Gothic Theatre
Clay Kirkland
Clay Kirkland has a history of hoisting the humble harmonica to heavenly heights. The Denver Post calls him “one of the world’s innovators.” The British Blues Connection Blueprint magazine said his “phenomenal technique and extension of the bounds of the instrument make him the harmonica equivalent to Jimi Hendrix. His harp is firmly rooted in the blues.” The Kansas City Star said, “He sings the blues quite respectably and plays some of the finest harp going.” Sing Out Magazine says, “He is downright dazzling at times, displaying an originality that is surprising.”
Kirkland’s first CD, “Blues Rock Raga,” was voted Best World Beat Album of 1995 by Westword Magazine. It combines blues with the classical raga style of the Royal Musicians of Nepal on sitar and tabla and the flamenco virtuosity of guitarist Miguel Espinoza.
Clay arranged the third movement of Brahm’s Third Symphony so that it becomes a Muddy Waters blues song and has performed it with the full Colorado Symphony Orchestra and with the DaVinci String Quartet. His nine-piece world beat band, the Rhythm Mystics, gained a standing ovation at the Jazz in the Sangres Festival. He played “Take This Job and Shove It” with Johnny Paycheck in the Sahara Reno Grand Ballroom, and played a Hank Williams song with Lou Rawls at the National Football League Players Association Super Bowl banquet while a member of Larry Mahan’s Great American Cowboy Band. In 1975, he moved to Denver and for three years played with country and Broadway star Gary Morris in the band Breakaway. He played a set with Willie Nelson in a private Aspen concert and sat in with Vassar Clements. He appeared with Charlie Rich in Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way But Loose.” And for three years, he fronted a reggae band called Mumbo Jumbo.
But Clay Kirkland really shines when he plays that good ole down home funky blues. He has thrilled audiences throughout the U.S., performing with his own band and with Robben Ford, Junior Brown, Chuck Berry, Sleepy John Estes, members of the Muddy Waters Band, and Sonny Boy Williamson’s King Biscuit Flour Hour guitarist, Houston Stackhouse. He has opened shows for B.B. King, Kansas, Steve Miller Band, and Leon Russell.
Clay Kirkland was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of a Southern Baptist preacher. His musical training began in the first grade rhythm band in a small town just outside of Athens. He began the cello at age ten and played baritone horn through high school. Kirkland learned to sing the blues while welding tops on truck cabs in the Ford Motor Company assembly line working his way through college. He earned a B.A. degree in psychology, but while sitting in his graduation ceremony decided all he wanted to do was play the blues. Three days later in St. Louis, the Clay Kirkland Blues Band was born.
Clay played full time for many years. When his son was born, he chose to be a full-time father. Now that his son is grown and living in Boston with his own alternative rock band, it’s time for Poppa to bust out full time once again. His new CD, “Blues and Beyond the Beyond Blues,” is his first step in that direction.
Clay has an endorsement contract with Hohner, Inc., the foremost manufacturer of harmonicas for more than one hundred years
