From The Desk Of Beth Hart: My Brother, Mike

Beth Hart’s bio to this point in her 20-plus-year career is very nearly a blues cliché. A youthful beginning, doing great work while toiling in obscurity, struggling with alcohol and substances intended to keep her centered and grounded. It’s a boilerplate blues story, told many times with slight variations. Thankfully, Hart’s recent triumphs have counterbalanced her ancient travails. Last December, Hart took the stage at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., along with guitar icon Jeff Beck, and performed Etta James’ classic “I’d Rather Go Blind” to celebrate Kennedy Center honoree and blues legend Buddy Guy. Hart’s scorchingly soulful vocals and Beck’s sinewy guitar lines brought Guy and the audience to their feet; that performance has been added to the commercial pressing of Bang Bang Boom Boom (Provogue/Mascot), Hart’s powerfully diverse new album. Hart will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on her.

Hart: I’ve never met a smarter person. It’s unnerving sometimes. He’s one of my best friends. He’s done a lot of studying and reading. It seems like he knows about most of everything. He never ever brags, and he’s always going out of his way to make others happy. He makes sure to give people what they need, and I think this makes him so happy. After work, he always comes by our house, and we kick it on the balcony and have a smoke. He and my husband are great friends. I think the thing I honor most in my brother is his ability as such a sensitive person to still be so strong in such a tough world. I thank God for my brother. I’m so proud of him.