Harpdog Brown

Harpdog Brown
File:Harpdog Brown.jpg Brown in 2012
Background information
Born	(1962-01-28) 28 January 1962 Edmonton, Canada
Genres	Blues Canadian blues Chicago blues
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals harmonica
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Dogbreath Vat Candelight
Associated acts	The Harpdog Brown Band
Website	harpdogbrown.com

Harpdog Brown, (born 28 January 1962), is an award-winning Canadian vocalist and harmonica player who has been active in Canada's blues scene since 1982. His distinguished musical career was so honoured by the Maple Blues Awards in 2014, for harmonica player of the year. The Maple Blues Awards are Canada's equivalent of The Blues Music Award formerly the W. C. Handy Awards that take place yearly in Memphis, Tennessee. In that same year, he was also honoured with a lifetime membership to the Hamilton Blues Society.

Early years

Brown was born in Edmonton, Canada, and was adopted into in a family with a musical mother who played slide guitar. He began playing guitar at about age 15 in a local garage band. He later played in a duo that opened for performers in comedy clubs, and followed that with solo gigs as a singer and guitar player. In the early 1980s he answered an ad for a vocalist in a traveling road band. After six weeks on the road, he quit and put together his own traveling blues band.

Harpdog got his stage name at a gig in in Kitsilano Beach during the fall of 1989 at a place called Momma Gold’s. According to Harpdog, at the end of the show, two audience members began shouting “Harpdog! Harpdog!” He liked the name and went on to use it as his stage name. He eventually made it his legal name.

Biography

Based in Vancouver, Brown has crossed tens of thousands of miles playing club dates and festivals in Canada, the northwestern United States and Germany. Over the years he has issued seven albums. In 1995 his Home Is Where the Harp Is won the Muddy Award for the Best NW Blues Release from the Cascade Blues Association in Portland, Oregon. Also that year, it was nominated for a Canadian Juno for the Best Blues/Gospel Recording. Teamed up with Graham Guest on piano, he issued the album Naturally which was voted No. 1 Canadian Blues Album of 2010 by The Blind Lemon Survey.

Brown tours extensively with his guitarist J. Arthur Edmonds, performing their electric mid-1950's Chicago blues either as a duo, or with the full band. While he is home, he juggles a few combos working many venues big and small. He also leads The Harpdog Brown Band which is a gutsy traditional Chicago blues band. In 2014 they released What It Is, comprising mainly original songs and a few classic covers. Influential blues promoter and broadcaster Holger Petersen called What It Is Brown's best album.

Personal life

Brown has two older sisters. He changed his adopted name to Harpdog Brown after a divorcing his wife, saying this left him "free."

Awards and recognitions

• 2014 Maple Blues Award, Harmonica Player of the Year
• 2014 Hamilton Blues Society, Lifetime Award
• 1995 Muddy Award, Best NW Blues Release for Home Is Where the Harp Is

Discography

• 2014 What it is (Dogbreath Records)
• 2011 Naturally (Dogbreath Records)
• 2001 Once in a Howlin' Moon (Vat Records)
• 1994 Home Is Where The Harp Is (Candelight Records)

External links

• Harpdog Brown Website
• Harpdog Brown
• Harpdog Brown Band "Double Shot of Muddy" Live @ The Rainbow Room from YouTube