Product Description
DUKE ROBILLARD
Roll With Me
Stony Plain Records
The question is: What took him so long? Multi-award winner Duke Robillard started this bluesy record in 2005, but after putting down nine tracks, he pivoted and started another session with a different musical concept. That blues album (titled Calling All Blues) got shelved for two decades as he was busy gigging, touring, and making other records.
Thankfully, Rhode Island-based Robillard, along with a full roster of 13 talented musicians, finally got it done – using those nine hot, classic tracks plus a few originals. Roll With Me, Robillard’s last for Stony Plain, pays excellent tributes to blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and Eddy Boyd, along with rock and rollers Fats Domino and Big Joe Turner.
It kicks off with Boyd’s “Blue Coat Man,” a swinging number of course, being Robillard’s favorite genre, with solid rocking boogie piano by Matt McCabe. Things just get hotter from there, with blues classics “Look What You Done” (Waters), featuring vocals by Chris Cote and Sugar Ray Norcia on harp; and Wolf’s “Built For Comfort” (written by Willie Dixon). That was an unfinished track from a different album. However, Robillard said he was a bit nervous about trying to imitate Wolf’s growl at the time. Now, he has faced his fear, and it’s all good.
The classics include two super tributes to Gatemouth Brown – the instrumental “Boogie Uproar” which is just as the title suggests, uproariously fast courtesy of Robillard’s guitar; and “You’ve Got Money,” a big band sound with Cote again on vocals. This one sat on the shelf because Robillard thought the key was too high for his voice. Turner and Domino are paid homage with Turner’s piano-driven “Boogie Woogie Country Girl,” and Domino’s “Are You Going My Way,” a well- arranged New Orleans gem with Doug James contributing fantastic sax.
One of the best on the album, and also from the shelved earlier tracks, is “Give Me Back My Money,” a six-plus minute slow blues written by Robillard. The song, second to last on the record, harkens back to 1960s style blues. The album closes with “Don’t You Want To Roll With Me,” an early song from Robillard’s Roomful Of Blues band days and an anthem for dancing, drinking, and having a good time, something you can surely do listening to this record
Robillard, a New England blues legend, launched his stellar career with Roomful in 1967. He later joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds, played with the Legendary Blues Band, and continues to do solo shows plus leading his latest band. He has 37 albums and has contributed to dozens more with other artists. He has twice won a Blues Music Award for best guitarist, among numerous other awards, and has been nominated twice for a Grammy.
– Karen Nugent
"Back in the early 2000's I was given the OK to start a new blues album for Stony Plain. Somehow after recording nine hot blues tracks, I got another album concept so we started another album session. I said we'd get back to the blues album soon after finishing the new project. As things sometimes go, we got busy with gigging, touring and life. That early blues album we cut kept getting put aside and we kept coming up with new album concepts within months of release of the last one.
Finally, after two decades and dozens of recordings, we got to the place where it was time for my final Stony Plain record. All this time I knew we had to get back to the album we had started back in 2005. I knew those tracks were really strong but until I listened to them again, I didn't realize just how strong they really were." - Duke Robillard Duke Robillard is a legacy blues artist who launched his career with A Roomful of Blues in 1967, joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds, played with the Legendary Blues Band, was one-third of the New Guitar Summit, leads his own band and continues to do solo shows, now in his 75th year. With 37 of his own albums plus contributing to dozens more with other artists, Duke is a master of Blues, Swing, Jump Blues and Jazz, and has won the Best Blues Guitarist WC Handy Award twice. He is twice Grammy nominated, has won 4 Blues Awards as Best Guitarist, 4 Maple Blues Awards for International Artist, the Keeping The Blues Alive Award for record production, and is ranked among the World's Best Blues Artists by Downbeat and Living Blues. As a session guitarist and producer, Duke has recorded with Bob Dylan, John Hammond, Ruth Brown, Billy Boy Arnold, Rosco Gordon, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, Maria Muldaur, Pinetop Perkins, Joe Louis Walker, Johnny Adams and many more.