tad robinson
 
Sept/Oct, 2010 Living Blues Magazine: Review of “Back in Style”, written by David Whiteis: TAD ROBINSON Back In Style Severn - CD 0050 Tad Robinson’s vocal style owes obvious debts to vintage-era Al Green and other soul sophisticates, but he blows harp with the rough-hewn exuberance of a postwar Chicago juker. In theory, that should make for an uncomfortable tension, but on the two cuts here that feature his harp, he pulls off the stylistic juxtaposition with effortless-sounding ease. That lack of self-conscious straining is Robinson’s most attractive asset. Unlike many “revivalist” blues and soul artists, he’s found a way to retain his own voice, evoking the spirits of past masters but never sounding as if he’s trying to be something he’s not. Even on an aching deep-soul ballad like You Name It I’ve Had It—the kind of take-no-prisoners vocal workout that has left many a soul man gasping for breath and grasping for respectability—he summons heart-rent passion and gospel-honed hope with unaffected ease. He incorporates stylistic elements of the fabled soul men—Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, James Carr—as he deems appropriate, but they all meld into a voice that remains distinctly his own. Memphis legend Wayne Jackson contributes his Dixie-fried trumpet to the proceedings, and his presence seems to have inspired everyone to reach for a higher level. The horn charts drip with hot buttered soul, the background vocalists interweave flawlessly, and the rhythm section—bassist Steve Gomes, drummer Robb Stupka—keep the funk boiling throughout, even if they can’t quite recapture that indelible meld of boxy 4/4 elementalism and textural complexity that characterized the work of the Hi rhythm men in their glory days. It may be wishful thinking to suggest that honest, from-the-heart soul music like this will ever be “back in style,” but listening to this set is enough to make even the most jaded cynic a believer, at least until the music’s over. —David Whiteis
the buzz
 
David Lindquist four-star review of “Back in Style”  Metromix Indy
 
In a nutshell: A velvet-voiced collection of cool.
Fan finder: Robinson makes soul music in the tradition of 1960s standouts Sam & Dave and O.V. Wright.
 
That's a keeper: For Robinson's third album on Maryland-based Severn Records, the positive side of love is represented on centerpiece tracks "On and On" and "I'm in Good." Robinson, who wrote both tunes, summarizes good times on the latter: "All this living I've done, I've got something to show."
 
Didn't see it coming: Robinson steps out of his retro comfort zone for the modern-sounding "Half Smile."
 
Selling points: A five-time Blues Music Award nominee, Robinson perfects an expressive recipe of vocals, organ, horns, guitar and a dash of harmonica. His unearthed cover of Willie Walker's "You Name It, I've Had It" incorporates a lifetime of ups and downs.
 
 
 
 Pinetop Perkins with Tad
With jazz sensation, Grammy winner Kurt Elling
Ryan Shaw and Bobby Rush
Mike Stricklin and Marlin McKay...the TR Horns!
From a review of the 2011 Blues Music Awards show, by Don Wilcock, editor-in-chief of BluesWax
For a genre as cathartic as blues, the venue can inspire or destroy an artist’s performance if not their career. No one clutched at this show, and several of the performers changed my opinion about them or opened my ears for the first time to talents I’d either missed or misinterpreted.
Tad Robinson may not look the part of the deeply inflected soul singer, but his delivery and his original songs suddenly elevated him in my mind to a level shared with Curtis Salgado and John Nemeth. His guitarist, Alex Schultz, played some of the most evocative and understated soul guitar I’ve ever heard. I had heard wonderful things on his Back in Style LP from Severn, but you never know how much of the sound on a soul LP is the producer and how much is the artist. Robinson is a major player!
 
Tad’s recording of, Rained All Night, from the disc, Back in Style is included in the XLVI Super Bowl Indy Music Compilation. The song appears courtesy of Severn Records
 
http://xlvi-indymusicproject.com/
The Four Tenors: Mighty Sam McLain, Eric Bibb, Earl Thomas