Howe Gelb

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Howe Gelb first established his reputation with the band Giant Sand but is best known for his fluid collaborative projects - described by himself as "loose, uncompetitive and mutually supportive" - with changing names and line-ups. In fact he had to wait until 2000 for his first major commercial breakthrough with Chore Of Enchanment. Gelb had emerged initially in 1980, forming Giant Sand with Rainer Ptacek, gradually adding to and changing the line-up as the music developed and recording their first album in 1985 for $400. Other groups splintered off Giant Sand - including Calexico and The Friends of Dean Martinez - while the death of Gelb's great friend Rainer Ptacek in 1997 interrupted plans for a new Giant Sand album. He eventually re-emerged with the breakthrough album project, Chore Of Enchantment, followed by a popular touring show. He also started releasing a series of solo albums and collaborated with, among others, M.Ward, on the Arizona Amp & Alternator project. All the while the style kept changing, with his 2006 album 'Sno Angel Like You strongly influenced by gospel music and in 2011 he worked with Andalusian gipsy flamenco musicians on the album Alegrias, notably showcasing guitarist Raimundo Amador aka A Band Of Gypsies. After a decade living in Denmark, he returned to the desert in Arizona to complete his ambitious 2012 "country opera" Tucson with a 12-piece line-up, which he called Giant Giant Sand, before collaborating with KT Tunstall on her 2013 album Invisible Empire. He followed this with a new, low-key self-produced solo album The Coincidentalist.

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