Mark Hummel
Mark Hummel
Mark Hummel, Grammy nominee, Blues Award winner, and Author, has had a banner year in 2014! Grammy Nominated for his "Remembering Little Walter" CD he produced and performed on, Mark also won Best Blues CD AND Blues Traditional Blues CD at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Mark's, "The Hustle Is Really On" climbed to # 2 this year and stayed in the top five for four months in the Living Blues Radio Charts. Hummel's book BIG ROAD BLUES:12 Bars on I-80, has been garnering rave reviews all around the U.S., and was nominated for best Independent Book release.
Mark Hummel started playing harmonica in 1970 & has gone on to become one of the premier blues harmonica players of his generation. Thanks to over thirty recordings since 1985, including the Grammy-nominated 2013 release Blind Pig recording "Remembering Little Walter", part of the Blues Harmonica Blowout cd series Hummel started in 1991. These events have featured every major legend (Mayall, Musslewhite, Cotton, etc.) on blues harp as well as almost every player of note on the instrument- a who's who of players.
Hummel is a road warrior - a true Blues Survivor. Along the way, he has crafted his trademark harmonica sound - a subtle combination of tone, phrasing, and attack combined with a strong sense of swing. Mark has been with Electro-Fi Records since 2000, releasing five CDs. Thanks to Mark's earlier albums, constant touring, and appearances at the major blues festivals, he's firmly established his solid reputation around the US and Europe.
Born in New Haven, CT but raised in Los Angeles till he graduated high school. Mark moved to Berkeley at age 18 to pursue a career in blues music, where he felt the music was taken more seriously.
Mark started the Blues Survivors in 1977 with Mississippi Johnny Waters. By 1984 Hummel began a life of non-stop touring of the US, Canada & overseas, which he continues at least 130-150 days a year. Hummel has toured or recorded with blues legends Charles Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, Lowell Fulson, Billy Boy Arnold, Carey Bell, Lazy Lester, Brownie McGhee, Eddie Taylor, Luther Tucker, and Jimmy Rogers.
Hummel penned a memoir in 2012 for Mountain Top Publishing, "BIG ROAD BLUES: Twelve Bar On I-80", to which Huey Lewis says "This book should be required reading for ANY aspiring blues musician, LOVED it!" The memoir has been heralded in Blues Revue, Living Blues plus many blues publications coast to coast.
(Mark Hummel at Riverfront Blues Festival, Wilmington, Delaware 2015)