Harrell Davenport

Young Rell

Little Village Foundation

Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport was born in 2007 and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As a child, Young Rell navigated personal struggles and trauma by immersing himself in music born out of oppression and hardship. He found solace in studying and expressing himself through the blues.

At the age of fifteen, Rell reached out by phone to Billy Branch. He soon met Branch at the Pinetop Perkins Blues Camp in Clarksdale, Mississippi, during Branch’s harmonica class. Branch was intrigued by Rell’s deep knowledge of little-known facts about various blues artists.

Young Rell made his Chicago debut in January 2024, performing solo—singing and playing harmonica and guitar—at The University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts, a 500-seat theater. He received a standing ovation and gained hundreds of new fans, all at just seventeen years old. He possessed a natural wit, self-assurance, and the stage presence of someone many years his senior. Rell could easily be described as an “old soul.”

On this inaugural recording, Rell firmly establishes himself as a consummate musician, displaying talent and expertise well beyond his years. He has already been nominated twice by Blues Blast Magazine for the Sean Costello Rising Star Award (2024 and 2025).

Young Rell’s exceptional skills as a songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and vocalist are on full display throughout this deeply personal and heartfelt recording. The album is produced by Matthew Skoller and co-produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California.

Rell is accompanied by Little Village founder and keyboardist Jim Pugh; co-producer and guitarist Kid Andersen; bassists Daquantae “Q” Johnson and Endre Tarczy; and drummer June Core. The horn section, featured on two songs, includes Aaron Lington on tenor and baritone saxophone and Niel Levonius on trumpet. Horn arrangements and background vocals are handled by Larry Batiste. Rell dedicates the album to his late grandfather, Eugene “Sonny” Mack.

Young Rell opens with the witty, tongue-in-cheek “Tomorrow,” which tells the story of an older woman trying to pick him up and take him home. Bass duties are handled by “Q.”

On the beautiful and passionate slow ballad “Fatherless Child,” Young Rell expresses what it feels like to grow up in a household emotionally deprived of a father. He first wrote the song when he was just thirteen years old. He also thanks his mother for being a strong woman. Although not directly mentioned in the song, it’s easy to imagine that Rell’s grandfather played an important role in his upbringing. Tarczy plays bass on the track.

“Spinning” is an original reworking of Tyrone Davis’ 1976 classic “Turning Point.” Featured on the track are Lington on saxophones and Levonius on trumpet. The song clearly had a lasting impact on Young Rell. Once again, Tarczy handles bass duties.

On “Giving Me The Blues,” Young Rell sings with the emotional weight of someone far older than his years: “I’m so tired of these people giving me the blues,” with Q on bass. “Richland Swing,” featuring Tarczy, is a rollicking instrumental highlighted by excellent saxophone work from Lington and fiery guitar playing from Rell.

“Hurt People, Hurt People” opens with Young Rell’s excellent harmonica work and Jim Pugh’s piano accompaniment as Rell reflects on being bullied in school, singing, “when your down on your luck and you have no where to turn, just remember that there’s always a lesson to be learned…”

On “I Be Tryin’,” featuring Q on bass, Rell delivers sharp harmonica and choppy guitar work as he chants, “I be tryin’ so hard, I just about lost my mind.”

The still-topical “Masters Of War,” first recorded by Bob Dylan in 1963, finds Young Rell howling, “you hide behind your desk, you turn and run when the bullets fly…I see thru your eyes, you ain’t worth the blood that runs thru your veins…”

“I’ll Keep It Hot For You” is another humorous tale, with Young Rell wailing, “It’s a cold, cold world, but I’ll keep it hot for you.”

On Fenton Robinson’s “I Hear Some Blues Downstairs,” first recorded in 1977, Young Rell belts, “I’m gonna turn off all my lights, I believe it’s time for me to go to bed…but I hear my friends in the ally, I hear the blues downstairs.”

On the next two songs, Q returns on bass. “Nite Creeper” is another up-tempo harmonica instrumental played with ferocity as Pugh pounds away on piano.

The closer, “The World Don’t Deserve Your Smile,” is delivered like a classic R&B ballad: “well you claim that your tired of being pushed around, you say you’ve had your ups and I know you’ve had your downs, when you say you’ve been mistreated and you claim you’ve been accused, but that’s something woman I would never do, I want you for myself and you don’t need nobody else, ’cause the world don’t deserve your smile.”

Young Rell’s graceful social presence has earned him relationships and experiences with some of the greatest blues artists alive today. He has been championed by Billy Branch, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Bob Margolin, Bernard Allison, and many others. He has performed at the Notodden Blues Festival, the King Biscuit Blues Festival, both of Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero clubs, Red’s Juke Joint in Clarksdale, and aboard the East Coast’s 2026 Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise.

Branch states, “never have I encountered anyone as young as Davenport with such a laser focused drive and ability to play as it was played in the bygone golden era of the masters.”

Many of the songs heard here are autobiographical, as Young Rell sings directly from his own experiences. It doesn’t get much better than Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport.

Richard Ludmerer

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