Originally from Kansas City but long based in Nashville, Jeff Black has had a fair bit of success as professional songwriter, landing cuts on albums by such artists as Waylon Jennings, Alison Krauss, Dierks Bentley, John Oates, Jon Randall, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush. The mainstream outfit BlackHawk even flew two of Black’s songs, “That’s Just About Right” and “King of the World” into the Top 30 of the country singles chart. But it’s as a prolific independent recording artist and touring troubadour that he’s really made his mark, to the point that listeners of Boston’s WUMB voted Black as one of the top 100 most important folk artists of the last quarter century. His 1998 debut, Birmingham Road, featured members of the band Wilco as well as Iris DeMent, a friend of Black’s from Kansas City whose own widely acclaimed debut — 1992’s Infamous Angel — featured Black on background vocals. He has released several more self-produced albums since, the most recent being 2022’s A Walk in the Sun. Black has also scored music for film and television, and been recognized by NPR as a digital music pioneer for his launching his own Black Tuesdays podcast circa 2005-2007, when the podcast format was still in its salad days.
Upcoming Events