“Death gives meaning to life, suffering gives meaning to love.” This is the essence of Hans Chew’s music, an expression from the soul. A Tennessee native and self-taught pianist who first gained recognition for his accompaniment to the late guitarist Jack Rose, Hans Chew’s style has been described in wide fashion, his name appearing in print alongside artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Elton John, James Booker, Leon Russell, Little Richard, Nicky Hopkins, and Nick Cave. “My grandfather sang harmony in a Nashville gospel quartet and taught me that ‘high-lonesome sound’. While my mother turned me on to Hendrix and the Stones, my father only listened to classical music: I knew Beethoven’s Fifth before Led Zeppelin’s fourth.” According to the iTunes Music Editor, “Hans Chew cranks up the tempo and the manic rock ’n’ roll performance until it feels like you’ve landed in the early ‘70s, when Derek & The Dominos were piecing together Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and The Rolling Stones were waiting around Nellcote to record the bits and pieces of Exile on Main St.”. Chew’s 2010 debut album Tennessee & Other Stories... received four stars from Rolling Stone and was heralded by Uncut as one of the top 25 albums of the year. 2014 saw the release of Life & Love, which Classic Rock magazine called “an excellent album, a further development of the sound Chew revealed on his debut...”, while Popmatters proclaimed it “Dixie-fried rock ’n’ roll awesomeness...a barn burning smoker of a record that’s simply irresistible.” Chew presently lives and works in New York City.
