Duke Robillard – Six Strings Of Steel (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:29 minutes | 534 MB | Genre: Blues Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © M.C. Records
Northport NY – On June 23, M.C. Records will be releasing Six Strings of Steel by guitar master Duke Robillard. The record represents all his influences including swing, blues, and rock. You’ll hear Link Wray’s “Rumble”, Dylan’s “Watching The River Flow”, Fats Domino’s “I’m Going To Be A Wheel Someday,” and of course several Duke originals. Six Strings of Steel is the second record Duke has recorded with M.C.Records. The first was 2017’s Duke Robillard and His Dame’s of Rhythm.
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Duke Robillard – Blues Bash! (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:33 minutes | 500 MB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stony Plain Records
“Nothing fancy, just the good old blues.” – Duke Robillard. Duke Robillard has defined himself as not merely a great artist, but also a true historian, scholar and curator who is adept at electric and acoustic blues, jazz, jump, swing, ballads and standards.
Grammy-nominated and a five-time winner of the Blues Award, over his 50 plus year career Duke has been a prolific songwriter and is considered a blues guitar master.
Duke continues to be a sought after side-man and featured guest.
Duke has admitted that his concept for this album was to make a straight vintage style blues album: danceable rhythms, no hook-laden songs? basically a blues party album.
As always, the music is impeccable, classy and powerful.
Two stellar horn sections, searing guitar and organ solos, boogie woogie piano and guest vocalists Chris Cote and Michelle Willson.
Duke is in his element here, displaying his authority, versatility, passion and virtuosity.
Not only is Blues Bash the kind of album that made so many blues fans fall in love with Duke’s music, it’s a career highlight from one of the world’s best.
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Joe Beard feat. Duke Robillard and friends – Dealin’ (2000)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 54:27 minutes | 2,16 GB | Genre: Blues
Source: ISO SACD | © AudioQuest Music
In the blues world it’s OK to be a late bloomer, and when it came to recording, Joe Beard was exactly that. The charismatic singer/guitarist, whose influences range from Jimmy Reed to Lightnin’ Hopkins, worked “day gigs” when his kids were growing up and didn’t start to build a catalog until he was in his fifties. Blues lovers who heard Beard’s AudioQuest dates of the ’90s found themselves saying, “Hey, this guy is very talented; why haven’t I heard of him until now?” And, of course, the answer to that question is that his nine-to-fives and family life had kept him from being a full-time bluesman. But when his kids reached adulthood, the Mississippi native turned Rochester, NY, resident had more time to devote to music. Recorded in April 2000 (when he was 62), Dealin’ is Beard’s third CD for AudioQuest and underscores his ability to handle a variety of electric blues styles. Beard’s appreciation of Reed and the Chicago blues is evident on gutsy, rough-and-tumble tracks like “Give Me Up and Let Me Go,” “My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble,” and “The Bitter Seed,” a Jimmy Reed classic. Like Reed, Beard favors a gentle and laid-back style of singing but still has plenty of grit and doesn’t mind having a tough, hard-driving band behind him. Meanwhile, “Holding a Losing Hand” and “If I Get Lucky” (both Beard originals) go for the sort of moody, shadowy, haunting ambiance that often worked so well for Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. This isn’t to say that Beard is going out of his way to emulate Reed, Hopkins, Hooker, or anyone else. Dealin’ shows who some of his influences are, but it also reminds you that Beard is an appealing bluesman in his own right. –Alex Henderson, AllMusic
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Duke Robillard – Duke Robillard And His Dames Of Rhythm (2017/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:02:01 minutes | 365 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © M.C. Records
“Duke Robillard & His Dames of Rhythm, an eclectic collection of Jazz/Swing tunes from the 1920’s & 30’s. Duke invited some swinging and sultry ladies to the party, Maria Muldaur, Catherine Russell, Kelly Hunt, Sunny Crownover, Elizabeth McGovern (Downtown Abbey) and Madeleine Peyroux. The record features a generous 15 tracks with liner notes from acclaimed producer and D.J. Bob Porter. Duke, a founding member of the acclaimed swing band Roomful of Blues has recorded and toured with a who’s who of roots music including Bob Dylan, Herb Ellis, Big Joe Turner, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ruth Brown, Jay Geils and John Hammond to name several. Duke’ talents have garnered Grammy Award nominations, as well as having won or been nominated for multiple Blues Music Awards and Canadian Maple Blues Awards. > Madeline Peyroux has been compared to Billie Holiday. > To hear Kelly Hunt in this context is a real treat. > Maria Muldaur is no stranger to older material. She has toured with traditional jazz bands performing songs of the ’20s and ’30s. > Catherine Russell is a performer who has occupied a position right on the swing/blues cusp. > Sunny Crownover met Duke Robillard back in 2008 and has they have been part of each other’s projects since that time. Sunny sings with great rhythmic feeling.”
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Duke Robillard – Blues Full Circle (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 51:43 minutes | 606 MB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dixiefrog Records
“This album really does represent a full circle of blues for me. Eight of the tunes are new compositions and three tunes here represent songs I wrote as much as 30 to 45 years ago when I was leader and front man for the original Roomful of Blues in the 1970s. We hope you enjoy our back to the basics approach to the music here. Just straightforward small band, old school blues.” –Duke Robillard
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Duke Robillard – They Called It Rhythm & Blues (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:07:26 minutes | 796 MB | Genre: Blues Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stony Plain Records
Anyone who knows Duke’s music, will immediately smile at the first few seconds of the opening track “Here I’m Is” from the new album They Call It Rhythm & Blues, available on 180g Black vinyl from Stony Plain Records. It’s that joyous jump-blues shuffle sound that Duke has been perfecting since the late 60s. Indeed, every song on this album is about the groove, master musicianship, great understated taste and a perfect band mix that always complements the pulse and the singer. Duke’s guitar is at the center and brings it all together.
For a lifetime Duke Robillard has been playing the jazzy corners of the blues. He was a founder of Roomful of Blues in the early 1970s, and replaced Jimmy Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the 1990s and was a core member of the New Guitar Summit through the 2000s, in addition to releasing an astounding 37 albums on his own.
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