Ernie Hawkins (born Ernest Leroy Hawkins, 1947,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania) is an American acoustic

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 ...

guitar player, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and educator. Hawkins, along with fellow bluesmen

Stefan Grossman Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs. ...

and Roy Bookbinder, studied with blues legend Reverend Gary Davis in New York City in 1965 and 1966. Over the years, he learned a variety of styles, including Piedmont blues,

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

, and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

. In 1969, Hawkins moved back to his hometown of Pittsburgh, and enrolled at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, earning a degree in philosophy. In 1973, he moved to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

for graduate school and earned a PhD in phenomenological psychology at the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a Private university, private Catholic church, Catholic university in Irving, Texas, United States. Established in 1956, it is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Southern Associat ...

, though he remained active in music, studying and performing with Mance Lipscomb, Robert Pete Williams, Fred McDowell, and Robert "Nyles" Jones. In 1978, Hawkins decided to put aside his psychology career and become a full-time musician. In the mid 1980s, he returned to Pittsburgh, and for the next ten years played lead guitar with the local R&B act Gary Belloma and the Blue Bombers. Over the years, he played with blues musicians Reverend Gary Davis, Son House, Mance Lipscomb, Fred McDowell, Jim Brewer and others, and has been featured in ''

Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing O ...

'', ''Fingerstyle Guitar'', '' Dirty Linen'', ''

Acoustic Guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

'', ''Blues Revue'' and '' Vintage Guitar'' magazines. He has appeared on

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

, Mountain Stage,

WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour The ''WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour'' is a radio program created, produced, and hosted by folk singer Michael Johnathon. Background WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour is a live audience celebration of grassroots artists and music. Old song are ve ...

and

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

. Hawkins appeared on

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song " Midnight at the Oasis" and h ...

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

and

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, " ...

nominated album ''Richland Woman Blues'' (2001), and was the guitarist for the national support tour. He lives in Pittsburgh, and continues to perform nationally and internationally and to record, teach, and advocate for blues music.

Discography

*''Ragtime Signatures'', 1980 *''Blues Advice'' Orchard, 1996 *''Bluesified'' Say Mo', 2000 *''Mean Little Poodle'' Say Mo', 2002 *''Rags and Bones'' Say Mo', 2005 *''Whinin' Boy'' Corona Records, 2010 *''Monongahela Rye'' Corona Records, 2014

Awards

Independent Music Awards 2012: "Shuffle Rag" – Best Cover Song"11th Annual Independent Music Awards Winners Announced!"
Independent Music Awards, May 2, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

References

External links

Official Website
* allmusic entrybr>Ernie Hawkins
interview and music from the CD Whinin' Boy
Ernie Hawkins -Pittsburgh Music History Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Ernie 1947 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Country blues musicians Fingerstyle guitarists Musicians from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh alumni University of Dallas alumni Singers from Pennsylvania Guitarists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians