Pittsburgh native Barry Levenson’s lifelong love affair with the blues began at an early age. At fourteen, an older friend played him some of Buddy Guy’s Vanguard records and Levenson immediately fell hopelessly and passionately in love with this great American art form.
He then moved to Boston to study arranging at the Berklee School of Music. While in Boston, he became the house guitarist at Boston’s premier rhythm and blues hot spot, the Sugar Shack, backing up numerous R&B and soul greats. Looking for a better climate, both musically and weather-wise, Levenson next moved to the sunny climes of Southern California, where he immediately began working with such blues greats as Big Mama Thornton, Pee Wee Crayton, Percy Mayfield, Lowell Fulson and J.D. Nicholson. Of this exciting and fruitful period, Levenson says, “I was lucky to get in on the tail end of the incredible L.A. blues scene because within a few years, most of these great artists had passed on.†Levenson signed a deal with the legendary Kent Records, as an artist and was also under contract as their house producer and session player.
At this time Levenson also worked for famed producer and Academy Award winner Jack Nitzsche.
The guitarist’s next step was a recording contract with the prestigious European jazz and blues label, Storyville Records. Levenson’s first release, Heart to Hand, received critical raves and was one of the most popular instrumental releases of the decade. At this juncture in his career he was also hired as a producer and A&R man for Storyville, finding undiscovered and overlooked talent, then producing and recording them. This was then followed by the Closer to the Blues CD, then the Handy Award nominated Hard Times Won. He was also included on 2 Delta Laserlight compilations, Blues Guitar Heaven along with Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton; and Blues for a Rainy Day with T-Bone Walker, Buddy Guy and Bobby Bland.
Other highlights of Levenson’s career include numerous tours of Europe and the United States both on his own and with Canned Heat, two best-selling guitar instructional books, session work for the All-Star library, ESPN's cue database.
Levenson still resides in Southern California and is an in-demand studio guitarist whose work has appeared in many movies, television and commercials. He gigs regularly around Southern California and is the lead guitarist for one of America’s greatest and most loved bands, Canned Heat.
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