Duke Robillard has pretty much reached a point in his career when he knows he doesn’t have to try to impress anyone. He can play what he wants, and if you want to come along for the ride, so much the better. With the Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard, which releases Friday, Robillard makes it clear that he is doing exactly what he wants and having a great time in the process. He’s also made one helluva record, likely to be remembered among his best.
One of the founders of jump blues revival icons A Roomful of Blues, over a career spanning decades, Robillard has explored many avenues of blues, rock and even swing both in his solo work and as a member (replacing Jimmie Vaughan) of the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the early 1990s. Over the course of his career he has also worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Dr. John. To get a flavor of Robillard’s range, check out the snappy After Hours Swing Session from 1990, featuring Robillard channelling Charlie Christian’s swing-era jazz, and the tour-de-force Living With the Blues from 2002. There is also his 2005 collaboration with Ronnie Earl, The Duke Meets the Earl, which was the first collaboration between these two great Roomful alumni.  Independently Blue in 2013 was yet another in a long line of outstanding releases. Last year’s Calling All Blues was a mixed bag that may have been slightly off his best work but it had some great songs nonetheless.
With Acoustic Blues, Robillard has found a front porch, front parlor charm that harkens back to the days when people actually used words like “parlor” to describe rooms in their homes. A multiple Blues Music Award winner, Robillard is normally associated with his jazzy electric blues guitar. This album shows he clearly knows his way around an acoustic instrument as well. Every one of the selections on the album is like a time capsule of Americana that carries the listener to some bygone place and time – from W.C. Handy’s turn-of-the century Memphis and St. Louis to Hank Williams’ Nashville of the 1940s. The album ranges seamlessly from ragtime to blues to old-timey country, all with Robillard’s perfectly casual vocals and legendary guitar (and ukulele) technique.
Among the highlights on the album – and there are many – are the cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Jimmie’s Texas Blues,” on which we get to year Robillard yodel; Robillard’s own “Backyard Paradise,” which, with its seductive clarinet accompaniment from Billy Novick, sweeps the listener into a reverie that takes place in a small town circa 1910 or so; Robbie Robertson’s “Evangeline,” with guest lead vocals from Sunny Crownover; Eddie Miller’s “I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water,” which features some spot-on old-timey guitar picking; the Delmore brothers’ “Nasville Blues;” Handy’s “St. Louis Blues,” which features some saucy clarinet; a pitch perfect cover of Williams’ “Let’s Turn Back the Years;” and the instrumental “Profoundly Blue,” which was written by boogie-woogie pianist Meade Lux Lewis.
Robillard was joined on the album by many, including Crownover and Maria Muldaur on vocals, Mary Flower on guitar and vocals, Marty Ballou and John Packer on bass, Matt McCabe and Jay McShann on piano, Mark Teixeira and Marty Richards on drums, Novick on clarinet, Doug James on baritone sax and harmonica, Dave Babcock on tenor sax, Jerry Portnoy on harmonica, Jon Ross on Mandolin, Russell Gusetti on concertina and the Providence Mandolin Orchestra.
Audio Stream: Duke Robillard, “Profoundly Blue” [audio: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7770435/17%20Profoundly%20Blue.mp3]
About the author: Bill Wilcox is a roots music enthusiast recently relocated from the Washington, DC area to Philadelphia, PA and back again.