A good many people became aware of Beth Hart six years ago when her profile was significantly raised, first through her 2011 appearance on renowned guitarist Joe Bonamassa’s Dust Bowl album and their subsequent duet album, Don’t Explain. The following year, she released the Introducing Beth Hart EP — a misnomer if ever there was one — and the full-length My California to very favorable reviews and then sang Etta James’ stone classic, “I’d Rather Go Blind,” with Jeff Beck on guitar as part of the Buddy Guy tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Hart received even more attention when Guy invited her to sing “What You Gonna Do About Me” on his 2013 album Rhythm & Blues, followed by Seesaw, her second duet album with Bonamassa, and the U.S. release of her Jazz/Soul/Pop/Blues hybrid Bang Bang Boom Boom.
In 2015 Hart released Better Than Home, which was the best-received album she’s ever released, at least until she dropped her latest, Fire on the Floor, which came out back in February.
The irony of Hart’s Introducing EP in 2012 was the fact that her career was almost 20 years old at that point. She had won the Female Vocalist category on the Star Search television show in 1993, which led to a recording contract and her debut album, Beth Hart & the Ocean of Souls. After a string of releases, Hart dropped Screamin’ for My Supper in 1999, and her stock rose dramatically as she had a No. 1 hit in New Zealand and nabbed the starring role in the off-Broadway production of Love, Janis.
Not long after that, Hart’s alcohol and pain medication issues necessitated several attempts at rehab, which were only successful when her new doctor found the right formula of meds to treat her long-neglected bipolar condition.
In the new millennium, Hart has had several well-received albums, but her latest successes have been her greatest. Better Than Home was a bona fide hit, making Mojo Magazine’s No. 4 Blues album of the year and hitting the top of the iTunes Blues chart at home and the Dutch sales chart abroad. The early notices for Fire on the Floorindicated that her latest work would build on the incredible momentum of the last six years of hard work and good fortune, particularly as Hart’s genre explorations, which began with Bang Bang Boom Boom, continue on the new album with nods to Jazz and Salsa in combination with the Soul and Blues Rock that comprises her authoritative wheelhouse.
There’s a reason Beth Hart made the top 20 of The Blues magazine’s best Blues singers of all time, and she proves it with every performance and new album.
This article appears in Sep 20-27, 2017.