VARESE (Italy), September 21st, 2026- by GIANNI BERALDO
A powerhouse pianist, visceral vocalist, and consummate songwriter, Eden Brent is one of the most authentic and celebrated figures on the American scene. Raised in Greenville, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, within an eclectic family of riverboat captains and music lovers, she honed her unique talent under the tutelage of legendary piano master Abie “Boogaloo” Ames, with whom she shared a nearly twenty-year artistic partnership.
Winner of five Blues Music Awards — including the prestigious Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist and accolades as Best Instrumentalist-Piano —, the American artist blends her classical and jazz background with the raw power of Southern juke-joints.
Ahead of the release of her new studio album, Things Going South, recorded at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis and scheduled for release in March 2027, we interviewed her via Zoom to get to know her better.
Here is what she told us.
Growing up in a family of riverboat captains, how did such a unique environment shape your musical identity?
Answer: Well, the earliest musicians in the United States traveled on riverboats to get from place to place. So I think there’s a long history and a rich musical culture along the waterways. I live on the Mississippi River, and just north of where I live is Memphis, Tennessee—a city with an extraordinary musical tradition, only a two-and-a-half-hour drive away. And four hours and fifteen minutes south, you reach New Orleans, Louisiana, another incredibly rich musical environment. I think the river has always inspired a lot of musical talent. Also, back when my father was a captain on a boat, if you were hauling freight up and down the river, there wasn’t much else to do except listen to the radio. My father listened to it a lot, and even today boat captains listen to music to pass the time while steering the vessels.
Just like with the railways in the US—think of country musician Jimmie Rodgers from Meridian, Mississippi, who worked on the railroad. These modes of transport inspired the music and carried people from one place to another, allowing them to hear other musicians and see what they were doing.
I imagine that was a wonderful blend of influences for your music, right?
Oh, absolutely. The waterway is the original musical highway.
Your mother was a big band singer and your family owned the old Hi-Fi stereo system that used to belong to Jerry Lee Lewis. What is your fondest memory of singing or a song with your family?
For as long as I can remember, my father was teaching us songs. We would sing together as a family and sing vocal harmonies. I remember so many occasions sitting around the dinner table after supper, passing the guitar around and all singing together. I only played a very few chords on the guitar, just enough to sing blues standards like “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” My sisters, on the other hand, play the guitar—they are both songwriters. I am actually a pianist, but the guitar is such a beautiful and portable instrument. We grew up in the country, in an old farmhouse. We weren’t a farming family; we were river people.
Farmers usually play country music, don’t they?
Well, if you listen to Jimmie Rodgers sing “Waiting on a Train” and compare it to Mississippi John Hurt’s “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me,” it’s exactly the same song! Yet one is considered blues—even though Mississippi John Hurt actually plays a kind of folk music. You find him in books dedicated to the blues, so there’s a lot of overlap. Living in the heat of Mississippi, I think you were probably more inspired to sing the blues than country, but they are very, very similar genres.
You spent nearly twenty years under the guidance of Boogaloo Ames. What was the absolute most important lesson he taught you about playing and feeling the blues?
There were so many over all those years. One thing he did was encourage me by reminding me that, as musicians, there are many occasions where we perform and people are just chatting and having a good time. Not every time we play is a theater concert where the audience sits in silence listening to every single word; sometimes people are dancing, partying, drinking, talking, and laughing. He would encourage me by saying that people are still enjoying the music, even if they don’t applaud after every song. It’s all part of the experience they are having.
Here is a photo of Boogaloo (I say, looking at a framed photo of him hanging behind Eden).
There he is! A wonderful man.
He looks great in that frame.
That’s an excellent photograph taken by my friend David Henry Williams around 1990.
As a child, you attended the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival, and today you regularly perform on that stage. How does it feel to carry the torch of tradition today?
It’s incredible. I’m living it now, but I never would have believed it as a young girl, when I just went there to listen to the blues and wished I could be a part of it. Even after I had already met Boogaloo and before being invited to play there. On that stage, I saw some of the greatest blues icons perform: Little Milton Campbell, B.B. King, Albert King, Memphis Slim, Koko Taylor, and Denise LaSalle—every kind of artist I deeply admired.
Many years later, I had the chance to meet many of these people and chat with them. Artists like Marcia Ball—she is absolutely one of my
favorites. I always admired how down-to-earth she is, and Denise LaSalle was just the same. The person you meet, shake hands with, and have a cup of coffee with is the exact same person who steps on stage to perform. That’s one of the things I’ve appreciated most about the blues in particular, unlike pop stars who tend to construct a persona. Blues musicians genuinely show who they really are.
Do you prefer playing in a small club or at a festival on a big stage with the band?
I like both. Having built up a lot of experience in smaller venues, I’m probably most comfortable and give my best in an intimate setting.
Because of the contact with the audience?
Exactly. For me, blues music is a true dialogue. It’s classic call-and-response, a genre that encourages interaction. A friend of mine once brilliantly said that what you need for a great party is good alcohol, great music, and a very small room, so people are forced to interact because they keep bumping into each other.
I also love playing the Delta Blues Festival here in my hometown, which has been going since 1977. Next year will be its 50th edition. Virtually every blues artist who has ever recorded a record has played there.
Is musical crossover/blending in the blues—the new blues versus traditional blues—important to you today? Do you think crossover is essential, or do you prefer traditional blues, boogie-woogie, etc.?
Living in a predominantly African American area (Mississippi has the highest per capita Black population of any US state, about 35%), many of the most popular artists at our festival have been Southern Soul artists like Tyrone Davis or Denise LaSalle—what we call Chitlin’ Circuit Blues. Because the American South was segregated for a long time, there was a split in music where this Southern Soul sound developed. Artists like Bobby Rush make Southern Soul music.
I like that genre, but the music I’m best at is probably traditional blues, something closer to B.B. King or Ray Charles. Playing the piano, which is an acoustic instrument, I’ve always been drawn to that kind of acoustic sound. But I love it all, and I think every style has its place. It excites me to see a blues artist and a rap artist collaborate, or when country artists collaborate with bluesmen like Cedric Burnside. It’s always good to collaborate and learn from one another; you have to let people evolve the art form.
With five Blues Music Awards and over 15 nominations across piano, acoustic, and traditional blues, where do you still find creative inspiration?
Lately, my husband and I have been writing together a lot. My husband is a musician from London, and we met on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. More than anything, he inspires me because he introduces me to new ideas and new ways of expressing myself, keeping me from settling into the same old routine. For me, collaboration is essential; otherwise, I would end up just re-doing the things I’m used to.
Earlier you mentioned that when I was young, we had Jerry Lee Lewis’s Hi-Fi stereo system. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had confiscated his gear because he was behind on his taxes, and my father bought it at an auction! Learning new things, like imitating Jerry Lee’s playing style, helps me grow as a musician. So lately, I find my inspiration mainly by collaborating with my husband.
Do you also play guitar, or just piano?
I only play a few chords on the guitar. I am fundamentally a pianist. Being so skilled on the piano, it’s very frustrating trying to play the guitar because I know exactly what I want to do on the piano and can do it instantly, whereas on the guitar, my coordination just isn’t there. If there isn’t a piano around, I can accompany myself on the guitar to sing a few songs, but I would never do a whole concert just on guitar.
It’s also less expensive for an organizer to set up a guitar concert, isn’t it?
Oh, it costs almost nothing! I should probably practice the guitar more just to get more gigs! The guitar is so popular, whereas today there aren’t that many pianists on the scene compared to the number of guitarists. The terrible thing these days is that people are trying to give away their pianos because they are heavy and hard to move. Nobody wants to play the piano anymore, and it’s a tragedy—it’s a wonderful instrument with 88 keys.
Eden, your upcoming album includes themes of protest. What role do you think blues artists have today in addressing contemporary social and political issues?
Today, I don’t see a lot of blues music taking a stand on social issues in the way Mavis Staples does. Unlike in the past, the blues has become almost too polite. I, too, was afraid to express myself until now because I didn’t want to alienate part of my audience. The blues is that place people run to when they really need a friend, comfort, and help.
However, on the new upcoming album, we have an anti-war song, a track about women’s rights, and I call out the governor directly because I think it needs to be done. Some people might not agree with my political views, but the blues has a long history of protest and speaking out. Fannie Lou Hamer coined the phrase: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She fought for change and is remembered for it.
I want people to know that my ears and my heart are open, and I’m willing to listen to your point of view regardless of what you think. But now my mouth is wide open too, and I’m going to keep speaking my mind.
What is your opinion on the current international stance and political climate in the United States?
I think the United States is behaving embarrassingly. At the moment, I feel quite embarrassed by the way we seem to have alienated many
of our friends, not being the ally we promised to be in historic organizations like NATO. Sometimes positive changes happen like a clock’s pendulum: it swings to one side, maybe a bit too far, and then swings back in the right direction. Humanity seems to be moving toward greater openness—an openness toward people who must be allowed to express themselves, love whoever they choose, and express themselves how they want, as long as they don’t harm another person.
Right now, I see that I’ve been exposed to a lot of propaganda that encourages capitalism above all else. It’s been 25 years since the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. It was a terrible day, but in 25 years my thinking has changed. When human lives are at stake, we have to consider things much more carefully. The political climate in the US is unfortunate; we seem terribly divided, and people aren’t talking or listening to each other enough. I hope we can reach some harmony through more blues music—more music, not war.
Speaking of the new album, you recorded at the historic Sam Phillips Recording studio in Memphis. How did the history and atmosphere of that room influence the energy of the session?
It’s a very large studio, so there’s plenty of room for the sound to move around without feeling constrained. In keeping with the openness of this album—my opening up about my opinions and social change—being in that huge studio where groundbreaking artists like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded made history itself feel almost like part of my DNA.
You can breathe musical history in the air. There are wonderful rooms with shag carpet and very 1960s-looking colors. They have a reverb room that gives you an echo effect, so while the tape was running—because we recorded to tape—and we listened back to the tracks, I could hear myself echoing down the hallway. It was a fantastic experience. I was working with some of the greatest Memphis musicians today, and the atmosphere was very open, relaxed, welcoming, and warm. When Sam Phillips was in full swing, I don’t think people had time constraints or looked at the clock during recording sessions. It was an open studio where people wrote and modified things right there in the room. You can hear that everything was recorded live, with all of us standing together in the same room.
Your husband, Bob Dowell, wrote most of the tracks and plays bass on the album. What was the creative dynamic in bringing his compositions to life in the studio?
As the songs were taking shape while Bob and I rehearsed them at home, you couldn’t really picture what the full sound would be like. But from the very first drum hit count-in, everything came alive in a whole new way. Throughout all my formative years, I played piano by myself, because that’s what Boogaloo had prepared me for—to be a solo pianist—so I always imagine songs as solo performances. Once we gathered the band in the studio, there were four of us: Bob on bass, me on piano, a drummer, and a guitarist, plus the horns and organ added later. Having other musicians accompany me meant I didn’t have to work as hard, so I could focus more on singing. It was gorgeous to watch it come alive.
Every album feels like a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of making the next record. On this album, there are many more upbeat, danceable grooves compared to my previous works. There’s probably the best ballad ever, titled “What I Feel”—a divine piece I could picture Ray Charles singing—but almost everything else has a driving rhythm you can dance to, which I think people will really enjoy.
The new album is described as your most “rock” record ever. Is that a fair statement?
It’s not rock and roll, but it is upbeat and danceable, like Jerry Lee Lewis! Even though some of the topics are serious. For example, the
song on women’s rights is called “No Choice,” which is a pretty dark theme, and there’s an anti-war protest song, but none of the tracks sound gloomy or depressing. It’s an energetic album, so people will need to listen closely to the lyrics to understand what I’m singing about.
You used a horn section and a Hammond B3 organ in the studio, correct?
Yes, we have a three-piece horn section and a Hammond B3 organ. My husband Bob plays trombone and writes excellent horn arrangements, which sound fantastic on this record. Horns are the soul of the Memphis sound, and these musicians are true living legends in the city.
Tony Thomas, who plays the Hammond B3 on the new album, plays an organ solo that you’d swear was a Farfisa, because he knows exactly what sound he wants to draw out of those drawbars. He’s a technician as well as a musician—he even works on organ maintenance—and he’s a fabulous player, one of the absolute best.
Producer Dawn Hopkins worked on your first two albums. How was the evolution of your sound with her for this new record?
I met Dawn when I brought Boogaloo to Memphis to record him. We’ve been friends ever since, I think around 1995 or 1997. Anyone who
has played in Memphis or been on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise knows Dawn. She studied sound engineering at Memphis State, ran sound in Memphis, and toured with Isaac Hayes and Mavis Staples.
I never made an album of my own until after Boogaloo passed away, because I was only interested in playing live gigs, not making records. But now I understand the value of capturing a moment with a professional sound rather than just placing a recorder in the room. What I love about Dawn is that she adores pure live sound. She insists on live tracking. I express myself and play much better live because I’m excited and immersed in the moment. Breaking down a recording into separate overdubs takes all the fun out of it—and if you’re not having fun, you might as well do something else!
What do you hope listeners take away from Things Going South when it comes out next year?
That everyone has the right to speak their mind without being hated for it. We all need to listen to each other more and have a bit more compassion for other people’s perspectives. We can disagree and still stay friends. The world wouldn’t be any fun at all if we were all exactly the same—it would be deadly boring. I love that everyone is so different. But above all, I want people to have fun with the new album, because it’s a tremendously fun record.
Can we speak again next year after the release of the new album?
Oh, I would really love that! Let’s do it around March. That’s the plan. We wanted to try to release it right around this time, but I’ve been so busy traveling—I’ve been to France, went to Mallorca to see the total solar eclipse, played in Norway—and I need to get everything lined up to promote the record properly.
I dedicate a lot of time to every album: it’s carefully thought out and planned note by note, moment by moment, and I don’t stop working on it until it’s perfect. That’s why I don’t make an album every year, because I want every record to be truly worth listening to.
So thank you very much, and see you soon—I’d say between February and March!
Thank you Gianni!
