Robert Hill - Have Slide Will Travel (2015)

Tracklist

01. The Robusticator
02. Big Daddy Stomp
03. Big Al
04. Bayou Bartholomew
05. Bubba's Boogie
06. Blue Delhi
07. Alma de Una Mujer
08. Gimme Some a Dat
09. My Babe
10. Evolution Blues
11. The Good, the Bad, & the Unattractive
12. Off the Tracks
13. Hometown Blues
14. Queen of the Wild Frontier



What distinguishes the illustrious Guitaris slidis from other members of its instrumental genus? Why is it considered a “whole different animal” from its electric and acoustic kindred? For starters, it sounds different.. The defining factor in many other guitar solos is, “How fast can one play?” Slide solos prompt listeners to ask, “How skillfully can one make strings sing?” New York blues veteran Robert Hill answers the latter question with rowdy barroom flair on his new album, Have Slide Will Travel.

Hill, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, has been performing in and around the Big Apple for over twenty-five years. His songs have been used extensively in TV shows and commercials, such as ads for Smirnoff Ice, All My Children, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Dexter, and the Canadian reality show Hell on Hooves. Robert has also shared the stage with artists such as Rory Block, Debbie Davies, and numerous others. To cap everything off, he was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame in 2014 – a high honor.

He certainly deserves it. Over the course of fourteen original tracks, Hill takes blues fans on a musical journey through a rugged landscape of feelings – joy, sadness, lust, irritation, and laughter in “The Good, the Bad, and the Unattractive” (reviewed below). The success of any instrumental album depends on how well it conveys – and elicits – emotion without words. Fortunately, Robert has a ton to say. His preferred medium is slide guitar rather than vocal speech, but communication is communication.

Alongside the multitalented Hill (guitars, bass, keyboards, mandolin and harp) are drummers Eric Puente, Jerry Krenach, and Frank Pagano; percussionists Puente and Steve Jordan; bassists Mark Murphy and Doug O’Conner; Derrik Jordan on violin, and Art Labriola on accordion.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]