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Soul-blues Star Tad Robinson
Brings Great Songs to Life
The blues has its share of secrets:
esoteric tunings, regional styles,
rare recordings on long-gone labels
like Vocalion and Cleartone. But Tad
Robinson knows one of the biggest
— how to write and arrange great
songs, and bring them to life.
Robinson’s elegant 2007 album A
New Point of View is full of
perfectly tailored numbers, from
Tad’s own Stax-inspired “Take the
Long Way Home” to Johnnie Taylor’s
“Ain’t That Lovin’ You” — all buoyed
by one of the finest contemporary
voices in blues and soul, and by all
the classic trimmings: lush horns
and strings, poignant guitar
playing, and Robinson’s own poised,
melodic harmonica.
“You have to let people know that a
song is part of you,” Robinson says,
“that you are giving something of
yourself to them in a song. And you
have to create arrangements for that
song that make it sound honest and
real. Then they believe in what
you’re singing as much as you do.
And I need to believe in every song
I perform.”
It’s no wonder A New Point of
View continued the Chicago
bandleader’s string of accolades and
honors dating back to his late ’80s
tenure in the Windy City blues-rock
outfit Big Shoulders. Like his 2004
Severn Records debut Did You Ever
Wonder?, the disc garnered a
Blues Music Award nomination for
“Soul Blues Album of the Year.” And
it triggered Robinson’s third
nomination for “Soul Male Artist of
the Year.”
Robinson’s been formulating his
style — a timeless blend of blues
and soul with flourishes of pop —
all of his life.
“When I was a kid growing up in
Manhattan in the ’60s, I lived in a
neighborhood that was German, Irish,
and Latino, and I went to school in
an African-American/Latino
neighborhood,” he relates. “In those
days everybody had their AM radios
on and their doors and windows open,
so you heard Ray Charles, Aretha
Franklin, British Invasion rock, Sam
Cooke, Otis Redding, and folk music
everywhere you went. It was a big
melting pot, so I feel comfortable
drawing on any of those things if
that’s what it takes to make a song
breathe.”
Of course, what really brings
Robinson’s tunes to life is his
voice. “I’ve consciously worked on
developing my style of singing since
I was a kid,” the 53-year-old
vocalist explains. “I pulled my rock
and soul influences together and
started singing in the school
chorus.”
At the same time he got his first
harmonica from an aunt. His
curiosity about the instrument and
its potential led him to blues. “I
discovered Big Walter Horton, Sonny
Boy Williamson, Junior Wells and
James Cotton, and it just blew my
mind to hear players like that. I
started devouring every blues record
with harmonica I could get my hands
on. Learning the licks became my
apprenticeship, and led me to the
great guitarists and singers and the
rest of the genre.”
That path eventually led Robinson to
Chicago, in the mid-’80s. “I wanted
to be able to hear the great blues
and soul singers in the city — Otis
Clay, Junior Wells, Syl Johnson,
Tyrone Davis, Denise LaSalle — and
be part of that music scene. I
immediately started working in the
clubs. There was a lot happening in
Chicago then, and for two years I
led the Wednesday night house band
at Rosa’s. We’d play the first set,
and the second was an all-star jam
where Junior Wells, Sam Lay, Bob
Stroger, Louis and Dave Myers… just
about everybody at one point or
another… would come play.”
Tad was also drafted by the members
of Big Shoulders to front the band
for a year, and he played jazz gigs,
where he developed a friendship with
Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling.
“Kurt was a major influence on me,”
says Robinson. “I learned
preparedness from him. He studied
his songs so hard that he knew every
nuance of them by the time he got on
stage. Whatever song he did, he knew
the best key and any limitations he
might have, and he was so
comfortable he could improvise at
nearly any point of a song.”
Robinson also began singing
commercial jingles, which
contributed to his improvisational
skills. “You never know what’s going
to be thrown at you in a session,”
he says. “You have to be ready for
any style of music.”
But the soul-blues man’s most
important meeting was with guitarist
Dave Specter. He and Robinson formed
a musical bond on the bandstand at
Rosa’s Lounge, and when Specter
signed with Delmark Records he
invited Robinson to sing on his
debut for the label, 1994’s
Blueplicity. That led to
Robinson’s own recordings with
Delmark, ’94’s One To Infinity
and ’98’s Last Go Round.
“Signing with Severn was another
important step in my evolution as an
artist,” Robinson says. “At Delmark,
we recorded just like we were
playing in a club. We’d just set up
like we were on stage and start
rolling the tape. But when it’s time
to make a new album at Severn I’m
able to work with the musicians for
about a week before we start to
record, and we get to experiment
with tempos and arrangements, and
alter the song list. It really means
that every musician is deep inside
the music before we push the
‘record’ button.”
That strategy along with inspired
song choices and writing has paid
off not only in critical acclaim for
Robinson’s Severn releases, but in a
larger audience and invitations to
play prestigious blues festivals in
the U.S. and Europe.
Robinson’s just recorded all the
tracks for the sequel to A New
Point of View. “Basically, I’d
describe the new one as more of the
same — very soulful and groove
oriented, and the focus is squarely
on my voice,” he says.
“I feel like, musically speaking,
this album will help me move on to
the next chapter,” he continues.
“I’m in a good place creatively
right now. I’ve learned to connect
with my audience through a
collection of songs I’ve developed
that I really believe in. That’s
important, because blues fans can
smell a fraud a mile away. And they
know what we’re doing is 100-percent
real.” |
