Portraits & Passages

Kodac Harrison grew up slowly in Jackson, Ga. where he lived in the same house for the first 18 years of his life. Since then, Kodac has lived in New Orleans, Texas, California, New York City, and high upon a ridge in West Virginia. His home now is in Atlanta where he has fronted several bands and made 10 recordings for two different record labels. Harrison, whose roots are in Blues and Southern Soul, calls his music 'Beatnik Blues,' the Europeans call it 'Bohemian Blues', and Critics call it 'Folk-Soul'. As an acoustic guitarist, he uses a wide variety of tones. The songs he writes are as distinctive as his baritone voice. Kodac is influenced by many authors and songwriters, but occasionally he has to have a fix of Howling Wolf or Otis Redding. Harrison performs solo, as a spoken word artist, and with a band that varies from 3 to 10 pieces. He's written songs for two movies; 'Dead Aim,' and 'Mace,' and appeared on film as a spoken word artist in the indepently produced, 'Prayers From The Phoenix City.' Kodac was a member of the 2000 & 2001 Athens, Ga. Poetry Slam teams. Also in 2001, Kodac was commissioned to write the song he performed at the Andrew Young Tribute. The tribute was hosted by Maya Angelou and Harry Belefonte and attended by 1500 guests including Ray Charles. Harrison was also honored to performed for former President Jimmy Carter at the Carter Center in 2001. In 2002, Kodac was the master of ceromony at the Nader Rally where he introduced and sang with Patti Smith. Kodac was named 'Atlanta's Best Spoken Word Artist 2002' in Atlanta's Creative Loafing. In the spring of 2003, Kodac released his tenth recording, Portraits & Passages, and embarked on his 5th tour of Europe. 'While too many of his peers, longtime veterans of the scene, have given up or stay content to go through the same familiar motions they always have, Kodac Harrison keeps finding new, unconventional avenues to get his art across.' Jeff Clark, Stomp and Stammer, May 2003 'Imagine a Southern Tom Waits or a rural Leonard Cohen. That's as close as we can come to a nut-shell description of the music of Kodac Harrison, a genuinely gifted artist and one of the southeast's musical treasures.' Creative Loafing, Savannah, Ga., 3/3/98 'You gotta hand it to Harrison; his refusal to heed comtemporary trends has lent him a certain authenticity that many lesser talents would kill for. Drawing from the miscreant singer-songwriter tradition of early Tom Waits and Warren Zevon, his cautionary urban tales ring true and rock hard (at any volume).' Robertson, Creative Loafing, Atlanta, Ga. 8/26/00 'Kodac Harrison-The Blue Plate Special man works poetry and spoken word in with his folk-soul to produce music of rare intellingence and passion. An unforgettable performer and a local hero of sorts, Harrison's husky voice and presence can captivate even in the midst of the crowds.' Hal Horowitz, Creative Loafing, Atlanta, Ga. 4/4/01 'Kodac Harrison introduced himself and started to play. Wow! Bluesy and poetic, he puts on a show. He dances, he sings, and gets you lost in the rhythm of his music. Every once in a while, in the midst of your toe tapping, you might actually notice a lyric. Some of them just jump out at you and scream. You hear spoken word and blusey rhythms, then all of a sudden...BAM! He rocks out and slaps you in the face.' Nykki Lawstuen, Creative Loafing Savannah, Ga. 6/10/00 'Kodac Harrison's Songtexte sind Literatur, sind Gedichte.' 'Kodac Harrison's lyrics are l