Biography

Two W.C. Handy Award Nominations in 2004 for Acoustic Album of the Year and Best New Artist gave American Roots and Folk Blues artist Mark Lemhouse national recognition as both an outstanding songwriter and performer. The Handy Awards (equivalent to a Grammy in the Roots Blues genre) has placed him in the league of, and on stage with, artists such as Chris Whitley, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Kelly Joe Phelps, Chris Smither, and Corey Harris, known widely for their crossover appeal to audiences outside of the blues world.

Steeped in pre-war blues legends, Lemhouse has a visual quality to his guitar playing that is as fascinating to watch as it is to hear it being played. Accompanied with a voice that comes from every inch of his 6 foot 3 inch frame, and a personality twice as big, his live performance is nothing less than astonishing when you realize all this is from just one person and a guitar. With a songwriting style strained through a Hank Williams Sr. meets Tom Waits filter, he quickly set himself apart from the traditionalists and became noticed as a top-shelf songwriter as well. In the time since the release of his first album and his international recognition for nominations for two Handy Awards, he's toured the US and Europe performing with everyone from Jimmie Vaughan, Junior Brown, Alejandro Escovedo, to the Asylum Street Spankers and Roy Book-Binder. Lemhouse has performed as a main stage act at major US and European Folk and Roots festivals.

His debut album Big Lonesome Radio (Yellow Dog Records - Memphis, Tennessee) was acclaimed by MOJO Magazine as one of the Top 10 albums of the year in its genre, charted as high as #4 overall in the Roots Music Radio Report and was heralded by Sing Out! Magazine as the work of a "stellar songwriter and guitarist." Lemhouse's song "Edwin's Lament" confirmed such an accolade when it was selected to be featured in the Oscar Award Winning film, "Hustle and Flow."

Although he's earned acclaim in the blues world and that music lies at the heart of his style, Lemhouse looks far beyond the Delta with his second release, The Great American Yard Sale. When someone tries to pin Lemhouse down, asking what type of music he plays, the singer-guitarist often quotes his friend Alvin Youngblood Hart, himself echoing Duke Ellington: "Good Music." The Great American Yard Sale is much, much better than good, as the genre-defying guitarist plugs in and heads out to edgy Americana territory, armed with banjo and electric lap steel as well as his deftly fingerpicked National guitar.

Even as he broadens his musical palette, Lemhouse's eclectic formula of songwriting and guitar work places you in the middle of a world that's as confounding as it is redeeming. With material that reflects the eye of a seasoned traveler, his songs run the gamut of love, insanity and tales made up from sutiations in life and good dose of out and out lies. As Lemhouse offered in a recent interview; "Well, I just write about things the way they happened... But I lie too. If they don't happen that exact way, I'll start makin' stuff up in a heartbeat... It's a song, not a police report, thank God."

His music can be heard on radio stations around the world including XM Satellite Radio and Sirius. His music is distributed by MVD Audio and can be purchased at any Borders Books and Music.


Individual Albums for Mark Lemhouse on Airplay Direct:

YDR 1238 The Great American Yard Sale http://www.airplaydirect.com/marklemhouse1238

YDR 1038 Big Lonesome Radio http://www.airplaydirect.com/marklemhouse1038