 CALVIN COOKE was a big hit at the 2005 Chicago Blues Festival, as well as the Pocono Blues Festival. Michael Cloren, the highly-respected promoter of this festival, said, Calvin was SPECTACULAR...We sold out ALL of his CD’s after his 1st set...we could have sold 100 more. At the Kitchener Ontario Blues Brews & BBQ Festival, Calvin was GREAT! Dan Graham, the promoter. Heaven, pedal steel guitar master Calvin Cooke’s new CD on the Dare record label, is his latest. Nashville country steel guitarists have dubbed him the "B.B. King of gospel steel guitar. Until recently Calvin Cooke was one of Detroit’s best kept secrets, even though he has been performing at the House of God on the city’s eastside for the past 45 years. It’s a new kind of high energy Gospel music that blues and jam band fans can’t seem to get enough of. Some say this record has "crossover" plainly written all over it. Calvin Cooke’s very first album-length CD has been produced by Robert Randolph, Calvin’s long-time protege. Randolph is better known as the first super star so far to have emerged from among the modern masters of "Sacred Steel." This church-bred style of high energy electrified lead slide guitar was first performed more than 65 years ago on pedal steel guitar within the Black Church, but only among House of God congregations. It was then and remains today an integral part of the worship service wherever the faithful gather.  In fact until the mid to late ‘90s this music had never been heard outside of church. That’s when rumors of an extraordinary new form of slide guitar first began to percolate among blues fans who long learned to idolize the electrified sound of slide guitar masters from Muddy Waters to Jeff Beck. Slide lovers long accustomed to hearing their music on six string electric guitars were taken aback at first to experience a frequently even more potent brand of slide guitar being performed on pedal steel instruments. The appeal of Cooke’s music transcends all the lines that have up until now divided the genres that make up American music as it is so revered around the globe. Born in 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio, into a musical family that belonged to the Church of the Living God, Jewell Dominion, which had a strong steel guitar tradition. Calvin Cooke first picked up the guitar in 1955, as a member of his extended family bought him a black six-string guitar, but his fingers were too small to play it. So he got the sound he wanted by using a knife as a slide. Soon his mother purchased a steel guitar at a local pawn shop. He still sometimes used the same instrument on stage today. By 1958 Cooke had brought the influence of Jewell music, which is characterized by slower tempos and boogie rhythms, to the Keith Dominion. Bishop Henry Harrison was so impressed by the young steel virtuoso that he took Cooke on the road with him to preach the Gospel. Harrison was a carpenter and together they helped build churches by day. By night he played and sang while the Bishop preached. Elsewhere, at the same time a young man named Sam Cooke, a distant cousin, had already "crossed over" from Gospel to popular music and was gaining wide acceptance on AM radio across the country and on television’s American Bandstand. From the very beginning, Calvin Cooke was the official musical voice of the House of God all across the country. He traveled with church elders constantly and played almost daily in public for decades. It’s no small wonder that today he is widely considered the most influential living pedal steel guitar master with the Sacred Steel tradition. He is one of the few "sacred steel" guitarists who regularly combines singing with his guitar work. An innovator on the 10-string pedal-steel, which he plays in a unique tuning that came to him in a vision, Cooke also features stunning lap-steel work in his presentations. His present band consists of a group of veteran church musicians from Detroit, which includes his wife Grace, who belts out stirring vocals, along with guitarist Jay Caver, and percussionist Ivan Shaw.  Calvin Cooke was featured in the recent award-winning documentary SACRED STEEL, filmed at several different houses of worship, with interviews, performances, and historic footage of many of the genre’s leading musicians, including the Campbell Brothers, Willie Eason, Robert Randolph, Henry Nelson and many others. There was also a CD released on the Arhoolie label. Calvin was also presented with the Sacred Steel Guitarist Heritage Award at the 2nd Annual Sacred Steel Convention March 31, 2001. In October of 2004, he appeared as a special guest with his protege, Robert Randolph, in an Austin City Limits PBS presentation. Cooke also traveled with Randolph as the opening act for Eric Clapton’s U.S. tour. His new CD, Heaven is spiritual without being "churchy" and is filled to the brim with soul. Devoted slide guitar fans will be in awe of this CD. Calvin Cooke is a gifted and soulful vocalist and an inspired songwriter. | Read Articles | le français | | Return Home | Calvin Cooke | On Tour | Calvin Cooke Store | Booking Info | Media | Send Us Your Feedback | What's New? | Gallery | |
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