Bart Davenport

Bart Davenport (AKA the Mayor of the East Bay) is a West Coast institution. The Berkeley native spent the late 80s fronting various mod-revival groups until putting together seminal Bay Area garage/blues act The Loved Ones. Touring relentlessly, the band developed a devoted Northern Soul fan base throughout the US and Europe (where they remain a jukebox favorite) before calling it quits in the mid 90s. Like so many before him, BD moved from garage blues to blue-eyed soul and formed the Kinetics, one of San Francisco’s most popular late-90s bands. 1000 silly magazine awards and broken venue attendance records later, Bart realized his songwriting could no longer be reigned in by devotion to any one boutique style, and the Kinetics were history. Today, Bart Davenport is a dynamic singer-songwriter who draws from many different styles and influences to make a genre all his own. Writing songs that can be as deep as Gil Scott-Heron, as melodically prescient as early Paul McCartney, and as intricate and poetic as Arthur Lee, Bart has developed a timeless style that is true to the classics without being hopelessly retro. Meanwhile, his years as the showstopping frontman for the Loved Ones and Kinetics honed his chops as a performer, and whether he is playing with a full band or simply by himself with an acoustic guitar he is impossible to ignore. And even his most pop-oriented songs have a depth of soul that will move the most hardened cynic. Ask any musician in the Bay Area, they’ll tell you what’s up.