Biography

Big George Brock may well be one of the most underrated blues performers of his generation. With the Mississippi Delta of his youth just a breath away, Brock's huge harmonica sound and Deep South voice are instantly recognizable. They also stand out wonderfully against today's world of rock and soul-inflected blues performers -- conjuring up images of the way blues used to be played in the sweaty juke joint dance clubs of yesteryear.

Brock was born May 16, 1932, in Grenada, Mississippi, the son of a sharecropper. Like other aspiring musicians in the area, he experimented with paper-and-comb "harmonicas" and one-string, diddley bow guitars in an attempt to mimic the rich blues and spiritual music he heard around him. At age 8, his father gave him and two of his brothers each a harmonica for Christmas. "They tore theirs up, but I kept mine," Brock later remembered. Initially self-taught, one evening Brock blew the melody to the traditional church song, "Burden Down." His parents heard him, and began to request amateur concerts on the family porch once a week. After moving to Flower's Plantation in Mattson, Mississippi, near Clarksdale, Brock came under the influence of future blues legend Muddy Waters. Waters lived at the nearby Stovall plantation and would play fish fries and house parties around Clarksdale and Mattson. As a young man, Brock would play in improvised bands, often accompanied by other youths playing homemade rhythm instruments. Growing up in the Delta, Brock also witnessed area performances by B.B. King (playing in front of Dublin Grocery near Flower's), Sonny Boy Williamson II (at Brock's auntie's house), Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf (playing weekly gigs in Walls, Mississippi), Lee Kizart (with whom Brock played music) and Ike Turner among others.

In addition to blues music, the other popular Delta pastime in the 1940s and 50s was boxing -- another form of entertainment that Brock excelled at. In the Mattson-Clarksdale area, Brock defeated the "toughest man in Clarksdale," Charlie Black, as well as a traveling, wrestling bear. (Later, in St. Louis, Brock would also knockout a recently paroled, pre-fame Sonny Liston.) Brock was also a budding ladies man who -- by the time he was finished -- had fathered 42 children, including two sets of twins and three sets of triplets. After relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1950s, Brock also opened up a series of popular and profitable blues clubs. Brock's business and personal life were so busy, in fact, that when Muddy Waters introduced him to Chess Records, Brock turned down the offer of "no royalties... just a tour bus." Other local recording opportunities never came to fruition, and Brock was passed by during the blues-folk boom of the 1960s.

At his clubs -- especially the 1,000 capacity Club Caravan -- Brock booked top notch blues like Ike & Tina Turner as well as his own band. Through the years, his playing at Mississippi jukes and his own St. Louis clubs allowed him to share stages with blues greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Albert King. Albert King even served as his guitar player briefly after arriving in St. Louis. Other guitarists who have played behind Brock include Big Bad Smitty, Riley Coatie, Terry "Big T" Williams, Jame "Jimbo" Mathus, Bill Abel and, on Brock's Round Two album, Hubert Sumlin.

In the 1990s, Brock finally waxed his first recordings, including a self-released album entitled Front Door Man. National Public Radio's Toast of the Nation programing on New Year's Eve 2004 included one "live" track featuring Brock, but it wasn't until 2005's critically-acclaimed Club Caravan album that his comeback began. Called "contender for album of the year" by Juke Blues magazine, the CD led to feature stories in Blues & Rhythm, Living Blues and Big City Blues magazines as well as a Blues Music Award nomination and a Living Blues Critic's Poll Award. Additionally, the exposure led to his inclusion in Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Native Sons/Mississippi Bluesmen documentary and actor-musician Steven Seagal's all-star blues outing, Mojo Priest.

In 2006, Filmmaker Damien Blaylock brought Brock's life story and music to the screen with the music documentary Hard Times which showed at various film festivals in the South. In it, Brock recalls early plantation life and many of the late bluesmen he once called friends. He also plays a mix of originals and classics by those friends. In August 2006, the much anticipated follow-up to Club Caravan arrived in music stores. Entitled Round Two, the album further highlighted Brock's commitment to classic "Delta-gone-North" style of blues and included several new blues originals. It received airplay and media attention worldwide and led to three Blues Music Award nominations. Summer 2007 saw the release of a session recorded by APO/Acoustic Sounds in June of 2005. Entitled "Heavyweight Blues," the CD consisted of various cover songs.

After years of requests, September 2007 found Brock releasing his first-ever, live in-concert CD -- Live At Seventy Five. Celebrating his 75th birthday, the album included an introduction by King Biscuit Time deejay Sunshine Sonny Payne and a mix of personnel from his previous releases. The CD included live versions of highly personalized covers and his own popular originals such as "No No Baby," "M For Mississippi" and "All Night Long." In addition to international airplay and a No. 1 slot on XM Satellite Radio's Bluesville, Live At Seventy Five was nominated for a 2008 Blues Music Award in the Traditional Blues Album of the Year category (Blues Foundation, www.blues.org).

Since his 2005 comeback, Brock has played festival dates in Italy, Switzerland and France -- plus toured the UK. He continues to play festivals worldwide and has future recording plans. Artifacts attesting to Brock's long musicial career can be found in the collections of the Delta Blues Museum, Highway 61 Blues Museum and Howlin' Wolf Museum among others. More information about Big George Brock is available at his label's web site, www.cathead.biz. His CDs are distributed to retailers via Burnside Distribution, www.bdcdistribution.com and are also available on-line at www.cdbaby.com.