++ Stony Plain Records: Duke Robillard ++

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Duke Robillard's Website: http://www.dukerobillard.com/

Biography:

Independently Blue — it's the title of his new Stony Plain album — and a fine definition of his musical philosophy

Believe it not, there are times when a CDs sleeve notes form the basis of a pretty good bio. And so it is with Nashville writer Ted Drozdowski, who penned the essay that’s part of Duke Robillard’s 19^th album for Stony Plain, aptly named Independently Blue.

Ted tells it exactly like it is: “Over the four-decades-and-more that Duke has plied his unshakeable virtuosity in the studio and on stage, its needle has tilted between all manner of roots music: jazz, R&B, Tex-Mex, rock, urban, backwoods and even into the dimensions of tiki gods and the psychedelic. But it has always come to rest at the blues.

“Independently Blue is a true blues album, but like all of Duke’s work it has a wide arch. His stories plunge deeply into matters of the heart and soul: from the blood and guts basics of human relationships to the heights of the transcendent, and from the streets of New Orleans to the vistas of the astral.”

The soul of Independently Blue is in large part due to the musicians that Robillard has surrounded himself with.

“I’m proud of the way we all play together so effortlessly,” Robillard says. “My band has been together quite a few years now and we have done many recordings under my name and with other artists, so we are pretty quick in the studio and we’ve developed a real language of our own.”

In addition to keyboard player Bruce Bears, Duke’s group includes bassist Brad Hallen and drummer Mark Teixeira. Besides special guest guitarist Monster Mike Welch (who plays on every track and also contributed two songs), the album’s guest players include clarinetist Billy Novick and Roomful of Blues trumpeter Doug Woolverton.

Until recently, the Duke Robillard Band has toured the world non-stop, with breaks only for recording (and sessions like the parts he contributed to Bob Dylan’s 1997 record Time Out of Mind) and an intense tour with Tom Waits.

As an artist, Duke has unwaveringly followed his own road, pursuing his personal vision of excellence and creativity wherever it’s taken him, always guided by the light of his personal North Star, the blues. And that makes Independently Blue both an apt title for this new collection of songs, and a colorful description of the man himself.

Now, new horizons await. But he’ll always remain independently blue…

COVERING (MOST OF) THE BASES IN DUKE ROBILLARD’S BASIC BIOGRAPHY

Any biographical summary of Duke Robillard has to cover a lot of ground. In no particular order:

• His legendary playing skills make him one of the most versatile guitarists on the planet. He’s also a smooth, intimate and engaging singer.

• The Blues Foundation has named Robillard “Best Blues Guitarist” no less than four times, B.B. King says “Duke’s one of the great players” and the Houston Post called him “one of God’s guitarists.”

• He won the Best Traditional Male Artist category at the Blues Awards in Memphis, and his 2009 recording, Stomp! The Blues Tonight gave him his second Grammy nomination (the first was for Guitar Groove-a-Rama, released in 2006).

• Robillard had his first band in high school, and was fascinated from the beginning by the ways in which jazz, swing, and the blues were linked. In 1967, still a teenager, he formed Roomful of Blues, and the band was tight enough and tough enough to accompany two of his heroes, Big Joe Turner and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson on record and in live appearances.

• Roomful of Blues — which still continues, more than 40 years on — gave Duke his first exposure to a wide public, and when he left after a dozen years, he played briefly with rockabilly king Robert Gordon, then cut two albums with the Legendary Blues Band (a sterling group of former members of Muddy Waters’ bands). He led his own group until 1990, then replaced Jimmie Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, before fronting his own band once again.

THE ROAD, IN YOUR TOWN AND JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD

A glance at Duke Robillard’s discography over the 20 years since he signed with Stony Plain in 1993 would suggest that this is a man who lives in the recording studio.

And while it’s a fact that he has made excellent recordings in his own home studio, he’s made even more projects at Lakewest Recording, a Rhode Island facility owned by his manager Jack Gauthier. The task, as always, is to make great music fast and economically, without sacrificing energy, feeling, and sound quality.

This allows him to spend most of his time on tour — he’s a veteran “road warrior” who has played as many as 250 live shows a year, rivaling the legendary tour schedules of Buddy Guy and B.B. King in their younger days. Robillard travels literally from Montreal to Moscow, from Brazil to Barcelona, and from London, England to London, Ontario.

Independently Blue

SPCD 1364

Genre: Blues

Released: 9 April 2013

Release Sheet

Buy ($20 CDN) or

For over four decades, Duke Robillard has been one of the most respected blues and roots music guitarists working today. This release shows endless creativity in bringing new ideas to blues forms. Fellow New England guitar hero Monster Mike Welch is an important contributor providing Duke with a daredevil foil on all tracks.

I Wouldn't-a Done That (4:04)
Below Zero (3:53)
Stapled To The Chicken's Back (4:08)
Patrol Wagon Blues (5:24)
Laurene (2:52)
Moongate (5:56)
I'm Still Laughing (3:25)
Strollin With Lowell And BB (3:46)
You Won't Ever (3:19)
This Man, This Monster (5:05)
Groovin' Slow (5:54)
If This Is Love (4:48)

Latest Releases:

Index of Artists

Duke Robillard's Website: http://www.dukerobillard.com/

Biography:

Independently Blue

Reviews:

Low Down And Tore Up

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Passport to the Blues

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Stomp! The Blues Tonight

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Introducing Sunny And Her Joy Boys

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Rehab [Digital single]

A Swingin' Session With Duke Robillard

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World Full Of Blues

Disc 1

Disc 2

Reviews:

Outtakes and Oddities: The Unheard Duke Robillard [Digital album]

Guitar Groove-A-Rama

Live at the Blackstone River Theatre DVD

The Duke Meets The Earl

Blue Mood

Blues In My Heart

Duke's Blues

Exalted Lover

More Conversations In Swing Guitar

Living With The Blues

Explorer

Conversations in Swing Guitar

New Blues For Modern Man

Stretchin' Out Live