Block, Rory

Aurora Blok was born on November 6, 1949 in Princeton , New Jersey into a family of Czech origin; grew up in Manhattan , New York . In the 1960s , her father owned a shoe store in Greenwich Village , where sometimes musicians such as Peter Rowan , Jeff Muldur , John Sebastian and others ^[1] . She began to play the guitar at the age of 10, and in her youth, every Sunday, she took part in jam sessions in Washington Square Park in New York. It was during this period that Blok became acquainted with the music of the most influential musicians of the 20th century delta blues . She often visited the Bronx , where she took her first blues and gospel music lessons from Gary Davis .

When Blok was in high school, her parents separated. At age 15, she traveled with a guitar and several friends to California, where she stayed in many small towns. Thanks to this, her repertoire was enriched with many country blues songs, and she herself found her finger style of playing the guitar and slide guitar . In the mid-60s, Blok recorded a training disc entitled “How to Play the Blues on Guitar” (under the pseudonym Sunshine Kate), but then left the music for a decade to devote time to the family. In the mid and late 70s, she released several records. A record deal was later made with the Boston label Rounder, on which Block released High Heeled Blues in 1981 .

In 1996, Blok received the WC Handy Awards , first for “The Best Traditional Album” ( When a Woman Gets the Blues ), and in 1997 and 1998 as “The Best Performer of Traditional Blues”. In 1997 , she was elected to the CAMA Hall of Fame, and in 1999 she received another WC Handy Award for the “Best Acoustic Blues Singer ” ( Confessions of a Blues Singer ).

Throughout the 90s and the beginning of the 21st century , Blok continued to tour after its popularity grew in Europe and Scandinavia . She was often accompanied by her son, Jordan Block Waldin, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who also took part in the recordings of her albums. He left the band in 2002 after the release of i'm Every Woman album to pursue a career as a designer of eco-buildings and energy systems. In 2003, after a long collaboration with Rounder Records , Block signed a new deal with Telarc, which released Last Fair Deal (2003) and From the Dust (2005).

In recent years, he has been working on a project called The Mentor Series, a collection of tribute albums consisting of cover versions of songs dedicated to blues artists that the singer personally knew.

The first album from The Mentor Series was Blues Walkin 'Like A Man: A Tribute to Son House, released by Canadian label Stony Plain Records in 2008 . Then followed in 2011 by Shake 'Em on Down: A Tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell , in 2012 - I Belong to the Band: A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis , in 2013 - Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt and in 2014 - Hard Luck Child: A Tribute to Skip James . In 2011, Block published his autobiography, “When a Woman Gets the Blues,” and in 2014 announced plans for a special tour in 2015 called “Spirit and the Blues,” in which she intends to perform along with the Straightway Ministries Choir of Utica , a gospel band led by Elder Stephen Johnson, grandson of Robert Johnson .

• 2007 Blues Music Awards for The Lady and Mr Johnson in the “Acoustic Album” category.
• 2014 Blues Music Awards (nomination) for the Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt album in the "acoustic album" category.
• 2014 Blues Music Awards (nomination) in the category "acoustic artist".
• 2015 Blues Music Awards (nomination) for the Hard Luck Child: A Tribute to Skip James album in the acoustic album category.

• Official website
• Rory Block on Allmusic