The jewel of this fall's blues programming at the Café Campus is surely (along with Corey Harris on December 1st) Tad Robinson. No doubt programming director Laurier Gagnon would tell you about his favorite, Paul Oshere, or (and we'd be inclined to agree) Detroit based guitarist, Johnny Basset. But even though I wasn't previously familiar with Tad Robinson, I liked him immediately.

      Just put on his CD, Last Go Round, and you'll understand why. First, in the history of the blues, except for Musselwhite in '69, no white had signed with the traditional blues label, Delmark (Jimmy Dawkins, Otis Rush, etc.), among Chicago blues labels second only to Chess. When the commercial label, Alligator, was founded in the basement of Bruce Iglauer in 1973, Delmark was already a mature record company. The fact that Robinson has been admitted to this inner circle is in itself, revealing. But he belongs there. Robinson sings like a black, exuding the influence of both Otises (Clay and Redding), his biggest influences. "Sweet Soul Music" sang Arthur Conley. Robinson is one of the rare white musicians to really seize the essence of soul.

      Second, there's the contributions of guitarist Alex Schultz (Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Rod Piazza). Schultz, as you saw in Montreal, knows just when a song needs a rhythmic lift, and he also knows how to play with delicacy and discretion when the spotlight is on someone else. He's a backup musician at the head of the class.

      But Robinson isn't just a soul man: with the blues, his harmonica, and the diversity of his repertoire, it's all well balanced. I caught up with him at his home. He said, " When you play almost every evening, you feel the need to tell a story to your public. And you want to play in different kinds of places, to have various influences. Everybody likes variety. You can give them some shuffles on the harmonica, then to change the pace, sing a melodius, story-telling song. The women adore that. Then everybody in the room says, "Hey! This guy can do other things too, not only shuffles." That creates an effect of surprise and a reward. It's what I call my 'nice pretty songs'."

      "You know, there are people who claim that a white can't play good blues. Then why did Muddy Waters hire Jerry Portnoy and Bob Margolin? But the real question, and more to the point is, can a white sing the blues? It's accepted that they can play it, but the jury's out on whether they can sing it. It is, in my opinion, an ongoing debate. When you try to imitate, you get it wrong. So, I simply try to be true in what I'm singing, and try to move the people who listen to me. That's my message, it's all I have to offer."