Corey Harris

{{short description|American blues and reggae musician (born 1969)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Corey Harris

| image = Corey Harris 31 Rawa Blues 2011 005.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|2|21|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Denver, Colorado, United States

| origin =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}}

| genre = Blues, reggae

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = Vocals, guitar

| years_active = 1995–present

| label = Alligator, Rounder, Telarc

| associated_acts =

| website = https://coreyharris.net

| current_members = Chris Whitley (keyboards), Paul Dudley, (drums) Gordon Jones (saxophone), Jayson Morgan (bass)

| past_members =

}}

Corey Harris (born February 21, 1969, in Denver, Colorado, United States) is an American blues and reggae musician,{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=2000|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0427-8|page=187}} currently residing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Along with Keb' Mo' and Alvin Youngblood Hart, he raised the flag of acoustic guitar blues in the mid-1990s.{{cite book

| first= Tony

| last= Russell

| year= 1997

| title= The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray

| edition=

| publisher=Carlton Books Limited

| location= Dubai

| pages= 116–117

| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}} He was featured on the 2003 PBS television mini-series The Blues, in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese.

Biography

Harris was born and raised near Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with a bachelor's degree in 1991, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2007. Harris received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for language studies in Cameroon in his early twenties, before taking a teaching post in Napoleonville, Louisiana under the Teach For America program.{{cite web|last=Burns |first=Jay |url=http://www.bates.edu/x157810.xml |title=Corey Harris '91 | Commencement | Bates College |website=Bates.edu |date= April 26, 2010|access-date=September 7, 2015}} His debut solo album Between Midnight and Day (1995) was produced by Grammy nominee/composer/producer Larry Hoffman, who discovered him in 1994 in Helena, Arkansas. The record included covers of Sleepy John Estes, Fred McDowell, Charlie Patton, Muddy Waters, and Bukka White. His second recording with Hoffman, Fish Ain't Bitin', was the recipient of the 1997 W. C. Handy Award for Best Acoustic Blues Album of the Year. Recorded in New Orleans, it featured Harris' original songs, vocal, and guitar backed on certain tracks by a trio of tuba and two trombones arranged by producer Hoffman. In 2002, Harris collaborated with Ali Farka Toure on his album Mississippi to Mali, fusing blues and Toure's music from northern Mali. In 2003, he contributed to the Northern Blues release Johnny's Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash.

Harris has lived and traveled widely in West Africa, an influence that has permeated much of his work. Harris has toured extensively throughout Europe, Canada, West Africa, Japan and Australia. He is known for his solo acoustic work as well as his electric band, formerly known as the '5 x 5', now known as The Corey Harris Band. He helped Billy Bragg and Wilco to write the music for "Hoodoo Voodoo" on Mermaid Avenue, an album consisting entirely of songs for which the lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie. He also appeared as a musician and vocalist on the album and its sequels, Mermaid Avenue Vol. II and Mermaid Avenue Vol. III.{{cite web |last1=Thorngate |first1=Steve |title=Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, by Billy Bragg and Wilco |url=https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2013-04/mermaid-avenue-billy-bragg-and-wilco |website=The Christian Century |access-date=December 9, 2024 |language=en |date=May 15, 2013}}

In September 2007, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced that Harris was among 24 people named MacArthur Fellows for 2007.{{cite web|title=Corey Harris — MacArthur Foundation|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/827/|website=Macfound.org|access-date=August 28, 2016}} The Fellowship, worth $500,000, is payable over five years.

Discography

=Solo=

1995: Between Midnight and Day (Alligator)
1997: Fish Ain't Bitin' (Alligator)
1999: Greens from the Garden (Alligator)
2000: Vu-Du Menz with Henry Butler (Alligator)
2001: Live at Starr Hill 1/27/01 (Njumba)
2002: Downhome Sophisticate (Rounder)
2003: Mississippi to Mali (Rounder)
2005: Daily Bread (Rounder)
2007: Zion Crossroads (Telarc)
2009: blu.black (Telarc)
2011: Father Sun Mother Earth (Njumba)
2012: Motherless Child (with Lutan Fyah)
2013: Fulton Blues
2013: Rasta Blues Experience Live
2014: Fulton Blues (Deluxe Edition)
2015: Live! from Turtle Island
2016 Live in Vienna
2018 Free Water Way
2019 Louisa County Blues{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/corey-harris-mn0000098691/discography|title=Corey Harris | Album Discography|website=AllMusic|access-date=December 8, 2019}}
2021 The Insurrection Blues
2024 Chicken Man

=Contributions to others=

1998: Mermaid Avenue
2000: Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
2003: Johnny's Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash (Northern Blues)Harris contributed his version of "Redemption", originally found on Cash's American Recordings.
2005: Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times
2012: Mermaid Avenue Vol. III, issued as part of Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20170202083801/http://www.coreyharrisband.com/ Official website]
[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p169275/discography|pure_url=yes}} Corey Harris] at Allmusic
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpbwXEaKjg4 Speech by Corey Harris] at Bates College

Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:African-American guitarists

Category:American blues singers

Category:American blues guitarists

Category:American male guitarists

Category:Bates College alumni

Category:Musicians from Charlottesville, Virginia

Category:American slide guitarists

Category:Watson Fellows

Category:MacArthur Fellows

Category:Singers from Denver