Show Village 2005

Early on a Tuesday morning, Albert Cummings' truck rolls up to a job site. Cell phone attached at the belt, thermos in hand, he stops off to check on the progress of one of his job sites. Nothing out of the ordinary here; Albert Cummings is a third-generation professional builder. What is somewhat odd, however, is the look on his face when he walks in and hears a blues guitar riff on a contractor's boom box.

It's an aggressive, soulful sound and you'd have to be dead for it not to get your attention. Still, the reason it gets Albert's attention is because he wrote it. And performed it. It's the song "Follow Your Soul" from his latest CD, "True to Yourself" currently one of the most popular albums on XM satellite radio's "Bluesville" station.

How does a contractor become a rising-star blues guitarist - and manage to keep his day job? Cummings smiles when he tells the story with a humility that belies his success as a musician. It's not so much an "aw, shucks" attitude as a genuine enthusiasm about living a dream. A dream that began as a Stevie Ray Vaughan fan when Cummings was a teenager. "I always listened to Stevie Ray when I was growing up; I loved that kind of music."

The first time Albert saw his idol perform in concert, he was so impressed, he decided he wanted to play guitar, too. Cummings switched from five-string banjo (which might explain, in part, his amazing dexterity on the strings) and began playing guitar. By all accounts, Cummings was good. When he played, people listened. He'd get a gig here and there or play a wedding and it became something of an addiction to him. "It just started building," he says, quite aware of his choice of words. "But still, I didn't do too much with it at first - after all, I had a business to run."

Cummings' dream became a reality a few years ago when he was invited to play a blues festival at a college in Troy, New York. Not yet having booked the main talent, the show's organizers asked Cummings who he thought might be a good headliner. He suggested Double Trouble, Stevie Ray's old band. To his surprise, they accepted. Even more surprising was what happened after the show. "They came up to me and said 'How come we never heard of you? You should be doing this - you should do an album.'" There's a pause before Cummings relates the next part. "Then they said 'we want to produce your album. And we want to play on it.'"

It's everyone's dream: You're throwing the football to your kids at the local park. A limo stops and out steps Brett Favre. He wants you to be his back-up quarterback. Or you're making ribs on the grill in your backyard when Emeril pops his head over the fence and says "Bam! I want you on my cooking show." Only, for Albert, the dream really happened. "Next thing you know, I'm in the studio, I'm doing national tours, getting write-ups in Guitar magazine. Then all of a sudden I'm on stage with B.B. King and...it's kind of freaky."

In reality, it didn't happen that fast. In fact, Albert is quite pragmatic and methodical - in a way that any builder can appreciate - when it comes to his career. "People ask me all the time, 'Are you ever going to get to a point where you give up your business to follow music full time?'" So far, he doesn't see that happening. Nowadays, Cummings, who builds upperend homes, is more likely to wield a cell phone than a hammer. As a business owner, he knows how to delegate, hiring subcontractors he can trust and checking in when he needs to. His wife helps him run the business. "There was this rumor going around that I just signed a $3.2 million contract with a major label," he says with a laugh. "If that's true, nobody told me. But even if I came into sudden wealth, I really don't see giving [building] up. It's in my blood." But music is never far away.

"Music is a part of the job-site culture," says Cummings. "Builders always play music. It gets you through the day, keeps you moving." There are times, however, when even Cummings will turn the music down or off. "If I'm working through a problem, thinking about rafters or something, I'll shut it down. Otherwise, there's always music."

Most of his gigs are on weekends, which is when Albert works on his Stratocaster. "Building a music career," he says, "is one brick at a time. You focus on every nail, every piece. That's what I do. I'm careful about how I tour. I choose to play in places that will make me stronger. It's like building a house. Build it right, do a good job, word gets out and you'll build another."

For Cummings, this double-life has its moments. Like when he follows his natural instincts to fix things while he's on tour. "If there's something that needs to be fixed, I'll be the guy fixing it and the sound guys will look at me, like, 'Who is this guy?'" He gets that look on both sides. "I was at the lumberyard getting materials for a job site and the guy behind the counter says, 'Hey, Albert. I heard this guy on the radio and he has the same name as you.' That's me, I say, and he's like 'no way.'" But it was. The man who has won two awards from Luxury Home Builder magazine is also featured in GuitarOne magazine.

So what does Cummings have to say to the rest of us about living our dreams? "I say go for it. Life is short, man, do what you love." And, as Albert's success shows us, you don't necessarily have to quit your day job to follow your dreams. "But be careful what you wish for," he says. "Because you just might get it."

See Albert Cummings perform LIVE at IBS. At the Show Village Block Party,
Thursday, 4-6 pm
Friday, 4-6 pm
Saturday, 4-6 pm