Blake Hazard

by Matt Ashare

I first caught Blake Hazard by accident, a couple of years ago, when she was singing background vocals with Jason Hatfield upstairs at the Middle East. Jason was supporting his band Starhustler's debut CD with a couple of stripped-down acoustic shows, and Hazard, as she remembers it, had only recently struck up a cross-country musical friendship with him after they met at a yoga clinic in Lenox. In any case, the standout moment from that show came when the blonde, bohemian-looking young woman up there with Hatfield delivered a pristine yet gutsy, note-perfect version of the Rickie Lee Jones classic "Chuck E's in Love." If she ever decides to front a band, I remember thinking, she'll be dangerous.

Well, Hazard, who moved to Boston last year to attend Harvard, is now fronting a band. And from the sound of her first demo tape -- which features three sweet-and-sultry country-rock tunes and backing from Buttercup guitarist Mike Leahy, Helium drummer Shawn Devlin, bassist Brian Dunton, former Blood Oranges mandolinist Jimmy Ryan, and Rich Gilbert on pedal steel -- Hazard is fast becoming one of the most promising undiscovered talents on the local scene.

The country thing, she explains, "comes naturally. My dad used to sing talking blues to me when I was a kid. He was born in Kentucky, and he taught me Emmylou Harris tunes when I was young."

But Hazard, whose great-grandfather was F. Scott Fitzgerald, isn't limiting herself to roots rock. Along with booking acoustic solo gigs -- including a slot this Wednesday at Green Street Grill and an upcoming gig opening for Catie Curtis at Club Passim -- she's also been recording some techno-tinged versions of a few tunes. "I want to get into electronic music, like Beth Orton, doing acoustic stuff with electronics. We've mainly been messing around with adding hip-hoppy beats and keyboards to acoustic songs on four-track."

Hazard has also kept up her association with Hatfield, singing and contributing a song of her own to Starhustler's second CD, Vapid Drivel (Dirt), and participating in the sessions for a forthcoming Starhustler disc.

"I haven't played with a band a whole lot," she admits, "so in some ways I'm more comfortable playing solo. But I'm getting used to it."