Zac Harmon - Live At Babe & Ricky's Inn (2002)

Zac Harmon has been expressing an unbiased love for music for well over twenty years. Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, he is a disciple of the Farish Street blues sound. Farish Street is universally recognized as the home of many great blues legends, including the late, great Elmore James.Harmon's early years included stints as a guitarist for Z.Z. Hill, McKinley Mitchell, Dorothy Moore and Sam Myers. Moving to Los Angeles in 1980, he worked as a studio musician and began to make a name for himself as a writer/producer, crafting songs for such artists Karen White, Freddie Jackson, The Whispers, K.C. & Jo Jo, Mississippi Mass Children's Choir, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal and The O'Jays.Live at Babe & Ricky's Inn is an electrifying testimonial to the blues. The album showcases Mississippi blues at its best and introduced Zac Harmon as a true torchbearer for the “next generation of the blues”. Fan favorites include "Full Figured Woman", "Stormin' in Mississippi" and "Forty Days".In 2006, Zac Harmon won a Blues Music (formerly W.C. Handy) Award for “Best New Artist Debut” from the Blues Foundation. Zac Harmon was also featured in the June/July 2006 issue of Blues Revue magazine, as one of the 10 artists that represent the future of the blues. The listeners of XM Satellite Radio voted Zac Harmon “Best New Blues Artist” in the 2005 XM Nation Music Awards.On Live at Babe and Ricky's Inn, he is joined by members of his former band, the Mid South Blues Revue, who together with Harmon won the Blues Foundation's 2004 International Blues Challenge (IBC)title of "Best Unsigned Blues Band."

1. Yazoo City 3:37
2. Forty Days 5:44_Play_
3. Stormin' In Mississippi 4:54
4. Full Figured Woman 6:28
5. The Blues In You 5:28_Play_
6. I Got News For You 4:06
7. Alberta 3:16
8. Smile 5:21_Play_
9. Forty Days (Studio Version) 5:13
10. Stormin' In Mississippi (Studio Version) 4:43

BIO: Guitarist and singer/songwriter Zac Harmon's distinctive stylings combine the best of the bedrock tradition of old-school soul-blues artists like Z.Z. Hill and Dorothy Moore with modern lyrics and themes that work for the blues in the new millennium. His live performances combine elements of everything that influenced him: soul-blues, gospel, reggae, and modern blues-rock. Interestingly, Harmon was raised in Jackson, MS, the son of a pharmacist, but he didn't begin to attract attention for his considerable talents as a bluesman until after he'd been living in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. In the '60s, he hung out at his father's pharmacy – the first African-American pharmacy in Jackson – learning from musicians who were customers while honing his chops as a guitarist, vocalist, and organist. By his late teens, he was accompanying soul-blues musicians like Z.Z. Hill, Dorothy Moore, Sam Myers, and McKinley Mitchell on their regional gigs, as a guitarist. As a 16-year-old, Harmon was teaching guitar at the YMCA, but his own desire to pursue college put music on the back burner for at least four years.
Harmon finally left Jackson for Los Angeles in 1980 to try to make a name for himself in music as a songwriter, studio musician, and producer. There, he wrote songs for the likes of Evelyn "Champagne" King, Freddie Jackson, the Whispers, K.Ci & Jo Jo and the O' Jays. He produced songs for reggae band Black Uhuru's Mystical Truth album, which received a Grammy nomination in 1994. In 2004, Harmon and his band, the Mid South Blues Revue, won the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge, sponsored by the Southern California Blues Society of Los Angeles.
Harmon has two well-received albums available: The Blues According to Zacariah and From the Root. Each of these releases do a fine job of showcasing his brilliant originals, songs that break new lyrical ground and step away from the tired old blues (and country music) themes. A third album, and first live one, Live at Babe & Ricky's Inn (2002) may still be available at his live shows.
Harmon followed up his 2004 victory at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis with a 2006 W.C. Handy/Blues Award in the spring of that year for Best New Artist. As a songwriter, singer, guitarist, bandleader, producer, and impresario, Harmon embodies all that blues music can become in the second decade of the new millennium.–by Richard Skelly