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Singer, songwriter and guitarist Jake Lear is a new name in the blues world having just released his second album LOST TIME BLUES. LOSTTIME BLUES was released in 2009 just a year after his debut album LOVE AND CHARM. LOST TIME BLUES has been praised by critics. Lee Borland of Blues Matters writes, “With “Lost Time Blues”, his second in a short space of time Lear offers something that a lot of his peers fundamentally fail to achieve: he manages to live up to and do justice to the legends that he claims to draw influence from.” Borland goes on to say that “In fact, one listen of opener ‘Streets Of Michelangelo’ brings the listener back to the heydays of hearing SRV’s ‘Couldn’t Stand The Weather’ for the first time, while ‘Leave This Town’ urges to be played in a dimly lit, whiskey stenched Mississippi juke joint… With an abundance of guitarists hitting the Blues world in 2009, aiming to be the next Bonamassa, it’s becoming somewhat difficult to sort the best from the rest. Judging by this latest release however, Jake Lear is a name to keep an eye out for.” Mark Uricheck of Elmore Magazine writes, “Take the intensity of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s scorching guitar technique and apply it to Bob Dylan’s stark, earnest songwriting. Add in a sense of spontaneity and inspiration, and what you now have is the music of bluesman, Jake Lear.”

Born in Vermont, a far cry from the birthplace of the blues but raised on the music of Blues, Folk and Country, Lear began playing guitar at a young age and was first inspired by Buddy Guy’s album A Man and the Blues. Lear often describes first hearing Guy’s Stone Crazy as a life altering moment. It was this moment that Jake says he found his calling. Lear quickly discovered the music of John Lee Hooker, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Elmore James and sites all of these as major influences on his own music. Through high school Lear, who is self taught, dedicated himself to learning the music of the blues greats. After high school Lear left home and lived for short periods in Boston, Austin and NYC all the while playing music and forming his own unique sound. In 2003 Lear moved to the industrial city of Binghamton, NY and quickly established himself on the music scene. Among the abandoned factories and burgeoning art scene Jake found an environment to flourish as a young artist creating music and playing gigs in Binghamton, Pennsylvania and NYC three to four times per week. In 2005, Before Jake even released his debut album, he was asked to play his first major festival on the emerging artist stage at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage festival in Helena, Arkansas and has had the great fortune to play with or open for the likes of Anson Funderburgh, David Lee Durham, Bill Abel, Eddie Shaw, Paul Geremia and has been on bills with legends Honey Boy Edwards, T-Model Ford, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and many more.

2009 will see Jake Lear spending the summer in Memphis, TN while performing at festival from Italy to Bogota Columbia.