Albert Cummings

Archives for July 2012

Albert Cummings Hits the Nail on the Head with his Best Release to Date

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Albert Cummings Hits the Nail on the Head with his Best Release to Date

By Dave Rubin

Virtuoso house-rocking guitarist, singer and songwriter Albert Cummings has fulfilled the exceptional promise of his early career with No Regrets, his sensational sixth album due out August 28. Combining his varied influences of rock, R&B, country and pop with the overriding soul and emotional firepower of the blues, he has produced a masterpiece of roots-based American music. Maturity has served him well as his vocals have acquired gravitas over time, becoming more expressive and nuanced, while his writing has reached another plateau of seamless song craft that is as stimulating for the mind as the body.

Muscular blues-rock or deep and introspective ballads provide musical nourishment within the strikingly original compositions that comprise the bulk of the performance. A fresh and vibrant cover of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” is proof positive that when the creative juices are flowing this freely, they transform everything they touch.

Throwing down the gauntlet to his peers in the heavyweight guitar division, Cummings blisters the strings of his Stratocaster with grace and effortless ease, while not being afraid to throttle down and demonstrate the power of taste and restraint. Most importantly, he knows how to play to the song better than ever, supporting his lyric content and vocal delivery with consummate accompaniment.

If anyone thought Albert Cummings was laying back and coasting on past accomplishments the past couple of years, they will be in for a welcome surprise when they hear his new release. More like the shock of recognition when you hear an unexpected musical triumph that is the mark of a major artist who has broken through to undeniable greatness.

Pittsburgh Blues Festival: Genre not downer for Albert Cummings

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by Michael Machosky

Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 8:40 p.m.
Updated 7 hours ago

The Pittsburgh Blues Festival has an exceptionally strong, diverse lineup this year, including actual legends like gospel singer Mavis Staples and blues-soul giant Bobby “Blue” Bland.

The old-timers still are the biggest draws, and that’s OK — they’ve earned it. But what will happen when they finally hang up their microphones and guitars for good?

To find out, it’s worth showing up in time to catch some of the lesser-billed artists, who will someday have to carry on the blues tradition alone. People like Albert Cummings, who plays at 3 p.m.

Cummings still isn’t entirely sure how a middle-class white guy from small-town Massachusetts arrived at the blues. But he certainly got there. The singer-guitarist was inspired by the electric guitar pyrotechnics of Stevie Ray Vaughan, but has lately been charting out his own, personal take on the blues.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Cummings says. “I grew up in a real rural community, in Williamstown Massachusetts. … There’s no such thing as blues there. My father had a small farm. Country music is all I listened to. I was a senior in high school and didn’t know who Eric Clapton was. My brother-in-law used to give me cassette tapes, and gave me some Stevie Ray Vaughan.”

He went to college, then came back to work in his family’s custom home-building business. He played guitar constantly, and won multiple awards — for building high-end custom homes.

Then, the recession hit the business hard. But that opened up an opportunity.

“Right now, times are terrible, and building isn’t doing well, so maybe the other thing has a shot,” he says.

Blues music has always been associated with suffering and hard times, but it functions differently for Cummings.

“One thing I say about the blues is that it helps me stay positive, even though it’s considered a depressing music. But it’s really an inspiration to me. That’s what I try to do in my music. Blues is a really fun, up music. If you let it in, you’ll see. It’s not all about ‘My baby left me/I got run over by a train.’ ”

Many have remarked that Cummings has a flashy, Texas blues style of playing, in the vein of his hero Vaughan. It’s also possible that angle has been oversold a bit.

“I think I’m more of a melting pot,” he says. “Delbert McClinton, Stevie, Clapton, Jimmy Thackeray — I love all these guys. I see us all as completely different. We all have different voices.

“The only thing I can say is I’m Albert Cummings. I’m not good enough to be anyone else. I just play my own stuff. If I sound like someone else too much, I change it. My motto is ‘Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.’ ”

 

“NO REGRETS” Release August 28, 2012

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ALBERT CUMMINGS RETURNS WITH NO REGRETS ON AUGUST 28, 2012

Williamstown, MA — Albert Cummings will release his sixth album titled No Regrets on August 28, 2012 via the Ivy Music Company. Poignantly capturing the core of his influences, and displaying the impact that R&B, Rock, Soul, Country and the Blues have had on both his playing and writing, No Regrets is everything the guitarist aimed to capture when returning to the studio. Cummings shares, “This album is really who I am, as an artist and a man. It’s a return to my true musical roots and the first step in really defining my identity as a mature artist. I approached this with one intent – deliver a collection of great songs that I’ll be proud to perform for the rest of my life without feeling confined to a specific genre. I am a Blues man, and I will always be one, but inevitably that foundation now reveals a couple of other floors being constructed as the house rises.”

Cummings, who has built a reputation on stages across the globe as a brawny Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired muso, revealed a more varied and personal space with these Jim Gaines produced recordings. He reveals, “A lot of my fans don’t know that I started playing bluegrass on the five-string banjo and listening to country music. I didn’t listen to rock ‘n’ roll or even blues until I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan when I was in high school. And hearing Stevie changed my life. Immediately, I knew what I wanted to do. Now, in my position, I have complete artistic freedom, which means the music on No Regrets is really me without any filters.”

Cummings started playing banjo before his teens. Although his roots in music made by the likes of Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings are just starting to emerge in his own compositions, his early banjo finger picking style has long helped to make him a unique guitarist. After hearing Vaughan, Cummings turned to the Stratocaster and blues, devouring albums by his legendary Texas hero and by Vaughan’s influences, but carefully crafting a style all his own. In 1999 he released his self-made debut The Long Way, but his next album, 2003’s From The Heart, featured and was produced by Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, a/k/a Vaughan’s rhythm section Double Trouble. “Having them hear something in my playing that made them want to work with me was an
incredible honor,” Cummings says.

True To Yourself, in 2004, began Cummings’ still-standing alliance with producer Jim Gaines, whose credits include John Lee Hooker, Santana, Huey Lewis, Tower of Power, Walter Trout and a host of other blues, rock and R&B luminaries. Next came Working Man and Feel So Good, in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Those releases cemented his reputation as one of contemporary blues guitar’s leading lights. Cummings is proud of No Regrets, and reveals, “At the end of the day, you have to be yourself or you don’t have anything to offer as an artist. And right now, this is really who I am. These are my thoughts. I’ve got my own thing and my own sound. Hopefully this is the foundation of the big house that I want to build for my music, and inevitably with that the audience and my fans will connect to these songs that mean so much to me.”

For more information contact:
Steve Karas
SKH Music
917-420-0728
skaras@skhmusic.com

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