One of the goals of every musician is to develop a distinctive sound and style. Guitarist Robin Trower showed the packed Canyon Club that he is one of the last blues/rock guitarists to be able to be identified by within two bars of picking. While he shows his allegiance to Hendrix and BB King, Trower and his team of Richard Watts/b-voc and Chris Taggart/dr showed in their 1 ½ hour set that heroes of the past are to be launching pads to the future and not icons to imitate.
With Watt’s blue eyed soul of a voice Taggart’s backbeat of a groove, Trower created earthy sounds on his strings during lazy blues material such as “Somebody’s Calling” as well as rumbling like a locomotive on material such as “Lady Love.”. On “Daydream” Trower crated thick chords mixing with Hendrix-flavored pickings, while he twisted the strings like a licorice whip on the stampeding “Lady Love.” Trower threw in some vocals himself, sounding a bit like a southern comfort on an Albert King-ed “See My Life” while he crated foreboding dark clouds like the Grim Reaper on “Bridge of Sighs.” With riffs as sinister as anything in the Muddy Waters catalogue, made the strings moan for mercy on “Confessing Midnight” and created a Hound of Baskervilles of a fog of bluesy guitar on “For Earth Below.”
The difference between all of the guitar slashers that say nothing and Mr. Trower’s tasteful use of each note and space was clearly identified in his closing number, “A Little Bit of Soul.”
Upcoming shows for guitar fans include Albert Lee 06/25 and John Mayall 07/05