A.J. Ghent makes his steel guitar sing the way a human voice does — not as a trick or a parlor effect, but as the core of what he does. He plays Sacred Steel, the tradition his great-uncle Willie Eason helped establish in Southern Pentecostal churches in the 1930s, and he has pushed it somewhere entirely his own. He lands at House of Blues Houston on Saturday, September 26, at 7:00 PM.
About A.J. Ghent
Ghent is Aubrey Ghent Jr., born in Fort Pierce, Florida in 1986. He is the third generation of his family to carry the Sacred Steel lineage — his grandfather Henry Nelson and great-uncle Willie Eason were among its founders; his father, Aubrey Ghent Sr., played it too. Self-taught since age 12, he was eventually shown the door by the Pentecostal church that raised him — his progressive playing style and, by his own description, his Liberace-at-church aesthetic did not fit the organization’s expectations. He has been playing forward ever since.
What Ghent does with a steel guitar is still surprising if you have not heard it. He plays standing up, overhand, the instrument held against his body while he draws tones from it that land in the register of a voice. He calls the sound “neo blues” — blues, R&B, church music, hip-hop, funk, and 1950s–60s rock and soul collapsed into a single thing. His album The Neo Blues Project debuted at #7 on the Blues Billboard Charts in 2018. Healing Soundwaves followed in November 2022. He has opened for the Allman Brothers Band and appeared on Zac Brown’s Grohl Sessions Vol. 1 alongside Dave Grohl. His 2026 tour runs through Cincinnati, Detroit, Alexandria, and Atlanta before reaching Houston.
About House of Blues Houston
House of Blues Houston sits at 1204 Caroline St, and it has long been the room where R&B and soul touring acts route through when they come to Houston. The lineage of Black American roots music that Ghent’s work draws from has passed through that stage many times. The room holds 1,800. VIP upgrades — Foundation Room access and Fast Lane — are available at checkout.
Tickets & Details
Show time is 7:00 PM on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Tickets are available via the link below.