm reaching into an untapped well of blues expression. My feeling for the mandolin is similar to my feeling for harmonica; I feel very close to the instrument and there isn't a whole lot of thought that goes on while I'm playing. It could have something to do with tuning; blues harmonica and mandolin deal with intervals of three and a half tones (fifths), rather than two and a half tones (fourths) in guitar and bass. You can mindlessly strum or play a mando or harp and the notes still fit in better than with a guitar. Something I heard from Paul Asbell really speaks to this; he told me that all those blues guys, B.B. or whoever, they're playing intervals, not scales.”
Born in Appleton, WI, on May 29, 1977, Hundt relocated with his family to Rockford, IL, at age three. His middle-class upbringing included early exposure to Sesame Street’s jazz and roots-music segments, Sha Na Na, and the soundtrack to The Jungle Book. A nursery-school instructor once informed his mother, “Gerry has a great love for music and dancing...He has many friends who look forward to seeing him.” He began composing songs as a child yet steered clear of the piano instruction given to his sister. Alto saxophone in fifth grade proved unappealing, but Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary,” encountered in seventh grade, proved pivotal. Throughout high school he amassed Hendrix material, then contracted the blues after his friend Myke Weiskopf—now an electronic-music artist in L.A.—supplied the compilation Story of the Blues. That collection spanned the genre from the Fra-Fra Tribesmen through Elmore James, embedding Bukka White’s “Parchman Farm,” Leroy Carr’s “Midnight Hour,” and Big Joe Williams’ “Wild Cow Moan” in his memory; the last of these introduced him, unknowingly at the time, to Yank Rachell’s mandolin style.
At Middlebury College in Vermont, Hundt pursued Latin and ancient Greek, graduating cum laude with a B.A. in 1999. A sports injury in fall 1993 prompted him to purchase Buddy Guy & Junior Wells: Alone & Acoustic—the first harmonica-fronted album he encountered—and he quickly adapted to the instrument. Guitar lessons with Paul Asbell, whose résumé includes work with Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin’ Hopkins, imparted jazz theory and finger-style technique. During breaks in Rockford he played harmonica with the Fellartones, covering Fenton Robinson, Phish, and War; Hendrix-inflected phrasing further steered him toward the blues. He also frequented Glenn Davis’ Silver Moon club in Wisconsin for weekly jam sessions, absorbing Davis’ stagecraft and guitar approach that fused traditional and contemporary elements—traits Hundt later incorporated into his own playing.
Post-graduation, an uncle arranged construction work in Golden, CO, where Hundt met the ClamDaddys at an open-mike night and joined them for a weeklong Idaho tour on bass. “Mo Walker from the ClamDaddys has a great history of training guitar players to play bass,” Hundt recalled in a 2007 interview. “Simply throw the baby in the water. The ClamDaddy repertoire is diverse, full of really fast tunes that have ragtime chord progressions -- lots of chords -- and arrangements that change in the middle of the song and from night to night. If you can hang with the Daddys on bass....” He began contemplating music as a livelihood, moved to N.Y.C. to work as a stagehand at MTV, VH1, and assorted venues, and performed garage rock monthly with the Push Ponys while recording indie-rock projects alongside Quinn Raymond and Ben Gitenstein. College acquaintance John-Alex Mason, then working professionally in Vail, invited Hundt to play harmonica for a week of Delta blues dates in March 2001; a second week followed in July, prompting Hundt’s relocation to Colorado for a September 14, 2001, appearance with Mason at the Telluride Blues Festival.
For several years Hundt alternated between Colorado and his parents’ Illinois home. In October 2003, while hosting a jam at the Lakewood Grill, he encountered Nick Moss, who sought a Saturday-night booking for the Flip Tops. Hundt supplied the gig and sat in upon the band’s return; when Moss’ wife Kate, the group’s bassist, became pregnant, Hundt volunteered. Moss added him as a fifth member on guitar and harp. By April 2004 Hundt had joined the Flip Tops full-time and settled in Chicago, where he remains. He integrated seamlessly into the band’s rigorous touring and recording schedule and became a key figure at Blue Bella Records, the imprint Moss founded to document Chicago’s early-twenty-first-century blues revival. Hundt has recorded with Moss, Bill Lupkin, and the Kilborn Alley Blues Band, and he also produces and engineers. His debut leader date, Since Way Back, appeared in 2007, spotlighting his vocals and mandolin work; it earned a nomination for the 2008 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist—Other (Mandolin).
Only a few years into playing mandolin when Since Way Back was tracked live in the studio with minimal overdubs—several numbers, among them “The Lakewood Bump,” were improvised on the spot—the album drew strong notices, one reviewer observing, “Hundt’s phrasing is reminiscent of piano greats like Otis Spann or Johnnie Johnson.” Hundt responded in 2007: “I was thrilled that someone took the time to listen and really think about (the record)....Some of my favorite Johnny Young recordings are just Otis Spann and him. They were having a musical conversation, and it seeped into my playing. There are a lot of two- and three-note 'rolls/trills' that I play. You can play them on the piano exactly like you can play them on the mandolin. I've been learning piano recently, so it was fun to figure those out. I have such reverence for Chicago blues piano, so this was one of the greatest compliments to me, if not the greatest.”
“One thing I love about blues mandolin is that there isn't a huge repertoire,” Hundt continued. “There's a lot of room for expansion of its vocabulary. When I play, I really feel like I'm reaching into an untapped well of blues expression. My feeling for the mandolin is similar to my feeling for harmonica; I feel very close to the instrument and there isn't a whole lot of thought that goes on while I'm playing. It could have something to do with tuning; blues harmonica and mandolin deal with intervals of three and a half tones (fifths), rather than two and a half tones (fourths) in guitar and bass. You can mindlessly strum or play a mando or harp and the notes still fit in better than with a guitar. Something I heard from Paul Asbell really speaks to this; he told me that all those blues guys, B.B. or whoever, they're playing intervals, not scales.”
Albums
