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| Graphic art: Mike Butler |
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| Photo: Lonnie Mae |
Cole Prior Stevens... guitarist, singer & songwriter has been working his craft in the blues genre for nearly three
decades. As a contemporary electric blues guitarist, Cole draws his unique slide guitar style from the pre war Blues Masters
from the likes of Son House, Robert Johnson, Earl Hooker and Muddy Waters.
While calling Louisville Kentucky home, his musical ideas and style were shaped and honed from his West Coast upbringing
in Southern California. Whether he is slinging his favorite Strat fronting his own band or sliding a bottleneck solo
across the fret board of his trusty old metal body National resonator guitar as a solo artist, Cole has developed a definitive,
cross-cut style of his own.
For the last 6 years Cole has been redefining and reshaping his music craft to create a very unique vocal and playing style.
Reaching for a fresh approach of his personal slide guitar style, Cole has succeed in finding his voice that fans and critics
are now paying close attention to with his latest 2007 release- Slide-Ville.
He shows the listener the continued historical importance of the role of slide guitar and it's contribution to the blues and
more recently with country music. From the simple rawness of single note riffs on a National resonator to electric solos on
a Stratocaster, no one in the business of performing original music quite sounds like what Cole envisioned for the blues &
American roots music.
Cole's unique vocal style decorates each song with refreshing character. His style is the perfect partner for Cole's song-craft
and lyrics. Even hardcore blues enthusiasts have remarked repeated how his carefully arranged cover songs have been practically
re-invented into a new and original form.
All of Cole's song writing are interlaced with personal philosophies about the fragile human experience, to which we all
share a common thread. Listeners are gently provoked to consider the unique perspectives of what Cole is all about and he
isn't afraid to carry his music artistically into all other available musical dimensions either.
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