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"Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and Muddy Waters were giants of the genre he grew up listening to and who live on through the evocative, haunting acoustic slide-guitar style he plays." The Reporter San Diego, CA "plays haunting music on a mournful guitar." Los Angeles Times "...plays a powerful variety of hard-driving acoustic
blues, a crowd pleaser" "...a mean, clean guitar picker." San Francisco Examiner |
With over 30 years of performing experience, "Hawkeye" Herman exemplifies the range of possibilities in acoustic blues. As a teenager, he discovered a broad variety of blues music in late night radio broadcasts from Memphis, Shreveport, Dallas, New Orleans, Little Rock, Chicago, Detroit, and other points beyond the Quad Cities, in the upper Mississippi River valley area where he was growing up. Hawkeye got his first guitar in 1959, at the age of fourteen, and was performing two years later. Seeking to broaden his musical horizons, he relocated in the San Francisco Bay area in 1968. He sought out, and learned, at the feet of many icons of the blues, including: Son House, Brownie McGhee, Bukka White, Mance Lipscomb, Furry Lewis, Lightin' Hopkins, and Sam Chatmon. He became a staple in the Bay area blues scene as both a solo artist and a back-up guitarist; having worked with Charles Brown, Cool Papa, Sonny Rhodes, Jimmy McCracklin, Buddy Ace, Little Joe Blue, Boogie Jake, and many others. Hawkeye began touring outside of California in 1984, and has performed at major blues and folk festivals, and in concert, across the US/Canada and Europe. His dynamic performances have won him a faithful following and he leads a very active touring schedule. Hawkeye performs a wide variety of traditional blues, ballads, swing, and original tunes, on six-string and twelve-string guitar, and is an adept and exciting practitioner of slide guitar and slide mandolin. His 1989 album, Everyday Living, featuring Charles Brown and Cool Papa, received much critical acclaim. His song, The Great Flood of 1993, has been used on the sound-tracks of two video documentaries on that Midwest disaster, and has been included in a compact disc anthology of singer/songwriters produced by the New York based music magazine, Fast Folk. Herman composed and performed the music for the hit play, El Paso Blue,which had its world premiere in San Francisco in 1994, and had a successful run in San Diego, as well. The play was also performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C. One of his most popular compositions, Rocket to Chicago, about riding on the old Rock Island Line railroad, has been included in the recently released Iowa Blues 3 compact disc anthology. This musician has definitely carved out a spot for himself in the contemporary acoustic blues/folk field, and has earned a reputation as one of the most accomplished artists in the genre. As a music educator, Hawkeye has taken his love of blues music to students of all ages, from pre-school to university campuses through his enthusiastically received "Blues in the Schools" programs, which he initiated in 1980. He has taught guitar for over 25 years, and has presented blues and slide guitar instructional workshops at major folk and blues festivals as a part of his frequent concert touring schedule. Hawkeye has also contributed articles to Living Blues, Blues Revue, Kansas City Blues News, Mississippi Valley Blues News, and many other blues related publications. Hawkeye is a member of the Board of Directors of the Blues Foundation, in Memphis. Now, with the release of the album, Blues Alive!, an even wider audience will come to know and appreciate Hawkeye's versatile musicianship, originality, and compelling artistry as a blues storyteller. |
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