Smokey Hormel

Smokey Hormel (born 1959), is a session guitarist who has recorded with contemporary pop, rock, and country music musicians.

Music career

Hormel was born and raised in Los Angeles. His uncle owned the The Village Recorders studio. As a teenager he studied with the Texas Playboys, Benny Goodman, and Jimmy Wyble.

In the mid-1980s, he played lead guitar with the Radio Ranch Straight Shooters and later joined The Blasters, with whom he toured the US and Europe from 1988 until 1992. At the same time, he formed The Blue Shadows with Lester Butler, performing weekly in Hollywood. Throughout the early 90s, he toured and recorded with John Doe, the two of them appearing together in the movie Georgia.

In 2000, he moved to New York City, where he formed several bands: Smokey & Miho (2000) with Miho Hatori; Forro in the Dark (2003) with Rob Curto and Mauro Refosco, which recorded and performed with David Byrne, Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto and Steve Earle; Smokey's Secret Family (2005), which played Brazilian, Caribbean, African, and surf music; and Smokey's Round-Up (2005), a western swing band.

Recording and touring

Hormel played on the album 21 by Adele. From 2009–2011 he recorded and toured with Norah Jones and they appeared together in a TED conference. He toured with Beck in 1996, 2002 and 2014 and appeared on Beck's albums Mutations, Midnite Vultures, Sea Change, and Morning Phase.

He has also played with R. L. Burnside, Johnny Cash, Cibo Matto, Neil Diamond, the Dixie Chicks, Erasmo Carlos, Steve Earle, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Josh Groban, Marianne Faithfull, Wanda Jackson, K. D. Lang, Sean Lennon, Jennifer Nettles, Beth Orton, Kid Rock, Joe Strummer, Justin Timberlake, Rufus Wainwright, and Tom Waits.

From 2004 to 2010, he was a guitarist and composer for the Nickelodeon TV cartoon series The Backyardigans. Hormel's film score work includes Be Kind Rewind, The Cowboy and The Frenchman, The Straight Story, Star Maps, Chuck & Buck, Trees Lounge, Lonesome Jim, Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Certain Women, and I'm Not There.

External links

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