John Hiatt (born August 20, 1952, Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other distinctions in the music industry. He remains one of the most respected and influential American singer-songwriters.

Hiatt was working as a songwriter for Tree International, a record label in Nashville when his song "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" was covered by Three Dog Night. The song became a Top 40 hit, earning Hiatt a recording contract with Epic Records. Since then he has released eighteen studio albums and two live albums. His songs have been covered by a variety of artists in multiple genres, including Bob Dylan, Willy DeVille, Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Three Dog Night, Joan Baez, Paula Abdul, Buddy Guy, the Desert Rose Band, Jimmy Buffett, Mandy Moore, Iggy Pop, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rosanne Cash, Suzy Bogguss, Jewel, Aaron Neville, Jeff Healey, Keith Urban, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan and many others. Also the Dutch singer/songwriter Ilse DeLange recorded the album ''Dear John'' with nine of his songs.

Musical career

Early life and career

Hiatt moved to Nashville, Tennessee when he was eighteen years old and got a job as a songwriter for the Tree-Music Publishing Company for twenty-five dollars a week. Hiatt, who was unable to read or write scores, had to record all 250 songs he wrote for the company. He also began playing with the band White Duck, as one of three singer-songwriters within the group. White Duck had already recorded one album before Hiatt joined. He appeared on their second album, ''In Season'' (1972). Hiatt performed live in many clubs around Nashville with White Duck, and as a solo act.

Early solo career (1974-78)

In 1974 he released ''Hangin' Around the Observatory'', which was a critical success and a commercial failure. A year later, ''Overcoats'' was released, and when it also failed to sell, Epic released Hiatt from his contract. For the next four years he was without a recording contract. During this time his style evolved from country-rock to New Wave influenced rock in the style of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Graham Parker.

The MCA/Geffen Years (1979-1986)

During this period, Rosanne Cash covered several Hiatt compositions, taking "It Hasn't Happened Yet" to the Top 20 on the country charts. In 1983, Cash would duet with Hiatt on his "The Way We Make a Broken Heart" produced by Mathews and Nagle. When Geffen failed to release the single, Cash re-recorded it in 1987 and it went to #1 on the US country charts. Rick Nelson also covered "It Hasn't Happened Yet" on his 1981 album ''Playing to Win''.

Hiatt recorded a duet with Elvis Costello, a cover version of the Spinners' song, "Living A Little, Laughing A Little," which appeared on ''Warming Up to the Ice Age''. Shortly after its release, Bob Dylan covered Hiatt's song "The Usual," which had appeared on the soundtrack to the film, ''Hearts of Fire''. However, Geffen dropped Hiatt from the label after ''Ice Age'' failed to chart.

Success at last (1987-1989)

Following ''Bring the Family'', Hiatt had a string of nine straight studio albums hit the Billboard 200.

In 1988, he returned to the studio to record ''Slow Turning'', which would be his first album to hit the upper half of the Billboard 200. It also featured his only top ten chart single, the title track, which hit #8 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. As well, "Tennessee Plates", would later appear in the Ridley Scott directed and Academy Award winning film, ''Thelma and Louise'' in 1991. In 1989, The Jeff Healey Band covered the Hiatt-penned song "Angel Eyes", and took it to the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.

The 1990s and beyond

In 1993, Hiatt recorded ''Perfectly Good Guitar'' with members of alternative rock groups School of Fish and Wire Train. Hiatt recorded the album with producer Matt Wallace who had worked most prominently with Faith No More, a band that Hiatt's 15-year-old son Rob had recommended for him. It was Hiatt's highest peaking album at #47, but again was still not the true commercial breakthrough A&M; expected. The next year, Hiatt released ''Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?'', his first live album and his last album with A&M; Records.

Hiatt received his first Grammy nomination in 1995 for his album ''Walk On''. Hiatt's next few albums never gained any momentum on the charts, and he saw little change in his fanbase in the late 1990s, indicating a dedicated following. In 2000, Hiatt released his first independent album on Vanguard Records, ''Crossing Muddy Waters'', which saw a heavy influence of bluegrass in his music. Later that year, he was named songwriter/artist of the year at the Nashville Music Awards. In 2001, ''Crossing Muddy Waters'' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, with Davey Faragher and David Immerglück as his only accompanists.

In 2002, Hiatt performed several songs for the soundtrack to Disney's ''Country Bears'' movie, representing the voice of the lead singer.

''It'll Come To You...The Songs of John Hiatt,'' a compilation album of covers of Hiatt's songs was also released on Vanguard. A CD and DVD of John Hiatt's performance on ''Austin City Limits'' was released in 2005.

Hiatt's album, ''Master of Disaster'', was released on June 21, 2005. The album was produced by Jim Dickinson, and Hiatt was backed up by the bassist David Hood and several members of the North Mississippi Allstars. The album achieved modest sales, becoming a top ten independent album, but eluded significant commercial success in the same manner that his previous albums did.

On February 12, 2008, during a concert with Lyle Lovett at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Hiatt said that his new album would be titled ''Same Old Man''. It was released on May 27, 2008.

On July 18, 2008 Hiatt performed at Ravinia Park in Highland Park, Illinois with his daughter, Lilly.

In March 2010, Hiatt released ''The Open Road.''

TV and movie appearances

Discography

Studio albums

Awards

References

External links

Category:1952 births Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:American blues guitarists Category:American country guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:Musicians from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:Vanguard Records artists Category:Living people Category:New West Records artists

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (born May 26, 1940), is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band. Helm is known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of The Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", "Ophelia" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". His 2007 comeback album ''Dirt Farmer'' earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him #91 in the list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, ''Electric Dirt'', his 2009 follow-up to ''Dirt Farmer'', won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010.

Biography

Early years

Arkansas in the 1940s and 50s was at the confluence of a variety of musical styles—blues, country and R&B;—that later became known as rock and roll. Helm was influenced by all these styles listening to the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM and R&B; on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee. He also saw traveling shows such as F.S. Walcott's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels that featured top African-American artists of the time.

Another early influence on Helm was the work of harmonica, guitarist and singer Sonny Boy Williamson II, who played blues and early R&B; on the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena and performed regularly in Marvell with blues guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. In his 1993 autobiography, ''This Wheel's on Fire - Levon Helm and the Story of The Band'', Helm describes watching Williamson's drummer, James "Peck" Curtis, intently during a live performance in the early 1950s and later imitating this R&B; drumming style. Helm established his first band, The Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.

Helm also witnessed some of the earliest performances by southern country, blues and rockabilly artists such as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley and a fellow Arkansan, Ronnie Hawkins. At age 17, Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.

The Hawks

Helm reports in his biography, ''This Wheel's on Fire'', that fellow Hawks band members had difficulty pronouncing "Lavon" correctly, and started calling him "Levon" () because it was easier.

In the early 1960s Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson- although all the musicians were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name "Levon and The Hawks," and later as "The Canadian Squires" before finally changing back to "The Hawks." They recorded two singles, but remained mostly a popular touring bar band in Texas, Arkansas, Canada and on the East Coast where they found regular summer club gigs on the New Jersey shore.

By the mid 1960s, Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music and asked The Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by Mickey Jones. During this period Helm ended up working on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until he was asked to rejoin the band. After the Hawks toured Europe as Dylan's backing band, they followed Dylan to reside in the area in and around Woodstock, New York and remained under salary to him. There they recorded a large volume of demo and practice tapes, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year. These recordings were widely bootlegged and the best tracks were officially released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes double album. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style. The Hawks members began writing their own songs. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel also shared writing credits with Dylan on a few songs. In 1967, Danko called Helm and invited him to return to the band in Woodstock.

The Band

On ''Big Pink'', Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang mainly backup, with the exception of "The Weight," but as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked south for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm played drums for perhaps 85% of The Band's songs, including most of those for which he sang lead. On the others, Manuel switched to drums while Helm played mandolin or, on rare occasion, guitar or bass. The entire group was multi-instrumental and for certain songs the group featured Manuel on drums, Helm on mandolin (as on "Evangeline"), rhythm guitar (the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is by Helm), or bass (while Danko played fiddle).

Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, ''The Last Waltz'', which was recorded in a documentary film by Martin Scorsese. Although many now know Helm through his appearance in the concert film – a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert – he repudiated his involvement with the film shortly after the final scenes were shot and, in his autobiography, offers scathing criticisms of the film and of his former bandmate, Robertson, who produced it.

Solo artist and the reformed Band

In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, with Jim Weider on guitar. But then Manuel committed suicide while on tour in 1986. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album ''Jericho'' in 1993 and ''High on the Hog'' in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, ''Jubilation'', released in 1998.

In 1989, Helm and Rick Danko toured with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Other musicians in the band included Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Billy Preston, Clarence Clemons and Jim Keltner. Garth Hudson guested on accordion on certain dates. Levon played drums, harmonica and sang "The Weight" and "Up On Cripple Creek" each night.

Helm published an autobiography entitled ''This Wheel's on Fire'' in 1993.

Helm performed with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson as The Band in 1990 at Roger Waters' Epic The Wall Live In Berlin concert to an estimated 300,000 to half a million people.

The Midnight Ramble

Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in the late 1990s after suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo laryngectomy, Helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation treatments at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Although the tumor was successfully removed, his vocal cords were damaged, and his clear, powerful tenor voice was replaced by a quiet rasp. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice grew stronger and on January 10, 2004, he sang for the first time at one of his Ramble Sessions. In 2007, during production of ''Dirt Farmer'', he estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.

The Levon Helm Band features his daughter Amy Helm, along with Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jimmy Weider (the Band's last guitarist), Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Steven Bernstein, Howard Johnson (tuba player in the horn section that played on The Band's "Rock of Ages" and "The Last Waltz" live albums), Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player Little Sammy Davis. He hosts Midnight Rambles at his home in Woodstock, New York that are open to the public.

The Midnight Ramble is an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in ''The Last Waltz.'' Earlier in the 20th century, Helm explained, traveling medicine shows and music shows such as F.S. Walcott Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put on titillating performances in rural areas. This was also turned into a song by the Band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.

"After the finale, they'd have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, the show resumed: "The songs would get a little bit juicier. The jokes would get a little funnier and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of the rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that."

Artists who have performed at the Rambles include Helm's former bandmate Garth Hudson, as well as Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Chris Robinson, Allen Toussaint, Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and Jimmy Vivino of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien's" The Max Weinberg 7. Other performers have included Sean Costello, The Muddy Waters Tribute Band, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Justin Townes Earle, Bow Thayer, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Ricki Lee Jones, Kate Taylor, Ollabelle, The Holmes Brothers, Catherine Russell, Norah Jones, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Phil Lesh (along with his sons Grahame and Brian), Hot Tuna (although Jorma Kaukonen introduced the group as "The Secret Squirrels"), MichaelAngelo D'Arrigo with various members of the Sistine Chapel, Johnny Johnson, Ithalia, and David Bromberg.

For drumming, in recent years Helm has switched to the matched grip and adopted a less busy, greatly simplified style, as opposed to his years with The Band when he played with the traditional grip.

Helm has been touring every year for the last few years, generally on the northeastern part of the American mainland, traveling to shows by private bus. Since 2007, Helm has performed in larger venues including the Beacon Theater in New York. Dr. John and Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, Govt. Mule) and Garth Hudson played at the concerts as well along with several other guests. At a show in Vancouver, Canada, Elvis Costello joined to sing "Tears of Rage." The Alexis P. Suter Band has been an opening act. Helm is a favorite of Don Imus and has been frequently featured on ''Imus in the Morning.'' In the Summer of 2009 it was reported that a reality television series centering around the Midnight Ramble was in the works.

''Dirt Farmer'' and After

Fall 2007 saw the release of ''Dirt Farmer'', Helm's first studio solo album since 1982. Dedicated to Helm's parents and co-produced by his daughter Amy, the album combines traditional tunes Levon recalled from his youth with newer songs (by Steve Earle, Paul Kennerley and others) which flow from similar historical streams.

The album was released to almost immediate critical acclaim, and earned him a Grammy Award in the Traditional Folk Album category for 2007.

Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, named Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins in honor of Helm, whose birth name is Mark Lavon Helm and who was called by his middle name since a young age.

In 2008 Levon Helm performed at Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam Music Festival in Hunter, NY. Helm played alongside Warren Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival. Levon also joined Bob Weir & Ratdog on stage as they closed out the festival. Levon Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, held June 12–15.

Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for Jorma Kaukonen's February, 2009 album ''River of Time'', recorded at the Levon Helm studio.

Helm released ''Electric Dirt'' on his own label on June 30, 2009. The album won a best album Grammy for the newly created Americana category in 2010. He performed on the David Letterman show on July 9, 2009, touring, in a supporting role, with the Black Crowes during the same year.

In March, 2010, a documentary on Helm's day-to-day life titled ''Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm'' was released. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, and went on to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June.

On May 11, 2011, the ''Ramble at the Ryman'' live album was released by Welk Records. It was recorded during a show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in 2008 and features Levon Helm' s band (led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm) playing The Band's well-known songs as well as Helm's solo material.

As an actor

Tributes

Discography

With The Band

Selected solo and other efforts

References

External links

Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:ABC Records artists Category:American autobiographers Category:American country rock musicians Category:American drummers Category:American male singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:Cancer survivors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:Actors from Arkansas Category:People from Phillips County, Arkansas Category:The Band members Category:Vanguard Records artists

Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977 in New Hartford, New York, USA) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer.

Early life

He received his first guitar from his father at the age of 4, and by age 7 he was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix tunes note for note. At the age of 11, during a short period of being mentored by Danny Gatton, he learned such styles as country and jazz as well as Polka. During this time with Gatton, Bonamassa sat in with Gatton's band whenever they played in New York. He first opened for B. B. King at 12 years of age. After first hearing him play, King said, “This kid's potential is unbelievable. He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface. He's one of a kind.” At 14, he was invited to attend a Fender guitar event; during that trip to the West Coast he met Berry Oakley, Jr. Bonamassa and Berry founded the group Bloodline with Miles Davis's son Erin and Robby Krieger's son Waylon. They released one album which produced two chart singles — "Stone Cold Hearted", and "Dixie Peach." He has since played with other music greats including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker, Gregg Allman, Steve Winwood, Paul Jones, Ted Nugent, Warren Haynes, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, and Jack Bruce.

Influences

In May 2010 he asked Ian Anderson to guest at his concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo on May 28in London, and they played "A New Day Yesterday" along with "Locomotive Breath". Joe stated that the concert was the largest audience he had played for, to date. The audience number was 5,200.

The Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Derek Sherinian supergroup is now called Black Country Communion. The band were forced to add 'Communion' to their original name Black Country after another band with the same name raised an objection.

In March 2011, Bonamassa released his eleventh full-length solo album, titled Dust Bowl.

Discography

Solo

Duet

with Black Country Communion

Guest appearances

DVDs

A live DVD titled ''A New Day Yesterday, Live'' was given away for a short period of time with ''So, It's Like That''. This concert was later re-released as a full CD and DVD.

An instructional DVD, ''Signature Sounds, Styles and Techniques'', was released in 2006.

A live DVD, ''Joe Bonamassa: Live From Royal Albert Hall'' was released in September 2009.

Joe Bonamassa's performance with pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph, Randolph's ''Family Band'' and Pino Daniele at the 2010 edition of Crossroads Guitar Festival appears on the ''Crossroads 2010'' DVD. The song they played is ''Going Down''.

References

External links

Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:People from Utica, New York Category:Lead guitarists Category:Slide guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:Blues rock musicians Category:Electric blues musicians Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:Black Country Communion members Category:Epic Records artists

Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man". Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. ''It's Not Big It's Large'' was released in 2007, where it debuted and peaked at number 2 on the Top Country Albums chart. A new studio album, ''Natural Forces,'' was released on October 20, 2009 by Lost Highway Records.

Biography

Early life

Career

Lovett has acted in a number of films, including Robert Altman's films: ''The Player'' (1992), ''Short Cuts'' (1993), ''Prêt-à-Porter'' (1994), ''Cookie's Fortune'' (1999), and composed for ''Dr. T & the Women'' (2000). More recently, he has acted in ''The New Guy'' (2002) and ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' (2007). His television acting forays include ''Mad About You'', ''Brothers & Sisters'' and ''Dharma & Greg''.

Lovett was given an award called an "Esky" for Surest Thing in Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue. The magazine said of Lovett: "The secret of Lyle Lovett's endurance comes down to the three C's: class, charisma and consistency... In the studio and on stage with his giant orchestra, he's spent two decades gracefully matching genuine songcraft with A-list musicianship".

Lovett primarily plays Collings acoustic guitars.

In 2010 Lovett appeared on an episode of ''Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...'' which also featured John Prine and Ray LaMontagne.

Lovett has recently contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Well Alright" for the upcoming tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly to be released on September 6, 2011.

Personal life

Lovett has been dating April Kimble since 1999.

On March 28, 2002 Lovett was caught by a bull and rammed into a fence on his uncle's farm in Klein, Texas, before being pulled to safety. He fully recovered after six months and began touring again in the summer of 2003.

Lovett was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Houston on May 15, 2010 at its general commencement ceremony. His mother was in the audience as her son was presented with an honorary doctorate from the same university she had received her bachelor's degree in 1960. His late father was also a graduate of the University of Houston.

Over the years, Lovett performed at various fundraising events for the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture of the University of Houston.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

1980s

1990s

2000s

Featured singles

Filmography

Musician

Actor

Theatre

Actor

Composer

References

External links

Category:1957 births Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Kerrville New Folk Competition finalists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Texas Category:Texas A&M; University alumni Category:Texas country musicians Category:American Lutherans Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:Fast Folk artists Category:Lost Highway Records artists