Beth Hart. Wow, what a voice and what an incredible story! If you’re not familiar with this Grammy nominated singer/songwriter here’s your opportunity. Beth possesses one of the most phenomenal blues voices you’re ever likely to hear, although she first broke through in the world of pop with the U.S edition of Star Search in the early 90’s. Beth later struck gold with LA Song (Out Of This Town), a hit in several countries including her native U.S.A.
Her early success was hampered by a life of personal turmoil with destructive relationships and even more destructive drug abuse derailing her early promise.
Beth hit rock bottom when she ended up serving time in jail but began to turn her life around with a cleaner lifestyle and renewed purpose. Then a series of collaborations covering blues numbers with Joe Bonamassa raised her profile and her solo albums started to gain attention.
Now in her mid 40’s she’s making the finest records of her career with her last 3 albums drawing rave reviews and ever increasing audiences for her gigs.
Her latest album Fire On The Floor is an absolute knockout – as far as I’m concerned it’s her best yet.
I caught up with Beth on tour, where she was playing a series of dates to promote the new album, but a word of warning – Beth’s lived life to the max and accordingly her language and the nature of what she discusses can be a little hard core, so if you’re a shrinking violet this podcast might not be your cup of tea.
One last note. Podcasting is a new experience for me and the technical reality of recording an interview over the net without the advantage of a high tech studio or compressors can be challenging (as I’m discovering!). The interview was recorded via Skype where Beth’s voice was given precedence over mine in the recording process – not a problem for me personally, but technically it meant that at times when Beth was jumping into the conversation when I was speaking she drowned me out. My apologies for that technical issue – I’m working to rectify that for future episodes.
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Iove Beth. Great artist!
She’s amazing Minie.
Loved the interview you did with Beth Hart, it didn’t sound bad at all! ❤️
Thanks Angela. Not bad audio, just some compression issues when both of us were speaking at the same time. Something I’m working on for future podcasts.
Trevor,
Your interview with one of my two favorite artists, Beth Hart is amazingly insightful and open!!! Thanks to Beth and you for sharing!!!
Thanks Dave. Aside from her obvious talent there’s a raw honesty with Beth – she doesn’t hide anything. I wasn’t sure if she would be so candid about her troubled past so instead of pushing her on it I wanted to give her the opportunity to open up about it if she chose to and I’m grateful that she did. The fact that she’s overcome those obstacles to be making the most incredible music of her career is a testament to her talent and fortitude.
I had the good fortune to become friendly with Etta James in the 80’s.
My good luck expanded when I discovered Beth’s music.
They are different women and singers, but the power, passion and artistry of each cannot be ignored.
You can hear the wisdom and grasp of soul genre in each person.
Beth is a treasure.
Hi John, I consider myself lucky just to have seen Etta perform (House of Blues in Los Angeles in the mid 90’s), she had an immense presence on stage and of course that incredible voice to go with it.
As I mentioned in the podcast Beth is totally different off stage to the persona she creates when she’s performing. She’s a fearsome force of nature on stage, but in person she’s humble and softly spoken – quite a contrast.
As you say, both are incredible performers – we’re lucky to have had the opportunity to see (and in your case know) them in our lifetimes.
Cheers, T.