Kent Duchaine

Kent was born in Wyzata a town in Minnesota & was taught to play ukulele, guitar & clarinet by his father by the age of 11. He later learned to play piano & electric guitar at school. He played in a local band with school friends performing 60’s music. While reading the sleeve notes on an Eric Clapton album he was intrigued to find out more about Blues music & eventually he opened up for & performed with many of the greatest Bluesmen & women, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bukka White,John Lee Hooker & Margie Evans.

In 1979 Kent found his beloved “Leadbessie” a beat up 1934 National Steel guitar & kitted it out with heavy gauge strings to cope with his ferociously powerful playing style. He decided to move down South to be nearer to the roots of the Blues music he now embraced. Kent now lived the “Blues Life” riding the rails & running the roads, living in an old Cadillac then a tent & a motorhome playing venues all across the U.S.A playing nearly every night.

1989 Kent met & established a partnership with the legendary Bluesman Johnny Shines ( a travelling companion of Robert Johnson “King of the Delta Blues” ) Together with harmonica great Snooky Pryor they were honoured with the coveted W.C.Handy award for the best country Blues album of the year. Kent & Johnny performed over 200 shows together across North America, while Kent also continued his solo career. In 1992 Kent was one of the pallbearers who carried Johnny Shines to his grave.

In the early 1990’s Kent decided to spread the Blues he loved in the UK & Europe & to date has well over 100 overseas tours completed & 8 solo CDS & 1 DVD under his belt.

The Sunday Times listed him as one of the 5 best concerts in the UK in 2001 & a further crowning honour came when he was asked by Alabama’s State Culture Officer to represent the State on a cultural visit to Italy despite him no longer living in Alabama.

Kent had just finished a 6 week tour in the UK in 2015 & was about to fly home, when he was asked by Ben “Boogie” Waters if he would cancel his flight in order to play in a B B King tribute concert in central London in aid of the British Heart Foundation together with a number of luminaries including music legends Bill Wyman & Elliott Randall. Kent was only too happy to be part of such a superb evening.

When not thrilling music lovers with Delta Blues, Urban Blues & his own original compositions Kent can be found in beautiful South Georgia pursuing his favourite hobby fishing, on the shore of a large lake on the border between Georgia & Alabama, in a house which Kent has literally built with his own hands, reading D.I.Y. manuals along the way. Since the divorce from his fourth wife Sarah he has invested in a large motorhome in which he travels to gigs across the length & breadth of the USA & Canada.