Biography
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Born
4 November 1975 (age 48)
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Born In
Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States
Perhaps best known for his keyboard work with other artists such as Steve Gunn, Hiss Golden Messenger, or Jack Rose, Hans Chew has established himself as a versatile singer, songwriter, and performer in his own right. His 2010 debut album Tennessee & Other Stories… received four stars from Rolling Stone and was heralded by Uncut as one of the top 25 albums of the year.
A native Tennessean, Chew’s style has been described in wide fashion, with comparisons to artists like James Booker, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Feat, Nirvana, Little Richard, and Leon Russell. “My grandfather sang harmony on Sundays in a little country church quartet, then in the evenings I’d hear him pickin’ and grinnin' that ‘high-lonesome sound’ of Jimmy Martin and Hank Williams out on the carport with his brothers. My mother turned me on to Hendrix and the Stones, but my father listened only to classical music: I knew Beethoven’s Fifth before Led Zeppelin’s fourth.”
2014 saw the release of Chew’s second LP, Life & Love, which Classic Rock magazine called “an excellent album, a further development of the sound Chew revealed on his debut…”, while Popmatters proclaimed the record “Dixie-fried rock ’n’ roll awesomeness…a barn burning smoker of a record that’s simply irresistible.”
Also a dynamic live performer, iTunes’s Music Editor sums it up: “Hans Chew cranks up the tempo and the manic rock ’n’ roll performance until it feels like you’ve landed in the early ‘70s, when Derek & The Dominos were piecing together Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and The Rolling Stones were waiting around Nellcote to record the bits and pieces of Exile on Main St.”.
Chew lives and works in New York City.
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