Finding Your Niche With Jan Svihalek

The Art Sisters dig into Valentine’s husband Jan Svihaleks’ path and how that led him to Hill Country Blues and finding his niche.

Recently, Jan assisted in managing and producing Kristi’s EP album, Becoming Memories, and continues to be a musical mentor for her.

Brno guitarist, singer, composer, and lyricist, Jan Švihálek. In 1995, he founded Hoochie Coochie Band, which is still active today, based mainly on the legacy of urban blues of the ’50s. In the 1990’s he was firmly rooted in the Brno experimental underground, participating in the Anna Burešová project. From 2006-2011, he was the guitarist for Nuck Chorris Gang, combining blues, hip hop, and rock into an energetic and humorous mix. Since 2015, he has led Band of Heysek, focused on original work influenced by the rawest offshoots of American blues, especially contemporary electrified similar so-called hill country blues from the Mississippi region. The group debuted in 2017 with the album, Shovel & Mattock, followed two years later by I’m Glad I Met You. In the spring of 2020, the album, Juke My Joint, was released. It was recorded with the legendary guitarist and singer RL Boyce, who was nominated for a Grammy in 2018. The highly acclaimed album, Bad Ideas, was released in Spring 2020, on which Švihálek’s songs with Band of Heysek are played by guitarist Kenny Brown. Recently, he’s been involved in creating music for film, including for the award-winning indie film Zvik Je Zelezna Hul from FoxyMon Production. In his non-musical life, Jan Švihálek is the director of the prestigious private school International School of Brno. He guest lectures on the history and presence of blues music at the Philosophical Faculty at Masaryk University.

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