Steve Tracy And The Crawling Kingsnakes

Steve Tracy And The Crawling Kingsnakes

Genres: dirty blues, blues, electric blues, harmonica blues

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About Steve Tracy And The Crawling Kingsnakes

A singer and harmonica player, Tracy's comfortable in the spotlight. He's recorded with his own band, Steve Tracy and the Crawling Kingsnakes, as well as Cincinnati blues legends like Pigmeat Jarrett, Big Joe Duskin and Albert Washington, and he's appeared and recorded with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He's opened for B.B. King, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Canned Heat and other blues greats. Tracy's literary accomplishments include authoring books about the blues and about African-American literary giants Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison and Sterling Brown. He's also written liner notes for more than 50 music CDs. Tracy has presented and performed at conferences all over the world. Most recently, he's given keynote addresses and a series of lectures on American and African American literature and music at a number of universities in China. To break the ice with the Chinese students he met, Tracy would pull out his harmonica and play. Once connected, Tracy was able to feel the infectious enthusiasm these Chinese students had for Afro-American literature and for his work. Afro-American Studies professor Steven Tracy is a man who blurs boundaries. A writer and editor of works about African-American literature and culture and an accomplished blues musician, Tracy's made a career of mixing music and literature and of "being in places he shouldn't be." While in high school, Tracy won a national harmonica competition that landed him on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. With just a year of playing experience, Tracy was given an opportunity more seasoned musicians only dream of - the chance to launch his musical career on one of the most popular television shows of the time. "I really had no business being there," laughs Tracy. The "Tonight Show" experience was the beginning of Tracy's love affair with music, especially the blues. His love would take him to places other people said he shouldn't be, like Cincinnati blues clubs where he was the only white kid in the crowd, and to the University of Cincinnati where faculty raised eyebrows at his desire to pursue Afro-American studies. But his love of Afro-American music and the culture that gave birth to it gave him the courage to keep showing up, to keep blurring the boundaries. You can also see Steve Tracy & The Crawling Kingsnakes on Last.fm

Taken from Last.fm

93 listeners  ·  625 plays via Last.fm