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September 30, 2003 - Tad has informed us that his next CD and his first on Severn Records is slated for a March 2004 release. Check in here for more details as they become available.
Tad will tour Italy in February 2004 with Hammond B3 wizard Albert Marsico. He's also announced a tour of Israel in May 2004.
June 3, 2003 - Tad has just signed with Severn Records - here's their official press release:
Severn Records recently penned a 3-record deal with former Delmark vocalist/harmonica player Tad Robinson. The addition of Tad to our roster continues the Severn Records tradition of signing top-notch performers steeped in the blues and soul traditions.
"Tad is a natural fit with Severn," notes president David Earl. "We’ve been fortunate to record some great contemporary blues and soul vocalists like Darrell Nulisch, Sugar Ray Norcia and Lou Pride. Tad is a wonderful addition to this list and we feel very lucky to have him on the label. His sound is right up our alley and we’re looking forward to releasing his first recording next year."
Originally hailing from Manhattan, where he grew up playing with guitarist Alex Schultz (Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers), Tad now makes his home with his wife and two children in Indiana. He spent the majority of his music career in Chicago where he was recruited to play as a sideman for Dave Specter. After hearing Tad lay vocal tracks for Specter’s Blueplicity, Delmark owner Bob Koester signed him on the spot and two solo projects, One to Infinity and Last Go Round were recorded.
Plans are currently underway to complete Tad’s first release on Severn Records (title TBA). The disc features his longtime friend and collaborator, Alex Schultz, along with bassman Harlan Terson (Otis Rush/Lonnie Brooks), drummer Marty Binder (Albert Collins/Junior Wells/Buddy Guy) plus Benjie Porecki (Severn) and Kevin McKendree (Delbert McClinton) sharing keyboard work. An early 2004 release date is currently scheduled.
Tad Robinson performed at the Café Campus in Montreál at the end of 1999. Francophones can read the review titled "Bleu et blanc" by Claude Côté which includes an interview with Tad; we've also provided an English translation.
Bleu et blanc » (French)
Blue and White » (English)
—— Claude Côté
Au Café Campus–29, Septembre 1999
Acclaimed blues singer courts big time from small—town base
—— David Lindquist
Indianapolis Star–Tuesday, January 19, 1999
Tad Robinson figures he'll compose his "Greencastle blues" in a few years.
For now, the vocalist and harmonica player is concentrating on songs based on experiences he had before moving to the college town of 10,000 residents.
"It's easy now to sit back, catch my breath in Greencastle and sing about what used to be," said rising bluesman Robinson, whose life journey to western Indiana isn't as dramatic or byzantine as one might expect.
Robinson, 42 grew up in New York City and came to the Midwest to attend Indiana University's School of Music in the late '70s.
He moved to Chicago in the mid-80s, where his reputation grew as the Wednesday night performer at Rosa's Lounge on the West Side.
"I went to Chicago to really learn from the masters." Robinson said. "A lot of the Chicago greats would come (to Rosa's) on their off-nights. They would sit at the bar and sit in with the band."
Robinson's most esteemed visitor was Junior Wells, the Chicago harmonica player who often collaborated with guitarist Buddy Guy.
"He could say more in one note" Robinson said of Wells, who died last January at the age of 63. "Sometimes he wouldn't pull the harp out until the last note of a song, just to leave the audience with one note that said everything."
Like Wells, Robinson has an understated approach that proved valuable during a stint as vocalist and harmonica player in Dave Specter's band in the mid-90s.
As leader of his own band, Robinson became the first white blues singer to sign with Delmark Records — a Chicago label that has been home to artist such as Wells, Magic Sam and Otis Rush.
"I think my career is in a good place being with a label as respected as Delmark," said Robinson, who portrayed a bandmate of terrorist Tommy Lee Jones in the 1992 film Under Siege. "That gets you in a lot of doors"
In 1994, Robinson's first solo album, One to Infinity, was a hit among critics. The MusicHound blues album guide, published in 1998, gives One to Infinity "five bones"
—
its highest rating.
Together with family
An established artist no longer tied to a weekly gig in the city, Robinson relocated to Greencastle in 1995.
"When I'm on the road, it doesn't really matter where I call home," Robinson explained. "when I do come home, this is basically where my wife's family is from. We're surrounded by family here. In Chicago, it was just us against the world"
Robinson met his wife, Amy, 17 years ago in Indianapolis.
A member of the Bloomington-based Hesitation Blues Band, robinson was performing at the now defunct Hummingbird nightclub - where Amy was employed.
In Greencastle, Tad and ceramics artist Amy are raising a pair of sons, 9-year old Tyler and 3-year old Avery.
"It's real nice and quiet here," Robinson said. "I find my creative juices are glowing pretty well."
Robinson's new Delmark album, Last Go Round, is a dynamic, authentic and lyrical document of soul-fueled blues.
His Slippery Noodle Inn performance Thursday will serve as a record-release party for the album, which has received airplay on Indianapolis station WFYI-FM 90 and Chicago's WSRT-FM, one of America's most influential multi format stations.
In addition to the title track, the songs I've Got to Go and No Exit Blues are highlights of Last Go Round—Robinson's first recording since leaving Chicago.
"One major theme in a lot of blues literature is a person who doesn't feel right where they are," Robinson said, "They have to leave and are trying to find an exit. Sometimes it's a state of mind you're trying to get out of more than an actual locale. Sometimes it's a metaphor for trying to get away from the blues itself."
A follower of blues harmonica greats such as Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Big Water Horton and Little Walter Jacobs, Robinson said he understands the way travel can haunt a musician.
"The road is a pretty depressing place sometimes," he said, "A lot of my tunes are about that."
European dates
Although he doesn't consider himself a "road warrior" these days, Robinson's 1999 schedule will include a European festival tour.
"People in Europe really respect and are excited about American blues.", said Robinson, who will preform in Switzerland, Italy and Germany this summer. "They're very open, but also very critical."
Pop music writer David Lindquist can be reached at (317) 633-9404 or via e-mail at dindquist@starnews.com
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