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Berkley Hart is... |
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Jeff Berkley
The son of a traveling evangelist, Jeff Berkley grew up in Southern
California, playing drums in alternative rock bands. After high school, he
discovered the African djembe, which he combined with cymbals to create a
bare-handed style of percussion that is uniquely his own. Before long, he
was playing regularly in San Diego coffeehouses and clubs with the likes of
Jewel, Steve Poltz and The Rugburns, and Gregory Page; as well as
entertaining thousands alongside folk circuit fixtures like Joel Rafael, Tom
Prasada-Rao, Johnsmith and Don Conoscenti. All the while, however, he was
playing guitar and writing his own music; and in 1998 he came out from
behind his drum to perform his songs in a band which included fellow
singer/songwriters Dani Carroll, John Katchur, and future partner Calman
Hart. In the spring of 1999, Berkley won the prestigious New Folk Songwriter
Competition in Kerrville Texas, past winners of which include Lyle Lovett,
Shawn Colvin, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hal Ketchum and Nancy Griffith. Not long
after, Berkley officially teamed up with Calman Hart. Now, along with his Berkley Hart duties, he's added producer to his many
hats.
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Calman Hart
Calman Hart was born at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Woods Cross City, Utah on Christmas Eve. He began playing guitar and writing songs while still in high school, and worked through college playing in clubs across Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, before finally putting down roots in San Diego. There, in 1992, his first album "Red-Eyed & Blue" won him the Best New Artist honors at the San Diego Music Awards. His second album "Train in the Distance," recorded with Bil Vorndick (producer of Alison Krauss' grammy-winning "I've Got That Old Feeling") and Nashville greats Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, David Grier and Roy Husky Jr., also met with critical success. In the mid-nineties, he fell in with the emerging San Diego coffeehouse scene, making the rounds with artists such as Jewel, Steve Poltz, Gregory Page, Dave Howard and John Katchur. It was during this time that he met percussionist Jeff Berkley, whose djembe made a prominent appearance on
Hart's third album "The John Boy Drum" in 1998. One of the first to coax
Berkley into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter, Hart soon began gigging
regularly with him. While writing together in the summer of 1999, the seeds
for "Wreck N' Sow" were planted, and the two officially joined forces as
Berkley Hart. |
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