Featured Band Profiles

Corey Harris Makes Long-Awaited Return to Green Parrot

  Corey Harris, considered of the most genuinely progressive contemporary bluesmen,  makes his long-awaited return to The Parrot stage.  Expect a powerful mix of country blues, reggae and hip hop beats from master musician Corey Harris and his band when the perform, with shows at 5:30 and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, May15th and 16th and at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday May 17th.

Along with Keb’ Mo’ and  Alvin Youngblood Hart, he raised the flag of acoustic  guitar blues in the mid-1990s and  was featured on the 2003 PBSt elevision mini-series, The Blues,  in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese.In 2002, Harris collaborated with Ali Farka Toure on his album Mississippi to Mali, fusing blues and Toure’s music from northern Mali. I

Harris has lived and traveled widely in West Africa, an influence that has permeated much of his work.He is known for his solo acoustic work as well as his electric band,  formerly known as the ‘5 x 5’. His current band is known as the Rasta Blues Experience.

He helped Billy Bragg and Wilco to write the music for “Hoodoo Voodoo” on Mermaid Avenue, an album consisting entirely of songs for which the lyrics  were written by Woody Guthrie.  He also appeared as a musician and vocalist on the album and its sequel, Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II.

Since Harris shook up the blues scene with his 1995 debut release,Between Midnight and Day, a masterpiece of rural blues exploration,he’s been finding ways to extend the journey, composing new songs,reinventing old ones, following his instincts fearlessly wherever theymight lead. As a singer, songwriter and cultural emissary he hasmerged blues, African pop, rock and electronica in  brilliant and original ways.
He has built a worldwide following among musicians and fans alike.Rolling Stone gave his rocking 2002 release, “Downhome Sophisticate”four stars. Acclaimed film director Martin Scorcese tapped Corey tostar in and narrate the documentary film, “Feel Like Going Home.”Filmed in Mississippi and Mali, West Africa, it tells the story of theblues from African origins,
ABSOLUTE SOUND magazine said of him, “Harris… dazzles on guitar, buthis sound is… galaxies beyond a primal acoustic-blues palette. Drinking from the African well, Harris updates his brand of 21stCentury blues with funk, hypnotic bottleneck boogie, lap steel drawl, reggae, samba, and, hip-hop. He’s a vocal chameleon, speaks and singsin different voices, and his 5×5 band unaffectedly adapts to stylistic shifts. Historically rooted but progressive sounding, I can’t help butcompare Harris’ vision to that of Jimi Hendrix”