Search - Tad Robinson :: Last Go Round

Tad Robinson, now located in suburban Indiana after a stay with guitarist Dave Specter's Bluebirds on the Chicago blues scene, is a serious candidate for crowning as the most commanding white soul-blues singer since the late Eddie Hinton made his royal presence known in the '70s. "Since You've Been Gone" inches along with the singer trying to make sense of loss, with only the sweet, economical guitar of ex-Mighty Flyer Alex Schultz offering solace. The native New Yorker glides up to let syllables fly when enunciating the heartbreaking words of "No Exit Blues," and his confident tenor voice aches with real feeling when sizing up everyday life in "Another Song, Another Day." He's also a superlative harmonica player, his prose crisp and lively on many songs here, and he has an uncommonly intelligent and resourceful soloist and rhythm player in Schultz. The other players--bassist Harlan Terson, keyboardist Kevin McKendree, drummer Jon Hiller and, on two tracks, a horn section--stay alert to Robinson without drawing too much attention to themselves. --Frank-John Hadley