Albert Cummings | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | Blues |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Provogue Records |
| Website | albertcummings |
Albert Cummings (born Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States) is an American blues musician who has recorded with Blind Pig Records.[1] He has played alongside B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and Buddy Guy.[2]
Cummings began playing the five-string banjo at the age of twelve. He started to learn basic chords and progressions and went on to become a fan of bluegrass music. In his late teens, he encountered the early recordings of Stevie Ray Vaughan. While in college, in 1987, he saw Vaughan perform. His first public guitar performance was in 1997 when he played at his friend's wedding reception.[3] In Cummings’ late twenties, he formed the band Swamp Yankee. In 1999, they released an independently produced album, The Long Way. The trio spent two hours in a recording studio to record the nine songs for the album.
After the album’s release, the band went on the Northeast blues circuit. In 1998, Cummings walked into a Northeast Blues Society open jam. In 1999, the musician competed in the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge, in Memphis. The following year, he released his debut recording.
He later worked with Double Trouble, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section. Bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton voluntarily played on and produced Cummings' solo debut recording, two thousand and three’s self-released From the Heart. Recorded in Austin, Texas, it featured Cummings fronting Double Trouble (including Reese Wynans) in their first recording project since Stevie Ray’s passing.
The blues is best served up live, with an enthusiastic audience and a killin' band, and that's exactly what guitarist Albert Cummings does[...]. Cummings effortlessly shifts from chimney subdued stylings to raucous roadhouse raunch to soaring yet stinging lead lines, driving his audience to frenzy in all the right places.
— Guitar Edge Magazine
Cummings was signed to Blind Pig Records in 2004 with a multi-album deal. Shannon remained as the bassist for Cummings' next album, True To Yourself , released in 2004.
In 2006, Cummings recorded a fourth album Working Man, with new band members.
In 2008, Cummings released a live album Feels So Good, recorded at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
In 2011, Cummings released an instructional DVD for the Hal Leonard Corporation entitled, Working Man Blues Guitar. His 2012 album No Regrets debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Canada and France on the iTunes Blues Charts and at No. 5 on the Billboard blues charts. In a 2012 interview, he called No Regrets his "best album yet".
In July 2015, Cummings released Someone Like You, a 12-track Blind Pig album produced by David Z.
In February 2020, Cummings released his 11-track Provogue Records debut titled Believe, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Jim Gaines. Recording at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, influenced the creation of the project according to Cummings,”If I had recorded those same songs anywhere else, then Believe would have sounded like a completely different album.” One of the most notable tracks on the album is a cover of the song Hold On by legendary soul duo Sam & Dave.
On April 8, 2022, Cummings released 10, a 13-track Ivy Music Company album produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Chuck Ainlay.[4] A Blues Rock Review article described the compilation as "the blues rocker's gone country" suggesting that in this album Cummings reveals “discovered depth and complexity within a new style”.[5]
