FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sue Havlish • 1-812-327-5494 • sue.havlish@bigsisterproductions.com
MARK ROBINSON • Have Axe – Will Groove
New CD Releases February 26, 2013
“Strong musical intelligence … a focused, expressive guitarist … ”
—DOWNBEAT
“Excellent debut ... [Quit Your Job - Play Guitar is] a nuanced mix
of blues, soul, and twangy roots-rock ... serpentine guitar play.”
—BLUES REVUE
“Top quality blues guitar … ” —MAVERICK
“[Quit Your Job - Play Guitar is] almost a brilliant album.”
—BLUES MATTERS!
Mark Robinson photo by Gregg Roth
[NASHVILLE, TN] Mark Robinson’s debut album Quit Your Job
— Play Guitar ignited like the first blast of a fireworks display. It was an attention-grabbing harbinger of
even more exciting, incendiary things to come. DJs quickly embraced the disc and About.com Blues, Blues
Underground Network and BluesVan branded it one of 2010’s best.
Now Robinson’s follow-up Have Axe – Will Groove (Blind Chihuahua Records, February 26,
2013) provides an even more colorful and explosive display of the Nashville-based guitarist and
songwriter’s estimable skills. And while the title of Quit Your Job —Play Guitar was autobiographical, the
songs on his new release are even more personal … and dirtier and funkier and grittier. And when it
comes to Robinson’s sterling guitar work, they’re also more colorful.
“Have Axe – Will Groove is about finding my voice as an artist,” Robinson explains. “The songs
are stronger and fit together well, and they all say something about my life and the music that has
guided me along the way: blues, jazz, country, rock and more. And while I’m not the most technical
player in a city full of technical players, I’ve found a style on guitar that’s all my own and lets me share
something positive with people, which is truly a gift.”
The album’s genesis was the song “Drive Real Fast,” the scalding radio-ready boogie that also
opens the set. With a grinding rhythm guitar foundation and Robinson’s lyrics about tossing his cell
phone out the window and hitting the gas, the tune captures a distinctly American longing for freedom
and escape.
“ ‘ Drive Real Fast’ came to me like a bolt of lightning,” he recalls. “I went right onstage with the
band after I wrote it and we performed it. The song gave me the blueprint for the album — keeping
things live, raw and spontaneous, and just paying attention to the things that felt right.”
Several of Have Axe — Will Groove’s tunes showcase Robinson’s depth in the blues tradition —
earned in part through several years on the Chicago scene supporting Sunnyland Slim, Lonnie Brooks,
Son Seals and other legends. “What’s the Matter Baby” revisits the vibe of Chess Records. The title of
“Pull My Coat” comes from hipster slang meaning “fill me in.” (Robinson nicked the term from jazz
composer David Baker, whom he studied under at Indiana University.) Then there’s “Lifetime
Prescription,” a heart-plumbing slow blues that pairs its pain-wracked lyrics with sweet, simmering,
sultry guitar melodies.
He also pushes the envelope as only a confident, mature artist can. “Blue Moon Howl” is a superb
example. There’s rust all over his electric resonator rhythm guitar’s sound, perfectly matching his vocal
evocation of the hoodoo-haunted soul of the blues itself.
(more)
For Robinson, the door to the blues opened when he was a teen, after hearing the Paul
Butterfield Blues Band and the Allman Brothers, which in turn led him to the music of Muddy Waters
and other foundational artists.
Robinson earned a degree in telecommunications from Indiana University in his hometown of
Bloomington, playing with bands and working at a local studio. He was touring in a Top 40 band — and
hating it — when his wife Sue was offered a job in Chicago. And Robinson’s hard-core schooling as a
working blues musician began.
“Chicago was the big leagues, but I started at the bottom,” he says, “although I sure got to play
with some interesting people.” The list includes Tad Robinson, Sunnyland Slim, Byther Smith, Lefty Dizz,
plus Queen of the Blues Koko Taylor and Jimmy Johnson.
“I loved Jimmy’s playing and singing style,” Robinson recounts. “He was a Mississippi musician
at his roots, but could also play some jazz licks beautifully, and his voice is angelic. I asked him for
lessons, and he said, ‘Man, I can’t teach you anything, but I’ve got a gig at Rosa’s next week. You can come
play with me.’ ”
Robinson played four- and five-hour gigs in Chicago’s blues haunts with Johnson for the next
two months without pay. “Then one night, he came over and handed me some money,” he says. “That
meant I was no longer taking lessons.”
As luck had it, his wife got a job back in Bloomington, and Robinson found a position as a
producer in the University’s audio-visual department, where he stayed for 17 years. He formed a band
with drummer Rex Miller, the Kookamongas, who remain a staple of the Blooming roots music scene.
And he gigged with folksinger Carrie Newcomer, John Mellencamp guitarist Larry Crane, and other
notables. But, to paraphrase John Lee Hooker, the blues was still deep inside him and it had to come out.
In 2004 Sue got yet another job offer, this time in Nashville. And as Robinson’s debut album
proclaims, he quit his job to play guitar, relocating to Music City. Soon he found himself collaborating
with some of Nashville’s best roots songwriters — such deft craftsmen as Randy Handley (Garth Brooks,
John Mellencamp), Davis Raines (Pam Tillis, Kenny Rogers) and Dave Duncan (Curtis Salgado, Delbert
McClinton) — and supporting a variety of artists including Tracy Nelson and Tommy Womack. He also
began producing and recording other artists in his home studio, where both Quit Your Job — Play Guitar
and Have Axe – Will Groove were made, establishing himself as an MVP in Nashville’s live and
independent music communities.
All the while, Quit Your Job — Play Guitar had been gestating. “Finally I decided it was time to
stop being a sideman and step into the limelight,” he says. “In a town like Nashville, it’s easy to be
intimated by the great singers and great instrumental technicians all around, but I had discovered a
voice and of my own and it was getting stronger and stronger.”
That voice is at a peak on Have Axe – Will Groove. Robinson’s strategy for making the album
was simple. He chose songs he wrote, co-wrote or that helped him tell his story, then enlisted his
favorite Nashville musicians, including bassist Daniel Seymour (Tommy Womack, David Olney, Irene
Kelley), and drummer Paul Griffith (Todd Snider, John Prine, Steve Earle) to lay the basic tracks. A-list
vocalists (Vickie Carrico and Jonell Mosser) and instrumentalists (TJ Klay, Roguie Ray LaMontagne, Ben
Graves, Justin Amaral, Randy Handley, Michael Webb) rounded out the tracks.
“What I’m interested in,” Robinson explains, “isn’t being flashy or making the latest hit single. It’s
what the Allman Brothers call ‘hittin’ the note’… reaching that point where the band is in sync and
everybody is firing on all eight cylinders, including the listeners. Because when it’s all said and done, the
reason I’m making records and playing gigs is to make music that moves people.”
—END—
MarkRobinsonGuitar.com
HAVE AXE – WILL GROOVE / Mark Robinson (Blind Chihuahua Records, February 2013)
TRACK NOTES
1. Drive Real Fast (2:51)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
blues in the world today. This one is for the great
Johnny Otis, a real idol of mine.
John Lee Hooker meets “Exile On Main Street.” I
wrote it in the car on the way to a gig, and I sang it
on stage that night in a low-down dive bar. Near the
end of the gig, a nearly-toothless man told me that
he would “give his remaining teeth” to be able to
play like me—the best compliment I’ve gotten in a
long time. Somehow I managed to remember the
song and I recorded it just the way I did it at that
gig.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
RANDY HANDLEY keyboards. BEN GRAVES
sax.
2. Baby’s Gone to Memphis (3:47)
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
TJ KLAY harmonica.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
TJ KLAY harmonica.
Davis Raines & Michael Conner Rogers (Songs of
Crossfield/Autauga Songs, BMI, Village Mills Music)
I’m a big fan of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, and
Elvis—and this song. I love hearing my frequent
musical co-conspirator Davis Raines (who wrote it
with Michael Conner Rogers) sing this one, and I
wanted to give it a try myself. I put a little more of
the Delta in this version, riding that mystery train
all the way to Memphis. This one’s for The King.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
VICKIE CARRICO & JONELL MOSSER backup
vocals.
3. Angel of Mercy (5:47)
Slats Klug (Rebo Music, ASCAP)
Written by my friend (and fellow member of
Bloomington, Indiana’s short-lived band the
“Limestone Cowboys”) Slats Klug, whose version I
have loved for years. He’s a terrific singer, so it was
a challenge to take it on and bring a bit of Memphis
soul to what started out as an acoustic Cajun-style
lament. I don’t sing many ballads, but this one
always sends chills up my spine, and I hope it
touches other people the same way.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
RANDY HANDLEY piano. MICHAEL WEBB
Hammond organ. VICKIE CARRICO & JONELL
MOSSER backup vocals.
5. Broke Down (3:11)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
I didn’t know if this song was right for this project,
but when I heard Paul and Dan play it, I knew we
had something special going on. They made it rock
way beyond what I had envisioned when I heard it in
my head. We stretch the envelope and take the blues
someplace new on this one.
6. Pull My Coat (3:43)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
An old song of mine that took on new life when Paul
threw a big Texas shuffle at it. It grooves hard and
is fun to sing and play over. At the Indiana
University School of Music, I studied with jazz great
David Baker (who grew up playing with Wes
Montgomery), and he used the expression “pull my
coat,” an old jazz hipster thing that means “tell me
what’s going on, give me the scoop,” I always liked
the expression, so I wrote a song using it. I’m not
really that hip, but I can be that hipster guy when I
sing this song.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
MICHAEL WEBB Hammond organ.
7. Lifetime Prescription (3:43)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
This song is my own spin on a traditional slow
blues. I had been singing it for a few months before
recording the CD, and it always seemed to get a
strong response from the audience. There might be
just a little bit of me in the main character in this
song.
4. Cool Rockin’ Daddy (2:29)
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
MICHAEL WEBB Hammond organ. VICKIE
CARRICO & JONELL MOSSER backup vocals.
Mark Robinson & Mike Cullison (Dogs in Trouble Publishing,
SESAC, Cullison Music, BMI)
8. Rhythm Doctor (4:25)
I’m deep into the R&B and jump blues of the ‘40s
and ‘50s—and you can hear those influences on
this one. I wrote it with my friend Mike Cullison, a
fine lyricist. I wanted to play some swinging blues
guitar on a song, because there’s not enough jump
Mark Robinson & Dave Duncan (Dogs in Trouble Publishing,
SESAC, Covered Call Music, BMI)
This song is dedicated to Indiana’s funkiest
drummer, Rex Miller—the original Rhythm Doctor.
He taught me about second-line drumming and New
Orleans grooves. I wrote it with Dave Duncan (co-
writer with Curtis Salgado on several songs on
Curtis’ new CD). We wrote it in about an hour. I
wouldn’t have tried recording it without Paul
Griffith, Daniel Seymour. and Randy Handley.
These guys are the soul doctors—with deep trick
bags of musical skills to draw from.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
RANDY HANDLEY keyboards. VICKIE
CARRICO & JONELL MOSSER backup vocals.
9. What’s the Matter Baby (4:01)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
My own take on the Chicago Chess Records groove.
This is a song for all the men out there who have
ever had their woman give them “the look.” You
know she’s mad, but you don’t have a clue what you
did. How can you keep her happy when you don’t
know what you did to make her mad? Don’t say I
never wrote any songs for you, baby.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
MICHAEL WEBB Hammond organ. ROGUIE
RAY LAMONTAGNE harmonica.
10. Lonely Avenue (4:45)
A killer song by the legendary Doc Pomus, made
famous by Ray Charles, and it’s been one of my
favorite songs to play live because there’s lots of
room to stretch out, both vocally and on guitar. This
song has been sung by a lot of great artists, so I
knew I had to make it my own. You can hear a lot of
my R&B, jazz, and blues influences in the way my
voice and guitar interact in a conversation.
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. JUSTIN
AMARAL drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
RANDY HANDLEY piano. MICHAEL WEBB
Hammond organ. VICKIE CARRICO & JONELL
MOSSER backup vocals.
11. Blue Moon Howl (4:34)
Mark Robinson (Dogs in Trouble Publishing, SESAC)
I love the hypnotic groove of the Hill Country
blues—combine it with some spacey ‘60s rock lead
guitar and it goes someplace really unexpected. I’m
playing a crazy electric resonator guitar tuned down
to open C, and Dan has his five-string Fender bass
hitting those sub-sonic tones, while Paul drives the
train with that loose Mississippi groove that borders
on a march. I like to think about David Gilmour
visiting R.L. Burnside at his juke joint in Mississippi
to drink some ‘shine and have a late night jam … the
Devil made me do it.
Doc Pomus (Unichappell Music)
MARK ROBINSON guitar, vocals. PAUL
GRIFFITH drums. DANIEL SEYMOUR bass.
HAVE AXE -– WILL GROOVE
Mark Robinson
• Radio
Todd Glazer, Todd Glazer Promotions
907-279-8546
toddg@gci.net
ToddGlazer.com
Blind Chihuahua Records 002 (February 2013)
Producer: Mark Robinson
Associate Producer: Daniel Seymour
Engineers: Jim Burnett, Mark Robinson &
Daniel Seymour
Recorded and mixed at Guido's Studio South,
Nashville, TN
A&R: Sue Havlish
CD Design: Alicia Adkerson, Adkerson Design
Mastering: Paul Mahern, Mahern Audio
Manufacturing: DiscMakers, Rich Furtner
Photographs: Gregg Roth
• Publicity & Booking
For photos, review sheet, full bio & more:
Sue Havlish, Big Sister Productions
sue.havlish@bigsisterproductions.com
812-327-5494
BigSisterProductions.com
EPK and more at:
MarkRobinsonGuitar.com