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True To Yourself, the title of Albert Cummings’ 2004 Blind Pig Records CD, is an accurate appraisal of where he’s coming from. “There’s an old saying that I live by,” claims Cummings. “Be yourself, because everybody else is taken.” That inherent desire to be different also fuels the singer, guitarist and song writer’s music. “I’ve tried to break every barrier that I could and not be like anybody else,” he declares.
The fourth person to bear the name and the fourth generation to carry on the family’s century-old construction business, Cummings builds award-winning million dollar homes near Williamstown in the picturesque Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts.
The basic pointers on guitar that his father showed him seemed to fall by the wayside when, at twelve, Cummings took a shine to the five-string banjo, bluegrass music and contest winning finger picking. Seven years later, Cummings’ aesthetic world was rattled when he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in concert. “Here’s this guy beating on his guitar, kicking it, throwing it up in the air. And he sounds awesome,” he says of Vaughan’s impact. “I was like, well, that’s the instrument for me.”
Unfortunately, college studies, business, a stint in the National Guard and family (Cummings is married with two sons.) left little time for music. Cummings was twenty seven when he made his first public appearance on guitar, playing Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode at a friend’s wedding. But the stage bug bit hard!
As fate would have it, Cummings’ band Swamp Yankee opened for Double Trouble, Vaughan’s former rhythm section of Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon, at a concert in Troy, New York. Layton and Shannon were so impressed with Cummings’ talents that they offered to produce and appear on an album with him. From the Heart (2003), announced the arrival of Cummings and his explosive, emotionally-charged rock and country-hued blues.
Cummings’ career became airborne from there with appearances along side blues idols like B. B. King and Buddy Guy. He subsequently released two other CDs on Blind Pig Records, 2006’s rousing blue-collar tribute Working Man and 2008’s live blockbuster Feel’s So Good, which earned him the BluesWax Artist of the Year Award.
A sociable working stiff like the rest of us, Cummings, forty one, has a relaxed and easy rapport with his audience. On stage, he throws caution and moderation to the wind. Whether it’s an intricate minor key lament or a delirious rocked-out anthem, Cummings’ solos ooze impeccable phrasing, pitch-altering bends and power chord clusters. “To play like this I have to let myself go completely and totally expose my ability to the audience and risk sounding like hell … go out on that limb to get that music,” he declares of his extemporary style. “It’s a concept that propels me.”
The name Albert Cummings is your guarantee of an intense live performance. “You’re going to see whatever’s cooking that day,” he promises. “Hopefully I’m going to be in this crazy mode and just attack. I’m going out for blood.” www.albertcummings.com
Ken Wright
