Jamie N Commons

Jamie N Commons, the British singer and songwriter, fuses a raspy, street-corner delivery echoing Tom Waits with Nick Cave’s dark and haunted outlook, crafting at peak moments a modern gothic blues reimagined for the 21st century. Born in Bristol, England, he moved with his family to Chicago at age six, where eight years of immersion in the birthplace of Chicago blues ignited a lifelong devotion to the form. Six years later he returned to England’s West Country at age 16, carrying both a vivid grasp of the blues’ mythic hold on the American South and a distinct Americanized accent. After learning guitar he relocated to London, studying music at Goldsmiths in New Cross and surfacing in his twenties with a hoarse, gravel-laced voice that contradicted his age alongside a dark, Southern swamp gospel approach to songwriting. Critical notice arrived swiftly; at just 22 he issued his debut EP, The Baron, on Luv Luv Luv Records in 2011. Early 2013 brought a follow-up EP, Rumble and Sway, produced by Alex da Kid. The 2014 single “Karma” was chosen as the official theme for the immensely popular Electronic Arts video game Battlefield Hardline, while the propulsive single “Marathon” appeared in 2015 ahead of his first full-length album, slated for release in early 2016.