He’s been called “a real deal guitarist, frontman and singer” (Guitar World), “an artist who doesn’t seem to have any limitations” (San Diego Troubadour) and “a guitar virtuoso who’s become an unstoppable force” (Guitar Player). Over the course of 25+ years, 11 acclaimed albums and thousands of shows, Albert Cummings has more than earned his reputation as one of the most distinctively explosive performers in music today. So why – despite his chart-topping blues albums and international blues fest notoriety – does he continue to defy labels and surprise critics and audiences alike? “I keep coming back to my favorite quote,” Cummings says with a wry laugh, “which is ‘Be yourself, because everyone else is already taken’.”
The first thing to understand about Albert Cummings is that he’s a renowned craftsman of more than just music. For over three decades, Cummings has been a fourth-generation homebuilder, construction business owner and award-winning master carpenter. Or as more than one journalist has pointed out, he builds houses by day and tears the roof off concert halls by night. “It’s literally a double life,” Albert says. “For years I didn’t want to tell anybody I was in construction because they might not take me seriously as a musician. And as my music career grew, the more my construction clients would think I spent all my time being a musician. When it comes to being creative, music will always win. But there’s an essential commonality to both in that you’ve got to have your own voice. You’ve got to be skilled enough to know how the bricks fit. And no matter what the job, always do it with passion.”
As a teenage bluegrass banjo player in his native New England – and after experiencing a lifechanging mid ‘80s concert by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – it was that passion that compelled Cummings to switch to electric guitar and take his shot at a music career. He soon founded the blues-rock band Swamp Yankee, quickly became one of the Northeast’s most popular touring acts and recorded the band’s self-released 2000 album The Long Way. In a twist straight out of a Hollywood movie, the record eventually came to the attention of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton of Double Trouble, who would produce and perform on Cummings’ 2003 solo debut breakthrough album, From The Heart.
Music critics nationwide immediately responded to then-36-year-old’s formidable songwriting chops, soulful vocals and blistering guitar tone, leading Elmore Magazine to proclaim “Cynicism combined with realism says you can’t get by on talent alone, but Albert Cummings did just that. He has a Cinderella story to rival that of the peasant-made-princess herself.” His subsequent releases – which include the Top 10 Billboard Blues Chart Working Man (2006), the #1 iTunes and Billboard Top 5 No Regrets (2012), and The Blues Music Awards’ ‘Best Blues Rock Album’ nominated Live at the ’62 Center (2017), all produced by Grammy winner Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana); and the #1 Billboard debuting Strong (2024) produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton) – are the collective mark of an artist unafraid to take chances. “With every project,” Cummings explains, “my skills grow, my musical personality evolves, and what I do as a singer, songwriter and guitar player just kind of advances. Every album can be a mirror that says, ‘This is who I am.’”
Through it all, Cummings and his Fender Strat regularly scorched international stages with artists that included Johnny Winter, Taj Mahal, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jimmie Vaughan and as the longtime opening act for B.B. King. “B.B. and I used to sit and talk before shows,” Cummings remembers. “One night he said to me, ‘Albert, we’re performers. We’re getting paid to go out there and entertain that audience. Plug in, let yourself go and take the audience with you.’ I’ve learned that the only way to play is to go to the edge of the cliff and jump. If audiences sense that you’re giving your all, they’ll take the leap alongside you. As a performer, that’s still the only place worth going.”
The other thing to understand about Albert Cummings is that every word he says is as straight-up honest as each note he plays, song he sings and audience he brings to their feet. “I wish I was traveling to a gig right now,” Cummings says. “I joke that I’ve been an hour away from my house with a hammer, but I’ve been to 20 countries with my guitar. Making music is what I crave.” And for the artist who still can’t be confined to one genre, Cummings continues to build a career like no other. “I constantly ask myself, ‘How am I getting away with having this much fun?’ Life is best when you’re doing what you love, and I’ve found the thing that makes me want to live forever.”