Albert Cummings brings the blues to Nightfall

Albert Cummings
Albert Cummings

If you go

› What: Nightfall› Where: Miller Plaza, 850 Market St.› When: 7 p.m. Mark Holder opens, 8 p.m. Albert Cummings, Friday, July 6› Admission: Free› For more information: www.nightfallchattanooga.com

Blues musician Albert Cummings will headline Nightfall on Friday, July 6, in Miller Plaza, 850 Market St. Nightfall is the free summer music series produced by Chattanooga Presents.

The 50-year-old blues man has played alongside B.B. King, Johnny Winter and Buddy Guy.

The self-taught guitarist took up the five-string banjo at age 12 because his father's guitar was too big for his hands. After learning some basic chords and progressions, he became a fan of bluegrass music.

In his late teens, he discovered the early recordings of Stevie Ray Vaughan and was inspired. While in college in 1987, he saw Vaughan perform and he returned to the guitar with a new outlook and resolve.

Cummings' first public guitar performance was in 1997, when he played at his friend's wedding reception. In his late 20s he formed a band, Swamp Yankee. Soon he was on the Northeast blues circuit with Swamp Yankee.

In 1998, he walked into a Northeast Blues Society open jam, which led to Cummings winning the right to compete in the Blues Foundation's 1999 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. In 1999, Cummings released his debut recording, "The Long Way." Bluesprint magazine described it as "a barrage of guitar pyrotechnics that calls to mind a grand mix of the styles of past masters like Albert King, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Hendrix."

That opened up an opportunity for him to work with Double Trouble, Vaughan's rhythm section. So taken with Cummings' fire and passion were bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton that they volunteered to play on and produce his solo debut recording, 2003's "From the Heart."

Cummings caught the attention of Blind Pig Records, which signed him to a multi-album deal in 2004. Only Shannon remained as the bassist for Cummings' 2004 album, "True To Yourself."

Two years later, Cummings recorded "Working Man" with new band members. He followed that album two years later with the live recording "Feels So Good."

Cummings' 2012 album "No Regrets" debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Canada and France on the iTunes Blues Charts and at No. 5 on the Billboard blues chart. "Someone Like You" was released in 2015.

His latest album, "Live at the '62 Center," was recorded in a 2017 performance in his hometown of Williamstown, Massachusetts.

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