MOHAWK VALLEY BLUES SOCIETY
The Mohawk Valley Blues Society proudly presents
Mark Hummel & Anson Funderburgh
Nothin' Fancy Ruth St, Vernon NY
Monday, June 12, 2023 7 PM – 10 PM
Grammy Nominee, Blues Award Winner, Author, Harp Man Mark Hummel 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 Best Traditional Blues CD at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, TN. Mark's The Hustle Is Really On climbed to #2 and stayed in the top five for four months on the Living Blues Radio Charts. Hummel's book "BIG ROAD BLUES:12 Bars on I-80" garnered rave reviews and was nominated for best Independent Book release.
Mark Hummel started playing harmonica in 1970 and is considered 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). Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout™ started in 1991 and have featured every major legend (Mayall, Musselwhite, 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 own 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 the 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 and overseas, which he still continues at least 130-150 days out of each 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.
"As long as I'm in the conversation, I'm good....."
It really is that simple for blues guitar legend Anson Funderburgh from Plano, Texas
For close to 50 years, those words pretty well sum up Funderburgh’s life and love of just being “in the moment” when he’s on stage coaxing some of the very best blues guitar sounds in the world from his Fender Stratocaster.
In the moment indeed. That’s where Funderburgh lives every day. “I’m just a simple country boy,” he says. But this is one country boy who felt the call of the blues early on and turned his love of country music into blistering blues that tell the tale of the working man. The every-day, simple man. People just like Funderburgh himself.
Funderburgh isn’t like a lot of other musicians and performers. He shuns the spotlight…. He’s not big on small talk, either. He’s more than happy to let his guitar do all the talking. And man, do people listen. At 5’9, Funderburgh is an unassuming figure. With his understated Southern manners and laid-back conversational style, it would be easy to mistake him as a wallflower.
Until he straps on his Strat.
That’s when he says all he needs to say. And people love it. From local joints in Texas to blues clubs and festivals around the world, Funderburgh has earned his reputation as one of contemporary blues music’s most relevant and esteemed guitar players with his unmistakable style, tone and sensibility.
While he takes it all in his typically mellow stride, Funderburgh is beloved and respected by fans and fellow musicians alike. Just don’t ask him to talk about himself. “I’d rather let the conversation on stage be what people remember and react to. It's the conversation without the big words. I want to play music. I want to play music that moves me and moves who I'm playing with and, hopefully, it moves the people that come to see us.”
Man, does it ever.