GRADY CHAMPION - STEPPIN’ IN: A TRIBUTE TO Z.Z. HILL

 GRADY CHAMPION - STEPPIN’ IN: A TRIBUTE TO Z.Z. HILL

• LABEL: MALACO RECORDS
  RELEASE DATE: APRIL 26, 2019
• GRADYCHAMPION.COM

Grady Champion wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter by opening his latest release with
‘Down Home Blues,’ a song that has been called the best-known blues song of the 1980s. Champion’s
11th album, “Steppin’ In,” is a loving tribute to fellow Malaco Records’ recording artist, the late great Z.Z.

Hill, who is best known for his recordings in the 1970s and early 1980s, including his 1982 album for the
label, “Down Home,” which stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. Champion is a
torch bearer for the combination of authentic Mississippi blues and contemporary soul styling devised by
Z.Z. Hill that helped to restore the blues to modern black consciousness.


In 2011, Champion released “Dreamin’” that was nominated for two 2012 Blues Music Awards - Best Soul
Blues Album and Song of the Year for ‘Thank You for Giving Me the Blues.’ The song ‘Make That Monkey
Jump’ won a Blues Critic Award in the Best Down Home Blues Song category. In 2013 Grady released
“Tough Times Don’t Last” on his own Grady Shady Music imprint.
Champion signed to the legendary Malaco Records, headquartered in Jackson, MS, in 2013 and his first
full-length release, “Bootleg Whiskey,” was released the following year. In 2016 Malaco released his
sophomore recording with the label, “One Of A Kind.”
“I play what I feel,” says Grady Champion, whose socially conscious lyrics and inspiring live performances
have earned him a 2014 cover story in Living Blues magazine. His appeal has crossed over between
predominantly white fans of traditional blues and predominantly black soul-blues fans. “I think blues has
a bright future…. You just gotta be able to hang in the game.”

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Radio/Publicist: Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon, betsie@blindraccoon.com