Robin Rogers

Robin Rogers - Crazy Cryin' Blues - 2004 - Robin Rogers

Unlike the worlds of pop and rock, the blues music community is a small one, with artists supporting and collaborating with each other on a regular basis. When one of their community gets sick, blues artists and fans alike gather together to help out; this closeness makes it all the more tragic when blues music loses one of its own. Sadly, we have to report that blues singer Robin Rogers passed away on Friday, December 17, 2010 at her Gastonia, North Carolina home at the too-young age of 55 years. Rogers had been fighting liver cancer for the past few months, even as her critically-acclaimed 2010 album Back In The Fire was making her a star in the blues world. This week Rogers received a well-deserved Blues Music Award nomination as "Contemporary Female Artist of the Year." Rogers admittedly experienced a rough life. She abused drugs and alcohol, and eked out a hardscrabble existence singing Top 40, country, and even funk music in cover bands before discovering the blues. She found sustenance in the emotional resonance of the blues, kicked her additions and moved to North Carolina in 1989. Rogers and her husband Tony, the guitarist in her band, paid their dues with years of performances in smoky clubs and hotel bars. Wherever she performed, Rogers' incredible voice and dynamic stage presence would stop audiences in their tracks. Rogers hit the national stage with the 2008 release of Treat Me Right by Blind Pig Records. The album earned the singer a coveted Blues Music Award nomination but, more importantly, it introduced her talents to a blues community that instantly fell in love with her voice, her sincerity, and her charisma. More than just her music, Rogers connected with fans through her warmth and engaging personality, which is apparent when listening to both Treat Me Right and Back In The Fire. By blues music standards, where artists regularly perform and record into their 80s and 90s, Rogers was a mere babe in the woods. Rogers had accomplished a lot in a relatively short time, and she leaves behind a strong musical legacy. Her death is a major loss for the blues community at large, and Robin Rogers will be greatly missed by her family, her friends, and her many fans around the world. [from Blues Singer Robin Rogers, R.I.P. By & © Reverend Keith A. Gordon, About.com Guide December 19, 2010 © 2011 About.com. All rights reserved http://blues.about.com/b/2010/12/19/blues-singer-robin-rogers-r-i-p.htm]

The late Charlotte-area blues singer Robin Rogers was only beginning her career as a major performer on the national scene, when she died in December 2010. She'd made a living singing country, Top 40, and funk in cover bands before turning to the blues which came naturally to the self-proclaimed "child of Woodstock" who ran away at age 13, did time in a reform school, and sang on street corners for change. She once said that "I don't recommend anyone having a hard life to help them sing, but there's something to be said for it. It's from my gut." She and husband, guitarist Tony Rogers worked as fulltime musicians, playing bars and restaurants and clubs like The Double Door in Charlotte and Longitude 81 in Fort Mill, where "her incredible voice stopped customers in their tracks". Her "Treat Me Right" album release in 2008 brought her national accolades. She toured nationally and in 2009 was nominated for a Blues Music Award. A true lady of the blues who never achieved her full potential. "Crazy Cryin' Blues" is a good roots/trad. blues album sung and played in a style seldom heard nowadays. Buy her "Back in the Fire" and/or "Treat Me Right" album, and support great blues music. N.B: This is the original 12 track, 2004 release which includes the tracks, "Alma's Romance" (a 17 second sound snippet of Memphis Minnie), and "Crazy Cryin' Blues" but excludes the tracks "He May Be Your Man", "Bossman's Son", "Long John Blues", and "Savannah Poppa" on later CD issues. [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 78.6 MB]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Hesitation Blues - Davis
2 Come on in This House - London
3 It's a Blessing - Trad.
4 Travelin' Blues - Delaney, Johnson
5 Hip Shakin' Mama - Thomas
6 Alma's Romance - Memphis Minnie
7 Wild About That Thing - Williams
8 Crazy Cryin' Blues - Memphis Minnie / McCoy
9 Me and My Chauffeur Blues - Memphis Minnie
10 Black-Eyed Blues - Haenschen / O'Keefe
11 Conjur Man - Douglas
12 Yola My Blues Away - James

MUSICIANS

Robin Rogers (vocals, harmonica)
Tony Rogers (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, resonator guitar)
Max Drake (electric guitar, mandolin)
Kerry Brooks, Ron Brendle (acoustic bass)
Mark Stallings (piano)
Jim Brock (drums, percussion)
Tim Gordon, Ziad Rabie (tenor saxophone)
Jon Thornton (trumpet)

BIO (RIP)

Guitarist, singer, and harmonica ace Robin Rogers' life has been full of hard knocks, sad turns, and delightful coincidences, and she has earned the right to sing the blues the tough, old-fashioned way. As a runaway teen in the late '60s she scratched out an existence however she could, sometimes sleeping in parks and abandoned cars as she bummed around the country to places like Richmond, VA, Atlanta, GA, Ann Arbor, MI, and Coconut Grove, FL, eventually being picked up by the authorities and placed in reform school. When she was released at the age of 15, she went back to her nomadic ways, and soon had developed serious addictions to drugs and alcohol. She also started singing, taught herself guitar, and began performing at house parties, on street corners, and in coffeehouses. In 1979 Rogers relocated to South Florida and recorded for the Sal Soul imprint, settling in Ft. Lauderdale for ten years and eventually kicking her addictions in 1989. A year later in 1990 she moved to North Carolina, where she met her husband, guitarist Tony Rogers. The two began performing as an acoustic blues duo with Rogers turning more and more attention to her harp playing. Producer and drummer Jim Brock heard the duo and recorded a debut album, 2001's Time for Myself, with them. Now working with a full band, which included her husband on guitar, Rogers signed with the 95North label and released 2004's Crazy Cryin' Blues, which was again produced by Brock. She signed with Blind Pig Records in 2008. Her first album for the label, Treat Me Right, appeared later that year. © Steve Leggett © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/robin-rogers-p770441/biography

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Music has been Robin Rogers' consuming passion ever since her days as a teenaged street singer. Possessing a deeply expressive and soulful voice and an infectious enthusiasm for the blues, her Blind Pig debut, "Treat Me Right", opened a lot of eyes and ears to Robin's expansive talents. Among other accolades, Robin was the recipient of the Blues Blast Award for "Best Female Artist" of 2009. In the late sixties when America's youth was "rediscovering the Blues," Robin Rogers was "living the Blues." As a runaway teen trying to escape a troubled home, she made her way to cities like Richmond, Virginia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; and Coconut Grove, Florida. Robin lived the hippie lifestyle of the times, even sharing residence in a commune in Love Valley, North Carolina for one summer, sometimes sleeping in parks, under picnic tables and in abandoned cars. After serving time as a juvenile in reform school for truancy and being out of parental control, she was released at age 15 to begin life on her own. It was a hard life for a young girl, and it wasn't long until Robin was addicted to drugs and alcohol and, thank goodness, to singing! She eventually learned to play guitar and began accompanying herself. Robin performed on the streets, at parties and coffee houses for food and tips, setting the stage for the emergence of an independent, strong-willed spirit and charismatic singer. After hearing the applause of strangers, she knew she was hooked! Her goal was to make a living performing music, and this she has done for over 30 years. Moving to South Florida in 1979 to record for the Sal Soul Label, a subsidiary of RCA, Robin recorded at the well-known Miami Sound Studios and lived in Ft. Lauderdale for the next ten years performing on a full-time basis. As fate would have it, Robin became drug and alcohol free in 1989 and began to turn her life around. She moved to North Carolina in 1990, performing in the Southeast area for the next ten years, recording, writing and enjoying music clean and sober for the first time in many years. Robin got involved with the Charlotte Blues Society in the mid-nineties. Shortly after that, she met and married fellow musician and Blues lover, Tony Rogers. They performed as an acoustic duo, with Tony playing guitar/dobro and Robin on harmonica and percussion. It wasn't too long before she was heard by producer/musician, Jim Brock and was asked to do a CD which was released in 2001 entitled "Time For Myself," a contemporary Blues record which contains six originals penned by Robin and Tony. They put together a band in support of that release and went on to win the 2003 Charlotte Blues Society's Blues Challenge, winning the right to represent Charlotte, North Carolina in Memphis, Tennessee in January 2004. They competed against 98 acts from all over the world in the International Blues Challenge, sponsored by the Blues Foundation. After three nights of tough competition, Robin Rogers and Her Hot Band emerged as one of only nine finalists in the 2004 International Blues Challenge, which was judged by the industry heavyweights including Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Blues recording artist Kenny Neal. Robin and Tony recorded their long-awaited second release, entitled "Crazy, Cryin' Blues," which was released in 2004 and won the "Best Self-Produced CD" award from the Blues Foundation as part of the International Blues Challenge 2005. Robin signed with 95North Records in February 2005 and her self-penned "Caddy Daddy" was included on "Fins, Chrome and the Open Road," a Cadillac Tribute CD released in conjunction with 95North and General Motors Corp. Other artists on the disc include Little Milton, Rory Block, Charlie Musselwhite and Maria Muldaur. Robin has shared the stage with greats like Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Carey Bell, Bob Margolin, Shemekia Copeland, Tommy Castro, Guitar Shorty, Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers, Cephas and Wiggins, Ann Rabson, Roy Bookbinder, Paul Geremia and Sharrie Williams. She joined the roster of Piedmont Talent in February 2006 and performed in Europe in April 2006. Robin signed with Blind Pig in 2008, and her debut release for the label, "Treat Me Right", was issued in June of that year to a universally favorable and enthusiastic reception from fans and critics alike. All Music Guide said "Her husky voice falls between Maria Muldaur's sexy croon and Susan Tedeschi's controlled rasp as she commands attention without oversinging or upstaging the songs. The combination of excellent material and Rogers' compelling voice is what makes this a winner." Hittin' the Note called it "The album that should make Rogers a household name among blues fans." Postscript: Robin passed away on December 17, 2010, succumbing to liver cancer at age 55. © 2006 Blind Pig Records, a division of Whole Hog, Inc. - All Rights Reserved http://www.blindpigrecords.com/index.cfm?section=artists&artistid=86