John Németh (born March 10, 1975) is an American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

harmonicist, singer, and songwriter. He has received two Blues Music Awards for Soul Blues Male Artist in 2014 and Soul Blues Album in 2015. He has recorded ten

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s since 2002, having also backed

Junior Watson Junior Watson is an American jump blues guitarist and singer. Career Watson is a West Coast blues guitarist. He was a founding member of the blues band The Mighty Flyers and, starting in the early 1980s, he performed with the band for a decade. ...

Anson Funderburgh Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh; November 14, 1954) is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues. Career Funderbu ...

and Elvin Bishop. He has opened for

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...

Keb' Mo' Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link ...

, and Earl Thomas.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that he is a "vocalist with great range, ability, and soulfulness, Németh had also developed into a top-notch blues harmonica player..." In 2013 alone, he was nominated five times for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

, making nine such nominations in total.

Early life and education

Németh was born in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, United States. After singing at his local church, Németh played in local groups in his teenage years, and later formed Fat John & the 3 Slims with his friend Tom Moore. He toured and performed regularly working between five and seven nights a week for almost a decade.

Career

By 2000, Németh was supplying backing to

, and separately fronting his own band known as The Jacks. In 2002, he self-published the album, ''The Jack of Harps''. His debut solo effort, ''Come and Get It'', followed in 2004. The same year, Németh relocated to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Gaining more experience, he temporarily replaced

Sam Myers Samuel Joseph Myers (February 19, 1936 – July 17, 2006) was an American blues musician and songwriter. He was an accompanist on dozens of recordings by blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James but was ...

's backing band in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, he signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

. ''Magic Touch'', which was produced by Funderburgh and had Watson as a guest musician on several tracks, was issued in 2007. ''

Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...

'' stated "''Magic Touch'' gives hope that the blues will survive." The release saw Németh nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best New Artist Debut' category. Németh also appeared on Elvin Bishop's ''The Blues Roles On'' album (2008), which was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in the

Best Traditional Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums. The award w ...

category. Németh performed at the Blue Bear Live III concert on May 9, 2008 at the

Great American Music Hall The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconies ...

, to benefit the Blue Bear School of Music. Németh's next release, ''Love Me Tonight'' (2009), reached number 6 in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top Blues Albums Chart. Németh's fourth solo release, ''Name the Day!'', was released in 2010. It equalled the achievement of ''Love Me Tonight'' by peaking at number 6 in the ''Billboard'' Top Blues Albums Chart. ''Blues Live'' was recorded in February 2012 at three venues in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, and included guitar contributions from

Kid Andersen Christoffer "Kid" Andersen (born 15 January 1980) is a blues guitarist from Herre, Norway. By age 11, Andersen had gained the attention of Norwegian blues guitar teacher, Morten Omlid, who steered him towards traditional blues music. In 2001, ...

. ''Soul Live'' was released in September 2012. In 2020, Németh signed with Nola Blue Records. His album, ''Stronger Than Strong'', was released on October 16, 2020.

Accolades

In 2013, Németh was nominated in five categories for a Blues Music Award. These included 'B.B. King Entertainer', 'Contemporary Blues Album', 'Instrumentalist - Harmonica', 'Soul Blues Album', and 'Soul Blues Male Artist'. Németh performed at the Great Lakes Blues Society in April; the Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Music Festival in May; and the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival in August 2013. He relocated to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

in early 2013, and has stated that

the Bo-Keys The Bo-Keys are a soul jazz band from Memphis, Tennessee, formed as an homage to the city's rich musical tradition. History In 1998, Scott Bomar was asked to assemble a backing band for former Stax artist and songwriter Sir Mack Rice. His co ...

will back him on his next recording. In 2014, he won a Blues Music Award in the 'Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year' category. He was nominated again in the 'B.B. King Entertainer' category for the 42nd Blues Music Awards, scheduled to take place on June 6, 2021.

Discography

References

External links