Stacy Mitchhart

Stacy Mitchhart is a blues guitarist and vocalist from Cincinnati, Ohio, known for blues-based music that also draws on jazz, Latin, rock, R&B and gospel. He works as a person rather than a fixed group, and his projects include Stacy Mitchhart Band and Stacy Mitchhart and Blues-U-Can-Use. His playing is marked by guitar tone, strong vocals and a live show built around entertainment as well as musicianship.

Career

Mitchhart begins playing guitar as a child in Cincinnati, where he grows up in a middle-class suburb in a musically active family. His grandfather plays fiddle, his uncle drums and his grandmother piano. Early listening includes Wes Montgomery, Al Hirt, Herb Alpert, Boots Randolph, the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers, while soul, jazz and artists such as Sam Cooke also shape his taste. He later cites Frank Hedges, the father of one of his best friends, as a major personal guitar influence, along with B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Albert King, Albert Collins, Carlos Santana, Sly and the Family Stone and Wes Montgomery.

He starts performing at school age and recalls an early solo at a school choir concert before a large audience. After time on the East Coast and in Los Angeles, he tours major venues and festivals before returning to Cincinnati in 1991. There he forms Stacy Mitchhart & Blues-U-Can-Use, a show that attracts both blues audiences and listeners from rock and soul backgrounds.

Recordings and label

Mitchhart starts his own label, Dr. Sam Records. Under that label he releases his first CD, Blues Transfusion, in 1993, and it receives radio play across the southern United States. The information provided also states that he releases seven CDs and one DVD/CD in total.

Nashville years

In 1996 Mitchhart moves to Nashville and becomes the house band at Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Printer’s Alley. During this period he plays with a range of musicians including James Brown, Keb’ Mo’, Steven Stills, Gatemouth Brown, Joe Sample and John Entwistle of The Who. He also performs with his own group in and around Nashville, where he is associated with one of the city’s best-known blues club shows. The venue receives the Blues Foundation’s Best Blues Club of the Year award in 2000.

Style and reputation

Mitchhart describes himself as an artist who is blues-based rather than only a blues performer. He includes jazz, Latin and rock in his material, while keeping R&B and gospel at the core of his approach. He is also known for a polished stage presence and for drawing mixed audiences rather than only dedicated blues fans. The information provided says he wins numerous industry awards, holds 13 major endorsements and tours in the United States and abroad.