WOMAD

Corey Harris

From United States

"There's blues in me but I'm not a bluesman. I just live to be a songwriter." Winner of the blues music 'Oscar', the WC Handy Award, in 1997, Corey Harris is the bane of the 'pure blues' nerd and the darling of anyone who appreciates genuine soul, innovation, slide guitar work and....of course....the blues.Corey sipped Lightning Sam Hopkins from his mama's cup back in his native Denver and after graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in anthropology he lived the life of the modern hobo, travelling as far as Cameroon in Africa, teaching French in Louisiana and busking in New Orleans. His belt-sander voice and remarkable guitar playing abilities came to the notice of Alligator Records who have released a trio of Corey Harris albums, the last and most acclaimed being 'Greens from the Gardens' which hit the streets last year. "You take a little kale and some turnips and some mustard greens, some spinach and boil them all together," explains Harris. Confused? Well...for kale read New Orleans Jazz, for turnips read reggae, for mustard greens read funk and for spinach reach juju, or rockabilly, or mambo or the blues and you should get a notion of what the man is on about. It's a musical concoction that has charmed the likes of Natalie Merchant, Billy Bragg, B. B. King, Taj Mahal and Lucinda Williams into hitching the talents of Corey Harris to their own considerable wagons. Harris contributed several lyrics to Bragg's acclaimed Woody Guthrie tribute 'Mermaid Avenue'. Don't you just love stories of buskers making good!!June 2000