Two W.C. Handy Award Nominations in 2004 for Acoustic Album Of The Year and Best New Artist have given American Roots and Folk Blues artist Mark Lemhouse national recognition as both an outstanding songwriter and performer. The Handy Awards (equivalent to a Grammy in the Roots Blues Genre) has placed him in the league of, and on stage with Keb Mo, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Kelly Joe Phelps, Chris Smither, Corey Harris, and Chris Whitley, artists known widely for their crossover appeal to audiences outside of the blues world.
Steeped in pre-war blues legends, Lemhouse has a visual quality to his guitar playing that is as fascinating to watch as much as it is to hear it being played. Accompanied with a voice that comes from every inch of his 6 foot 3 inch frame, and a personality it twice as big, his live performance is nothing less than astonishing when you realise all this is from just one person and a guitar. With a songwriting style strained through a Hank Williams Sr. meets Tom Waits filter, he quickly set himself apart from the traditionalists and became noticed as a top-shelf songwriter as well. In the time since, the release of his first album and his international recognition for nominations for two Handy Awards, he's toured the US and Europe performing with everyone Jimmie Vaughan, Junior Brown, Alejandro Escovedo, The Asylum Street Spankers, and Roy Book-Binder Lemhouse has performed as a main stage act at major US and European Folk and Roots festivals.
His music can be heard on radio stations around the world including XM Satellite Radio, Sirius. His music is distributed by Big Daddy Dist. Co. and can be purchased at any Border's Books and Music.
