Jeff Black was born circa 1960 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Black received his first guitar as a present for his tenth birthday. In his twenties Black began performing at Blayney's, a Kansas City blues club where he also worked as a bouncer. Soon Black began touring and eventually relocated to Nashville, Tennessee where he met, among others, Iris DeMent (Black lends some backing vocals on DeMent's 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel).
Black's own first album, Birmingham Road, was recorded with the members of the band Wilco, minus lead singer, Jeff Tweedy. The songs have been described as "Fine portraits of American life without the sappiness or self-consciousness often attributed to the singer/songwriter genre."
Paste magazine adds, "The search for spiritual sustenance and lasting meaning underpins Black's reverent, battling the darkness and winning songs."
An American singer-songwriter originally from Kansas City, Missouri and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. His writings have been described in the All Music guide as "impressionistic songs that are smart without forgetting the emotional undercurrent". His songs have been covered by Alison Krauss, Waylon Jennings, and Sam Bush. Jeff Black wrote "Circles Around Me" with Sam Bush for the title track to Sam's 2010 Grammy nominated album. Black has released eight of his own albums and tours widely. He also maintains his monthly podcast, "Black Tuesdays". Featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and listed as “New And Notable” for iTunes music. The podcast features rare takes, live cuts, new songs and previously unreleased tracks. In 2007, Jeff Black was voted one of the top 100 Folk artists of the last 25 years by Boston's WUMB listeners.
"Nothing short of brilliant. Top to bottom, this stuff is special. Black is an artist of substance."
-Billboard Magazine
PopMatters
Jeff Black writes songs that call to mind Greg Brown, Bill Morrissey, and Townes Van Zandt. His voice can make time stand still and his lyrics are some of the finest in the land. This latest set continues a tradition established on earlier albums such as Tin Lily and Honey and Salt, the tradition of an artist delivering songs that are damn near perfectly crafted and filled with the wisdom of the ages. Highlights include “Walking Home”, the title song, “Waiting”, and “What I Would Not Do”. Plow Through The Mystic is worth taking your time with, listening to and absorbing slowly, as one would the work of a fine writer such as William Faulkner. Why? Because you can’t handle the truth men like this speak, not all at once. By Jedd Beaudoin
