HOT SHOWS - Oct. 15 & 19: Albert Cummings at The Venue & SPACE
The Venue (Aurora)
SPACE (Evanston)
photo by: Jim Summaria
Boston Blues Rocker Albert Cummings to play at The Venue on Oct. 15 and at SPACE Oct. 19, 2026.
Tickets:
About The Artist
Massachusetts born and raised bluesman Albert Cummings had the most unlikely path to becoming a respected professional musician. He earned an associate's degree in construction science and his family trade was building homes. His father also dabbled as a musician. His guitar and fiddle playing impressed the young Cummings.
When he was twelve, his dad gave him a five-string banjo which the pre-teen learned to play by reading Bill Blalock’s Learn How to Play the Banjo books. The first music he learned was bluegrass and country tunes by Hank Williams and Merle Haggard.
Cummings was thirteen when he first listened to guitar master Stevie Ray Vaughan's album Texas Flood. This sparked his interest in the blues that would ignite later on when he found additional inspiration from Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter. These guitar gods prompted him to buy his first six-string. He disliked taking guitar lessons, so he taught himself by playing along with blues records.
The next part of his unimaginable story followed college and a stint in National Guard. It was here, of all places, that Cummings learned that he had a powerful singing voice. He was instructed to lead new recruits in a march and led them in a motivating call-and-response cadence. This moment gave him confidence that he could sing.
His journey to become a professional musician continued with another encounter with Stevie Ray Vaughan. One night while walking around Boston, he looked up and saw the Orpheum Theater marquee that advertised Vaughan and his band Double Trouble. Albert quickly bought a ticket, entered the theatre, and was blown away at what he witnessed. It was that night that he decided to say goodbye to his beloved banjo and focus on the guitar.
But he was still a homebuilder. The family trade. Good money. Security. Music was meant to be a sideline like it was with his dad. Then one fateful day Cummings attended a friend's wedding. The 27-year-old was asked to join the wedding band and it became his a-ha moment. He then knew that performing as a musician was his true calling.
He formed a power trio called Swamp Yankee and released one independently produced album. He soon began recording his own music as a solo artist. He gained footing in the business and was fortunate to share the stage with such luminaries as B.B. King, Susan Tedeschi and Buddy Guy. All the while keeping his hand in the building business... just in case.
He has since released ten studio albums and has worked with SRV Double Trouble bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. In 2006, his Working Man album cracked the top ten on the blues chart for his first big hit. He has toured North America and Europe gaining a reputation as a gifted songwriter, soulful singer and especially a dynamic guitarist. He doesn't tour often but when he does he sells out venues.
Cumming’s impressive playing and technique is grounded in the Texas blues rock mode. Some solos are fiery and others soulful. His voice has the right amount of heartfelt emotion.
In 2022, Cummings released TEN, another milestone in his recording career. The 13-track album demonstrated his willingness to move beyond traditional blues boundaries, incorporating elements of rock, country and Americana. The project also featured Vince Gill on “Last Call.”
Two years later came one of the defining recordings of his career. Released February 16, 2024, through Cummings’ independent Ivy Music Company, Strong brought him together with Grammy-winning producer Tom Hambridge. Recorded at Nashville’s famed Ocean Way Recording Studio, the album blended blues, rock and soul with the raw emotion and guitar driven energy that have defined Cummings’ career. The album’s title seemed particularly fitting for an artist whose career had been built through persistence, independence and decades of life on the road. Strong delivered a career milestone, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Blues Album Sales Chart.
From a young banjo player in Massachusetts, to a builder who didn’t perform blues publicly until his late twenties, to recording alongside the musicians who first inspired him, Albert Cummings has built his career much the same way he approaches his music – with patience, craftsmanship and an uncompromising commitment to doing things his own way.
Today, Cummings stands as a seasoned guitarist, singer, songwriter and performer whose music bridges traditional blues and contemporary blues-rock. Yet after decades of recordings, international touring and a #1 Billboard album, the heart of what he does remains remarkably simple: pick up the guitar, connect with an audience, and play the music he loves.
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