Singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player Garrett Dutton, a.k.a. G. Love, calls his music “hip-hop blues,” and it’s very much to his credit that over the course of 10 albums with his band Special Sauce, three solo albums, and 15 years of crowd-pleasing performances, he has consistently created music that does great justice to both sides of that description. As a white kid growing up in 1980s Philadelphia, Dutton forsook the pop of the moment to soak up the works of such “mentors” as Bob Dylan, Jimmy Reed, John Hammond Jr. and De La Soul. He ended up with his own deeply soulful style of songwriting, which mixes swampy, laid-back grooves with highly entertaining rap-style wordplay.

Some of Dutton’s first performances were as a busker on the streets of Philadelphia and then Boston, but his music and career picked up momentum when, working his way into the Boston bar scene, he teamed with drummer Jeffrey “Houseman” Clemens and bassist Jimi “Jazz” Prescott. The three quickly recognized their distinctive musical chemistry, and officially became G. Love & Special Sauce. Their 1994 self-titled album was a critical and commercial success, and contained the popular, MTV-embraced single “Cold Beverages.”

Signing with Jack Johnson’s Brushfire label, Love released his solo debut, The Hustle, in 2004 and followed that up with Lemonade in 2006. His solo work doesn’t differ markedly in feel from Special Sauce albums — in fact, the Sauce are always present as Love’s rhythm section — but the solo works include some interesting collaborations: Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Tristan Prettyman, Blackalicious and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos were all featured on Lemonade. Love’s most recent recording, Superhero Brother, another G. Love and Special Sauce effort, is also on Brushfire.

Provenance: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Latest Release: Superhero Brother (2008)

© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.

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