Chuck Leah

Chuck Leah is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. His seven studio albums^[1] span genres that include folk-rock, folk, Americana,^[2] and depression-era blues.^[3] His main instruments include electric, acoustic, and bass guitar,^[4] mandolin, organ, and keyboard.^[5]

Leah was born in the small town of Weslaco, Texas^[6] on October 18, 1972. He began playing music by the time he was three or four years old. Leah recorded for the first time around the age of 10,^[3] getting his start playing bass for various Texas bands.

Beginning in the 1980s, Leah toured with and played bass for a number of bands and artists.^[2] In the 1990s, Leah played in the American country-rock band Tumbleweed. Later in the 2000s, Leah began to work with the Minnesotan group Traveled Ground as producer and musician.^[6] Leah has lived and worked in Italy, Los Angeles, Nashville, Austin, Puerto Rico, Minneapolis, and Houston.^[3][7]

Leah recorded his album, High Stakes, in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2015. High Stakes was produced by Leah, musician and composer Jeff Victor, and sound engineer Evan Bakke,^[2][8] whose credits include Prince, Hippo Campus, Daru Jones, and Sam Nitsch.^[9]  

In 2019, Leah composed and performed an original, live score for the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s presentation of the 1922 silent film Nosferatu.^[10]

In 2020, Leah recorded and released his seventh album, Band of Ghosts, at the Power Station New England in Waterford, Connecticut.^[2] The album's name is, in part, a reference to its recording process: due to COVID-19, recording sessions were socially distanced, with each musician recording alone in the studio.^[3][7] Leah's ensemble for Band of Ghosts included Jeff Victor, Soul Asylum’s Jeremy Tappero, singer Jenn Bostic, Sam Nitsch and bassist Michael Visceglia.^[4] The album was also produced by Chuck Leah and Evan Bakke, through their record label Dos Pistolas.^[4][7]

Through the Blue Hour Music/Dos Pistolas record labels, Leah and Bakke co-produced Wangden Sherpa's 2022 debut album, Tangled in You. Leah also arranged, co-wrote, and played acoustic, 12-string, and bass guitar for the album.