Terry Robb

Terry Robb at Burnside's 10th Anniversary Party

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More Than A Guitar Guy

Article Reprint from the June 1996 BluesNotes   
Article by: Shelly Garrett   

    Terry Robb is one of very few musicians who is able to make a good living from their music. He does this through versatility, talent, and just plain hard work. His multifaceted career has taken him from his core of Blues, to many different areas. He is a performer, producer, and teacher.

    Unlike musicians who complain about how things aren't the same as they used to be, Terry has adapted to the changing market. He has broadened his definition of himself, and carved out different niches to use his varied talents.

    Terry is a perennial "Muddy Award" winner, and is a "Hall of Fame" inductee in the Acoustic Guitar category.

    This interview was conducted two days after he returned from his honeymoon. He'd already gone back to work the night before, traveling to Eugene to play with Curtis Salgado.

    So now from his new home, set in lush greenery, high above the streets of Downtown Portland...

BN:     What current projects are you working on?

TR:     Most importantly would be the new record.

BN:     Is that an acoustic?

TR:     It's all acoustic, features me, a bass and drums, and some guests. It started out with me listening to Mose Allison, Charlie Rich & Muddy Waters. Then I tried to fuse all of those ideas together. I want the record to be like a Mose Allison record with acoustic guitar, bass and drums, but of course it got a little more involved, but not too bad. There's not a whole lot of production on this. It's not unlike the Acoustic Trio one ("The Terry Robb Acoustic Blues Trio" on Burnside). Albert Reda is playing bass of course, and Jeff Minnieweather is on the drums. I wrote half of the record's songs.

    The last record was mostly a lot of old tunes I'd always wanted to record. This one's got some originals. The song writing kind of narrowed down after recording some tunes, then deciding which ones to use. There's some solo stuff on there. Some instrumental solo stuff, not unlike on the last record. Then there's some guest people, for instance Maria Muldaur sings, does a duet, that was a lot of fun. Eddie Clearwater, and it looks like I'm going to get (John) Fahey to play on a cut and Curtis (Salgado) plays harmonica on a tune.

BN:     Is it on Burnside Records?

TR:     Yes.

BN:     Did you produce it?

TR:     Yes, I did.

BN:     When do you think it will be out?

TR:     We're looking at late summer, or early fall.

BN:     Do you know how many songs will be on it?

TR:     I think there will be 13.

BN:     You talked before about some of the people you had been listening to for this album, what other music have you been listening to?

TR:     The other day I was listening to Big Bill Broonzy. I've been listening to the first two Band albums a lot lately. -And there's always a few good tunes on the radio. I listen to a lot of Country music, as well.

BN:     Do you consider the new record a Blues record?

T R:     Probably, yes. The songs I wrote are Blues songs. A major difference in this recording and the last one is that there is a lot of guitar on it. Alan Hager plays guitar on one tune, but there's no real guitar duet stuff on it. The big difference on this record as opposed to all my other records is that I sing a lot on it. For some reason there's been this request for me to sing more. I can't account for the general public's taste. They insist that I sing more on my records. So I granted them that wish.

BN:     I think that over the last few years you told me that you had been working on your singing?

TR:     Yeah, I can actually sing now, it's almost listenable.  Here's the deal, it's almost like, I don't know anybody who likes to hear their own voice on a playback, right? But, I've always had in my reach really great singers. So if I write a song, like "Jelly Behind The Sun", I think, wouldn't it be great to have Ike Willis sing it? If I write another song, and I think, wouldn't it be great to have Curtis sing this one? I've always gone for the sound of the song in my head. This time it made sense, to sing more, and it made it kind of nice to be self contained. The songs that I wrote fit the way I sing. I could never sing "Say Yeah" off "Jelly Behind The Sun", so I try to pick songs that I can sing.

BN:     How long have you been working on this record?

TR:     Not very long, really. I started it last February. It sounds like it's been a long time, but it's only been, when you add it up, three weeks, maybe a month. I'd go in and record basic tracks, and then I'd have to go out on the road, and then come back and do some more in the studio. The studio I was recording at was going through some remodeling, and I had some other projects I was doing so I stretched it out. I got married and so there's been a lot going on. I wanted to get it all done by May, but I was killing myself. When you produce, arrange and perform, it can be tough. One of the songs on the album, "Louis Collins" is a duet I do with Maria Muldaur. It's a song I've always wanted to record. I was planning on it, and then I got this opportunity to play with her, and I thought it would be great to have her sing it. She knew Mississippi John Hurt, and it's a Mississippi John Hurt song. "Stop This World" is a Mose Allison song. There are horns on the original but I had the horn part played by Paul Chasman, a great guitar player. And Skip Parente, a violin player, played the other horn parts, so its got a really eerie sound to it. The song that Curt plays on is a Muddy Waters song, actually a Willie Dixon song, that Muddy sang. Another song is "I Wants To Be Loved", that Albert sings. Then there are the original tunes, and, of course, I play a couple of Rags.

BN:     I know you are always involved in many different things besides Blues, and doing gigs around town. Are you still doing studio work, or commercials?

TR:     I just did a G.I. Joes commercial, with Craig Carothers singing. I've also been working with Stephan Grossman a lot. He's the guy who's got a big video, audio and book, Blues and Ragtime guitar instruction thing. His books and videos are just phenomenal. He is also the guy who collects all of this rare footage, and puts it out. Like rare Lightnin' Hopkins videos, and John Lee Hooker, really great stuff. I've been working on some of his video projects lately. I've been going down to San Francisco to do that. One of the projects was an instructional video of John Fahey's that I edited. I've been working with Fahey again. So that's been pretty nice. And then there's a girl named Donna Jose, who I've been working on. It's kind of a Country, Bluegrass, Pop record. That's been a lot of fun, I've been looking forward to that.

BN:     Are you working on other projects with John Fahey?

TR:     Yes, he's into some alternative recordings now. He's been doing some recordings for some alternative labels, I've been involved with that.

BN:     What plans do you have for your electric side?

TR:     I think in the next record, I'm going to blend it in. I wanted to do another acoustic record because I wanted to follow up the last one, and that's where my interest has been. Not just my interest, but that's been what I've been developing. I want to start doing both at certain gigs. When I get hired as my electric band, I sometimes bring my acoustic guitar and we can do both. And people seem to like that and that's nice, so any time we get into a concert situation I do that.

BN:     What about any solo work?

TR:     That's what I was doing down in San Francisco, it was all video taped for Stephan's thing. Stephan and I did some really nice duets together. We did two nights in Berkeley, just me and him. John Renborn was there one night and Fahey, they shot the whole thing. Part of that might come out sometime. It was professionally done, using two cameras. Yeah, I like to do the solo stuff, like the stuff I do with Sheila and Backwater Blues at the Clinton St. It depends on the gig. Concert situations, low key situations, great, but not in a bar. I'm playing at the Heathman Pub now too. I like to open for people these days. Because you get on, you do your 45-minute solo thing, then you get off. The whole scene is different now. Portland was a happening club scene in the eighties, now it's all changed because of the demographics, and the drinking laws. Maybe there's a whole scene out there for alternative bands, I don't know.

BN:     It's almost like the younger people are still going out, and it's hard to get the people who are the core blues-loving people out anymore.

TR:     Fortunately I draw a lot of younger people. Probably because I'm a guitar guy, and a lot of those guys are into guitar guys, which is really nice to see. I get a lot of those alternative guys who come to see me. But, I wonder if the new club scene, with the alternative scene, is as strong as we were back in the eighties. Like with the Dandelion, but it wasn't just all Blues. Blues was being played in all the same places The Crazy 8s and Nu Shooz were playing. I noticed around 1991, it really hit the all time low, and it seems to have picked up more now. That was then, we all do something different now. I do something different now too.

BN:     I think that's one of the good things you've been able to do is to branch out.

TR:     I always tell people that playing in a night club is only part of what I do. I have a couple of students, that's part of my career. Also, I have a tendency to lean towards workaholicism, which isn't really a good thing. I've always associated myself with musicians who are successful, and always looked up to them as role models. When Ramblin' Rex took me under his wing, he really showed me a lot of the ropes. When he introduced me to Frank Zappa that had a profound effect on me, his professionalism. I was fortunate to meet people who were together, instead of my heroes being drug addicts.

    The other thing is that it looks like Curtis and I might be doing some more stuff together. We've been talking about doing more of the thing we do, the quartet. We just did a show last night in Eugene. There's even been some sniffing around about us putting something out.

BN:     That would be great! I remember the Wednesday nights at the Dandelion, you guys packed the place every week. People were always asking you to record it.

TR:     It's a pretty special thing, when we get together. People can see that. We can see it, without bragging or anything. We bring a lot of energy to the music. We never recorded it then because we both had other stuff going on, other commitments. I think it would be really cool if we could do that, and he does too. It's just a matter of finding the right time and place.

BN:     Where are you playing around town?

TR:     I'm playing every Tuesday and Thursday with Albert Reda, acoustic, at The Rock Creek Tavern. It's a lot of fun, and it's early, 8-11 pm. I play Wednesdays at The Candlelight, with the electric band.

B N:     What else do you have planned?

TR:     After I get this record out, I want to go out and promote it a lot. And I want to keep writing. I'm on a big writing roll, right now. Then I'll work on the next record, and play some electric guitar. Writing seems to be a big interest to me right now. I'm really comfortable with what I've been doing. I'm really comfortable with myself.

Terry Robb's All-Time Top Ten Essential Blues Recordings

Note:  Although these are Terry's top ten essential recordings, he noted how hard it was to leave B.B. King, Albert King, and Elmore James off the list.

Muddy Awards:

• 1991 Best Traditional Blues Player

• 1992 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1993 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1994 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1994 Inducted into the CBA Hall of Fame for Best Acoustic Guitar

• 1995 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1996 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1997 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1997 Terry Robb Acoustic Blues Trio won Best Traditional Blues Act

• 1998 Best Acoustic Guitarist

• 1999 Best Acoustic Guitarist

Related Links:

• Terry Robb at the All Music Guide

• Find Terry Robb recordings at CD-DB

• Dogpile Mega-search for Terry Robb 

© 1996 Cascade Blues Association