Hank Harris - Shortcut To Hanksville (2009)

When it comes to musical diversity, Hank Harris has cornered the market. In a market that has so many competing for the same thing, so few are successfully able to offer something new and different. This man accepts the challenge and overcomes the obstacles, side stepping the stereotypes that prevail in his chosen endeavor to construct a musical landscape of his very own. Many artists are content to sound like someone else instead of who they are, not Harris. You can hear who Hank is in his music.

Hank plays in three different musical configurations about 150 nights a year. Anything from weddings and bars to opening up for Merle Haggard, Alice Cooper or The Temptations. Along with Bay Area producer Jimmy Goings and a small army of musicians, Hank has recorded three solo CDs and produced another (Christy Lee Anderson's "Awakening"), scored and recorded two documentaries for South Dakota Public Television, all while continuing to write music at an dizzying pace. He delves into all these disciplines with the attitude of a wide-eyed explorer in a different land. The Black Hills of South Dakota is home and this beautiful area is a constant source of inspiration on a musical and corporeal level. He makes a concerted effort to stay away from television, cell phones and other artificial gadgetry that would upset that connection he has with nature and the all-important musical process that it initiates.