Harpdog Brown

Background

Brown was born in Edmonton, Canada, and was adopted into in a family with a musical mother who played slide guitar.

Career

The Maple Blues Awards are Canada"s equivalent of The Blues Music Award formerly the West. C. Handy Awards that take place yearly in Memphis, Tennessee. In that same year, he was also honoured with a lifetime membership to the Hamilton Blues Society. He began playing guitar at about age 15 in a local garage band.

He later played in a duo that opened for performers in comedy clubs, and followed that with solo gigs as a singer and guitar player.

In the early 1980s he answered an ad for a vocalist in a traveling road band. After six weeks on the road, he quit and put together his own traveling blues band.

Harpdog got his stage name at a gig in in Kitsilano Beach during the fall of 1989 at a place called Momma Gold’son According to Harpdog, at the end of the show, two audience members began shouting “Harpdog! Harpdog!” He liked the name and went on to use it as his stage name.

He eventually made it his legal name.

Based in Vancouver, Brown has crossed tens of thousands of miles playing club dates and festivals in Canada, the northwestern United States and Germany. Over the years he has issued seven albums. Also that year, it was nominated for a Canadian Juno for the Best Blues/Gospel Recording.

Teamed up with Graham Guest on piano, he issued the album Naturally which was voted Number.

1 Canadian Blues Album of 2010 by The Blind Lemon Survey. Brown tours extensively with his guitarist J. Arthur Edmonds, performing their electric mid-1950"s Chicago blues either as a duo, or with the full band.

While he is home, he juggles a few combos working many venues big and small. He also leads The Harpdog Brown Band which is a gutsy traditional Chicago blues band.

In 2014 they released What lieutenant Is, comprising mainly original songs and a few classic covers.

Influential blues promoter and broadcaster Holger Petersen called What lieutenant Is Brown"s best album.

Achievements

• 2014 Maple Blues Award, Harmonica Player of the Year 2014 Hamilton Blues Society, Lifetime Award 1995 Muddy Award, Best Northwest Blues Release for Home Is Where the Harp Is.