Blues On Stage - Corey Stevens

Corey Stevens
Blues Profile

Born in Illinois, Stevens picked up the guitar at an early age with a little help from his grandfather. "He pawned some of his fishing gear for an old acoustic and I was on my way," Stevens says. "To me, it always felt natural playing guitar." His early musical heroes were rock ‘n’ roll pioneers The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and The Allman Brothers. Through them he discovered a whole new style of music -- the blues. Stevens draws upon this rich blues and rock guitar influence in his playing. The guitar sounds of T. Bone Walker, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin, Albert King and Buddy Guy as well as Clapton and The Allman Brothers can all be found in his blazing guitar playing.

After moving to California in 1980 to pursue his musical career Stevens spent the next 10 years teaching the third-grade while he played in various bands on weekends. He released his self produced album "Blue Drops of Rain," and when it was picked up by Eureka Records in 1995 Corey Stevens was catapulted into the blues/rock spotlight. "Blue Drops of Rain" garnered him critical praise and a top-ten spot on the Billboard Blues Album Chart for more than 33 weeks. He has spent the last two years and well over 100,000 miles constantly touring. In the process he has developed a huge, loyal nationwide fan base that cheer him on wherever he performs. Stevens has the unique ability to grab peoples attention from the first note on his guitar and carry everyone along with him on a wild guitar ride for the rest of his performance. The favorite part of Stevens’ musical career is being on stage and seeing the enthusiastic response from his fans.

His shows are raucous affairs with most of the cheering fans singing along on all of his recorded songs. One of the strongest responses at his shows comes when he sings his hit song "It’s Over " from his first album. Stevens’ new album, "Road To Zen," showcases his song writing style with ten original songs ranging from hard-rock to slow-burning blues. His blues/rock style of playing is a natural for the cross over audience (rock to blues) which allows him to have a much wider appeal and in the process completes the circle from where he started -- bringing a whole new generation of rock fans to the blues.

E-mail Ray Stiles at: mnblues@aol.com

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Copyright © 1997 by Ray M. Stiles
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