Eden Brent (born November 16, 1965, in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, ninth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, and the largest city by population in the Mississippi Delta region. It is the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, Was ...

, United States) is an American musician on the independent Yellow Dog Records label. A

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and vocalist, she combines

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

with elements of blues, jazz, soul, gospel and pop. Her vocal style has been compared to

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...

Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being " ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

. She took lessons from Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, a traditional blues and boogie woogie piano player and eventually earned the nickname "Little Boogaloo." In 2006, she won the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...

's International Blues Challenge. Along with other awards, Brent garnered two 2009

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 - one for Acoustic Artist of the Year, the other for Acoustic Album of the Year (''Mississippi Number One''). At The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2015, Eden Brent won the award in the "Holiday Song" category for "Valentine". In 2025, Brent was given the 'Pinetop Perkins Piano Player' title at the Blues Music Awards.

History

Eden Brent was born in 1965 and raised in

, where she attended Washington School. Brent studied jazz and music at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Music. When she was 16, Eden Brent met the late blues pioneer, Abie Ames, and began to teach herself how to play his style. Brent has said,

"By the time I was 19, I’d nearly become sort of a groupie. I’d go hear him and request certain songs because I wanted to hear them and sort of watch over his shoulder a bit and watch the way he was playing. Sometimes I’d request the same thing over and over and then go home and try to learn it. Finally, after a few failures of not being able to pick it up on my own I was bold enough to ask him to teach me."

In 1985, Ames took her under his wing for 16 years, nicknaming her Little Boogaloo. This apprenticeship advanced Brent’s talents. She was featured alongside Ames in the 1999

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary, ''Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound,'' and in the 2002 South African production ''Forty Days in the Delta''. Since launching her career, Eden travels the United States and abroad performing in festivals such as

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, G ...

, the

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

, Cognac's Blues Passions, and the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

. She is a frequent piano bar host aboard the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise.

Awards

;Won *2009: "Acoustic Artist of The Year" by the

*2009: "Acoustic Album of Year" by the Blues Foundation *2010: "

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifet ...

Piano Player" by the Blues Foundation *2015: "Holiday Song" award for "Valentine" - 2015 14th Annual Independent Music Awards *2025: "Pinetop Perkins Piano Player" by the Blues Foundation ;Nominated * 2008: " Sean Costello Rising Star Award" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2008: "Blues Song Of The Year" by the Blues Critic Awards Reader's Poll for "Mississippi Number 1" * 2009: "Blues Album of the Year" by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards for "Mississippi Number 1" * 2009: "Blues Song of the Year" by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards for "Until I Die" * 2009: "Best New Artist Debut" by the Blues Foundation for ''Mississippi Number 1'' * 2009: "

Piano Player of the Year" by the Blues Foundation * 2009: "Blues Song Of The Year" finalist at the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for "Mississippi Flatland Blues" * 2009: "Blues Artist of The Year" by the Living Blues Awards * 2009: "Best New Artist Debut Recording" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2009: "Best Female Artist" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2009: "Sean Costello Rising Star Award" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2010: "Most Outstanding Musician – Keyboard" by the Living Blues Awards * 2011: "Blues Album, Adult Contemporary Song" for The Independent Music Awards

Discography

*2003: ''Something Cool'' (Little Boogaloo Records) *2008: ''Mississippi Number One'' ( Yellow Dog Records) *2010: ''Ain't Got No Troubles'' (Yellow Dog Records) *2014: ''Jigsaw Heart'' (Yellow Dog Records) *2018: ''An Eden Brent Christmas'' (with Bob Dowell) (Yellow Dog Records) *2024: ''Getaway Blues'' (Yellow Dog Records)

References

External links

Official Eden Brent website

Yellow Dog Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brent, Eden 1965 births Living people Blues musicians from Mississippi American blues singers American blues pianists Boogie-woogie pianists Musicians from Greenville, Mississippi Singers from Mississippi University of North Texas College of Music alumni 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American musicians