BETH HART – BIOGRAPHY
If you have ever seen Beth Hart live or immersed yourself in her music, you know she puts every ounce of her being into her songs. For all those empathetic superpowers, she also needs someone to catch her when she falls. Firebrands inspire; it’s what attracts people to them. However, part of those personalities’ makeup is that they do not wear a harness. They thrive on the freedom and space around them. But, with that comes danger; you need an emotional crash mat, and those save lives. It is something we all need at times throughout our lives.
Beth says about the title track, “This is a true story. I had a moment where I wasn’t in a positive mood, and I was hanging out on the couch, crying pretty hard, and Scott said, ‘Hey, do you need a hug?’ I said, I’ve got nothing inside left to love, and he said, you still got me. I said, hang on a minute; I’ll be right back. I went downstairs and used those words and how he said it. You say something like that, and someone you love says back, but you’ve still got me. It’s true. If I’ve still got him, I’ve still got everything.”
You can see this in the ‘You Still Got Me’ video, poignantly featuring her beloved husband, Scott. Along with the team around her, provide that surface to fall on when she needs it. Her fans adore her, and the feeling is replicated. You can see that night after night on tour; the adulation she receives and that she also gives back, which is why there is a bond like few other artists have. That connection was forged over the last 28 years of releasing music in which she unapologetically wears her heart on her sleeve – like a warrior. Which is precisely what she is.
It’s okay not to be okay. It’s okay to struggle sometimes, and it takes enormous strength to open yourself up to help. Reaching out a hand to have someone hold on to it is strength. This is something that we can all learn.
Beth says about her writing process, “I never write in terms of thinking it’s going to be an album or go to people. When I write, it’s always for the joy of writing or for the challenge of writing, to seek what’s going on. Sometimes, I go just when I’m sad or scared. If I check in on the piano, it sometimes reveals itself. Sometimes a song comes, and sometimes one doesn’t. Either way, there’s comfort there.”
Beth explains the messaging within the songs: “I leave that up to the listener to decide. Personally, I know what it is for right now. One of the beautiful things I love about songs and albums is that over time, that meaning changes. I like to keep that open because there’s a lot I can learn from it. Often, when I write a song, I know what that means to me at that moment. But a year will go by, and it means something totally different.”
You don’t have to look too hard to find moments of daylight throughout the album. You can see it in the song, ‘Little Heartbreak Girl’, as it pierces through the clouds like spears of hope and power. “Little Heartbreak Girl, you’re on your own,” she yearns but follows with “Little Heartbreak Girl, stronger than stone.” Still, it’s the lyric “You’re gonna conquer the world” scattered throughout that stands atop the mountain, planting a flag into the stone.
The decadent groove-laden funk of “Suga N My Bowl” features the dextrous fire fingers of Southpaw wizard and longtime friend Eric Gales. Gales says, “It is truly an honour to be part of anything having to do with our friend Beth Hart. She reached out to us, letting us know of this powerful song she’d been writing and workin’ on, and she felt it was a perfect fit for me. Of course, when I heard it, I said, ABSOLUTELY!!! Beth, LaDonna, and I have been good friends for quite some time. And we love her. I’m so honoured that she thought of me to participate on it. It’s a very powerful song!”
“Eric Gales is a badass, and I got very blessed,” Hart says. “I wasn’t there as it was sent to another studio. I heard this from his wife, the gorgeous, talented, badass LaDonna. He came in, they played the first couple of bars of the song, and he said, alright, I got it and did one take, and he’s like, I’m done, I’ll see you later,” she laughs. “That’s how phenomenal Eric Gales is. I love him. I adore him and respect him madly.”
You Still Got Me is Hart’s eleventh studio album, and right here, right now, it finds her riding a career trajectory that has been heading for the stars for several years and keeps soaring. Her most recent albums, ‘ A Tribute To Led Zeppelin’ (2022) and ‘War In My Mind’ (2019), became her highest charting UK and US releases to date, along with crashing into the Top 10 in Germany and France, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, and The Netherlands.
The album erupts with soaring rocker ‘Savior With A Razor’ featuring Guns n’ Roses’ Slash. She snarls out the lyrics, “Dig my bad bones out the trash, sell my sick soul, keep the cash, kiss the preacher, kiss my ass, I’m a rager, like a saviour, with a razor, I’m takin’ the devil down.” The epic Bond-like anthem thunders with nihilistic defiance as Beth’s vocals take the listener through the shadows and smash through the ceiling as Slash’s guitar wraps around the story in an electric fashion.
Talking about working with Beth, Slash says, “Beth Hart is one of my favourite artists to work with. She is an incredible singer/lyricist on so many levels. But Beth is also as sincere and genuine a friend as they come. She’s amazing.”
“Slash is a real team player,” Beth gushes, “I’ve met some incredible people in this business that are high profilers, and that dude is the best team player I’ve ever come across. He’s just a badass with zero ego and knows a lot about the razor’s edge. I got lucky. I reached out and said, ‘Hey man, would you be at all interested?,’ and he was absolutely down. He was totally into it, and I was just shocked.”
The beautiful piano ballad’ Wonderful World’ oozes optimism. “That song was written for and about my beautiful niece,” she says. “However, as time has gone by, I see that it’s really written for the lineage of the women in my family. All the way down the line: my great grandma, my grandma, my mom, my sisters, my niece, and her daughter. So, it’s the lineage and how imperative it is for me to see that, and what a gift to finally see that.”
She offers up a cautionary tale on “Never Underestimate a Gal,” while the Tom’s Waits-esque “Drunk on Valentine” is a tender, Jazzy, smoky barroom ballad. Her “most personal and powerful song on the album” is the haunting socio-political opus “Don’t Call The Police,” an incredibly raw, upsetting, but an essential observational insight on the George Floyd murder – “I got broken-hearted. How can you watch that and not get heartbroken for him, his family and everyone else on the ground,” she explains.
Moving hearts and souls across the globe, her touring has taken her across the world, filling rooms at iconic venues such as Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Selling out shows worldwide, her recent travels have taken her across the US, Europe, and all the way to India, Morocco, Australia, and Canada.
You Still Got Me was recorded in 2023 and produced by Kevin Shirley at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN – housed in a 100-year-old Gothic revival grey-stoned church in the heart of Music Row. Beth’s working relationship with Kevin Shirley goes back to her three collaboration albums with Joe Bonamassa (Don’t Explain, Seesaw, and Black Coffee) and her 2012 studio album Bang Bang, Boom Boom.
Shirley calls her a “Diamond. A living contradiction.” He continues, “She is rough and hard at the core – shining, sophisticated, and polished at presentation. Beth is one of the most formidable musicians I’ve ever worked with. Immensely talented and gifted. This album shows all the facets of the giant gem that is Beth Hart. Razor-edged tracks that have a samurai sword edge, soft and sultry ballads, and heartfelt emotional messages just made recording this album one of the most special I’ve ever done. You have to love her. There is nobody else like her. She is the best.”
“I’m always very controlling and protective of the songs,” Beth says. “One of the things Kevin told me was, “You gotta make sure to keep in mind that this is going to be really fun. Have fun. Let it go. Don’t be so momma bear protective of these songs. I really had to meditate on that, but I did let go and thank God I did. Kevin is badass. He had a great band, too. Phenomenal.”
There is an electrifying connection between Beth and her fans, one that’s almost unrivalled. Her ability to touch people with her music and words that cut through straight to the heart means that she lives every word she sings, and fans hang on to each word, living it with her. You Still Got Me offers fans a chance to hold and comfort her as she continues to navigate her journey with grace and courage.
We all have our “Me” when she sings “You Still Got Me” – a loved one, a friend, a pet, a place, a memory, a song; even in her moments of fragility, Beth Hart continues to inspire. She buries her hand deep and tears her emotions open so we can all see a mirror into ourselves, reminding us that you can feel low, but your inner strength is so much more powerful.
The multi-award-winning and Grammy-nominated Hart is recognized as one of her generation’s most talented voices; she has played by her own rules. She has collaborated with legends and icons, traversed the globe, topped the Billboard Blues charts six times, gone double platinum and had a string of Top 10 charting albums across Europe, Top 30 Official Billboard US charting albums and surpassed 600 million streaming figures and counting.
Beth Hart is a powerhouse in every sense of the word, and …she is a gargantuan BADASS!
