Brandon Santini (born February 3, 1982) is an American roots rock and blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Several of his releases have made the national ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Blues Chart. He has been nominated for multiple

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s and multiple Blues Blast Music Awards. '' Blues Blast'' magazine called him "one of the best harp players in the blues scene today." His music is featured in the CBS original television series, “Fire Country,” (S2 E8) and The NBC Peacock Network’s original television series, “Poker Face,” (S1 E4).

Background

Santini was born in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

, United States, and took up harmonica at age 15 after hearing

Blues Traveler Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1987. They are known for their extensive use of segues in live performances, and could be considered a key part of the re-emerging jam band scene of the 1990s, sp ...

vocalist and harmonica player

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life Popper was born on March 29, 1967, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a ...

. Not only influenced by Popper, he was also influenced by the classic blues harp players of the 1950s and 1960s. He moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, at the age of 21 where he mastered playing the blues in clubs on

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, ...

Career

Santini was raised in

Burlington, North Carolina Burlington is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, Alamance and Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which en ...

, then moved to Memphis, Tennessee in his early 20s. His love for the blues took off after discovering John Popper and

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a Western concert flute, classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored ...

He soon formed the band Delta Highway which released an album in 2008 entitled ''The Devil Had A Woman''. After the breakup of Delta Highway, Santini released his debut album, ''Songs of Love, Money and Misery'', in 2011. In 2013, Santini released ''This Time Another Year.'' The album was nominated for numerous Blues Music Awards. It was recorded at the Ardent Studios. His 2019 album, ''The Longshot'', was released to positive reviews and peaked at Number 7 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart. In 2019, Santini became an endorsed artist for

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). It is a subsidiary of Matth. Hohner AG. The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg ...

Harmonicas. He announced his new group Tennessee Redemption, a band co-fronted with Jeff Jensen in mid 2019. He won a Blues Blast Music Award in 2019 for best Contemporary Blues Album. Throughout Santini’s career he has toured the world including concerts throughout North America, Europe, India, and Egypt. Santini has shared the stage with notable artists such as

Beth Hart Beth Hart (born January 24, 1972) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. She rose to fame with the release of her 1999 single "LA Song (Out of This Town)" from her second album ''Screamin' for My Supper''. The single was a number ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

, Gary Clark Jr.,

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago ...

Randy Houser Shawn Randolph Houser (born December 18, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Houser has racked up over half a dozen hits and over 1 billion streams. His How Country Feels album topped the country radio charts with the title ...

Parmalee Parmalee is an American country music band from Parmele, North Carolina. The band consists of brothers Matt Thomas (lead vocals, guitar) and Scott Thomas (drums), along with their cousin Barry Knox (bass) and Josh McSwain (guitar). They are sign ...

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (7 May 1951 – 24 August 2023) was an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as " Fool f ...

(

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

Maggie Bell Margaret Bell (born 12 January 1945) is a Scottish vocalist. She came to fame as co-lead vocalist of the blues rock group Stone the Crows, and was described as the UK's closest counterpart to American singer Janis Joplin. Bell was also promine ...

(

Stone The Crows Stone the Crows were a Scottish blues rock band formed in Glasgow in late 1969. They are remembered for the onstage electrocution of guitarist and founding member Les Harvey. History The band were formed after Maggie Bell was introduced to ...

), Jed Potts,

The Record Company The Record Company is a Grammy-nominated blues rock band from Los Angeles. The members are Chris Vos (guitar, lead vocals), Alex Stiff (bass, backing vocals), and Marc Cazorla (drums, backing vocals). Their music is influenced by blues musician ...

, members of

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, The North Mississippi Allstars, blues legend

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

’ band. Santini has performed numerous times on

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

's Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea Cruise and The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. Santini’s song, “Got Good Lovin” is featured in S1 E4 of The NBC Peacock Network’s original series, “Poker Face” starring

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American producer, director, comedian, writer, actress, and artificial intelligence film studio head. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking o ...

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in '' Blood in Blood Out''. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994) and '' ...

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama '' The Pianist'' (2002) becoming the youngest acto ...

. In addition, his song, “Somebody’s Gotta Go,” is featured in S2 E8 of the CBS original series, “

Fire Country ''Fire Country'' is an American action drama television series created by Max Thieriot, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater for CBS, starring Thieriot. It is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Studios. The series premiered on October 7 ...

,” starring Max Theriot, and is the theme song for The Country Shine podcast with Graham Bunn.

Discography

* ''Songs of Love, Money and Misery'' - 2011 * ''This Time Another Year'' - 2013 * ''Live & Extended!'' - 2015 * ''The Longshot'' - 2019 * ''Tennessee Redemption'' - 2019 * ''Don't Shake The Devil's Hand - 2022''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santini, Brandon American harmonica players Musicians from North Carolina 1982 births Living people