An conversation with blues sensation Robin Rogers
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April 2, 2008.
Recently, I was on
business in North Carolina and had the chance to follow after a
suggestion I received from a good friend in Oregon. Steve Spoulos, a
DJ for Breakfast with the Blues at KVRM pointed me in the direction
of a new up in coming artist in the Charlotte area by the name of
Robin Rogers. I had met Steve through a few message boards and DJ
forums on the internet for the blues folks out there spinning tunes
on commercial radio. He had sent me CDs in the past and hadn’t
steered me in the wrong direction yet so I figured I’d give it a
shot.
I listened to a few of Robin’s tunes on the wonderful band PR
tool of MySpace, but other than that I had knew little about her. On
Wednesday of my business trip I was able to sit
down with Robin and
her husband Tony who happens to play guitar and write songs with her
at a little Italian restaurant in Gastonia NC for an intimate
conversation about life as a musician, living the blues, and
singing.
Ben Cox:
How did you get started on blues? What was
your leaping off point?
Robin Rogers:
I sang a lot of rock in my early twenties. You
know, Joplin, Bad
Company, Led Zeppelin and was drawn with the stuff that had the
blues elements in them. I was always a big fan of Bonnie Raitt from
way back in the early 70s, too. People compare our voices.
BC: Is that
when you started singing, in your early twenties? Or did
you start
sooner?
RR: When I
was about nine I did an acapella version of “What Child Is This?” at
elementary school for a Christmas program and heard this. (claps
hands) I was addicted to singing after that. My mother was a
singer, too. I sang a lot with my mom’s friends who were musicians.
We did some Patsy Cline songs. (smiles) I worked as court
reporter in the 80s in Florida and did some singing while I was
there. However, I got into blues really heavy about 10 years ago
after I joined the Charlotte Blues Society. Tony and I met up and
started researching and listening to stuff like crazy. Eventually,
we started writing songs together and started playing gigs together.
While at one of our duo gigs, Jim Brock, a local producer heard us
and emailed me and eventually we recorded our first release 2001’s
Time For Myself.
BC: How do
you guys go about writing your songs together?
RR: I
usually come up with a melody or some lyrics
and sing them to Tony.
Or Tony will be playing something on the guitar and it puts me in a
mood or I hear some lyrics in my head and just start singing. From
there, the songs usually come together.
BC: Tell me
a little about your second album with the band
you guys put
together.
RR: Well,
after the local success of Time For Myself we put a band
together and did a lot of gigs around the area. Eventually we went
to the IBC in 2003 and made the finals. Since we got that far, we
had won a little bit of studio time. We looked at the band and since
we already had a lot of these songs tight from the challenge, we
wanted to memorialize our trip there and made the CD.
BC: I
notice that it’s a lot of covers of old pre-war
stuff.
Tony Rogers:
Yeah, we like a lot of that old stuff especially
the Skip James and
Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton stuff but we found that a newer
audience doesn’t really listen to it that much. We worked out the
arrangements first with just Robin and I, and then we added the
whole band giving it a much more contemporary feel to the music.
RR: We
wanted the newer audience to be able to see that history that we had
been studying and we wanted it to have a vehicle to a new audience
so we could get some younger folks involved in the blues.
So the
album came out locally and was eventually picked up by the now
closed 95North label from Boston, who repackaged it with a few new
songs and re-released it for us in mid-2005. It was called Crazy
Cryin’ Blues and in 2005 we won Best Self-Produced CD of 2005
from the Blues Foundation at the IBC. It was later in the year that
95North signed us.
BC: I hear
you met a good friend at the IBC in
2003.
RR: Yes, I
met Janiva Magness at the venue we played at the opening night of
the IBC. I met her off stage and she said, “Wow, I love what you’re
doing,” and we exchanged contact information and exchanged CDs. I
really was overwhelmed with how gracious she was. She introduced us
to all the folks in her entourage that evening and was sincerely
helpful. She had nothing to gain out of that. Sometimes, artists
have a very competitive, exclusionary attitude when it comes to the
business and other artists and it just surprised me. She has been a
close ally and mentor ever since then and has really helped me out
and given us some valuable information.
BC: I
take it that she’s been a major influence on
your singing. Are their
any other blues women out there that influence you?
RR: I’ve
already mentioned Bonnie Raitt. I love Mavis Staples…and Irma Thomas
and of course Janiva is just amazing.
BC: What
are some of the strangest gigs you’ve ever played?
TR: I like to talk to musicians about this, too about what’s
the oddest places they’ve played because when you do this for a
living, survival is the number one priority.
RR: You’re
not going to tell him about the gas station gig
are you? (covers
face with her hands)
TR: Yeah,
we played the opening of a gas station one time. We were out front
playing while folks were pumping gas. It some kind of grand opening
for the Chamber of Commerce or something.
RR: It
wasn’t necessarily a strange gig but I just felt out of place
because people were so quiet and attentive. We opened for Janiva
Magness at a college in Kentucky and some of the crowd were season
ticket holders who support the college you wouldn’t exactly peg them
as a blues loving crowd if you know what I mean and they were so
quiet and respectful. I felt that way when I went to Europe with
Sharrie Williams, too. People were listening.
TR: Then,
one time we played in the corner of a jewelry store for a benefit
auction, too. (laughs)
BC: I’ve
heard that you have a new album coming out this year.
RR: Yes, we
are recently working out a deal with Blind Pig Records to release
our third album. We’ve written seven of the eleven tracks on the
disc and it is much more contemporary compared to our last
release.
We’re hoping it does really well. One of the songs called “Color
Blind Angel” has been entered in the International Songwriting
Competition and has made the finals of the Blues category. The song
is about Viola Louizzo, who was the only white woman killed by the
KKK during the Civil Rights movement. Bruce Iglauer, Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, John Mayall and Tom Waits are some of the judges.
BC: I can’t
wait to hear it. It sounds like its going to
be something to watch
for in 2008. Thanks for sitting with me and answering a few
questions. It’s been a pleasure.
EDITORS NOTE Since this interview Robin Rogers has just
won the Silver in the International Song Writing Competition
Her song "Color-Blind Angel" took Second Place
in the Blues category. ISC received over 15,000 entries from 100
countries throughout the world, so this is a noteworthy achievement.
Interviewer Ben Cox is a Blues
Songwriter,
Musician, DJ and Journalist. |