Robin Rogers - Treat Me Right (2008)

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Robin Rogers - Treat Me Right (2008)

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Guitarist, singer, and harmonica ace Robin Rogers' life was full of hard knocks and sad turns, along with a few delightful coincidences, and she earned the right to sing the blues the tough, old-fashioned way, but sadly, she lived for only a short time after gaining her widest recognition as a solo artist. As a runaway teen in the late '60s she scratched out an existence however she could, sometimes sleeping in parks and abandoned cars as she bummed around the country to places like Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Coconut Grove, Florida. Eventually she was picked up by the authorities and placed in reform school. When she was released at the age of 15, she went back to her nomadic ways, and soon had developed serious addictions to drugs and alcohol. She also started singing, taught herself guitar, and began performing at house parties, on street corners, and in coffeehouses. In 1979 Rogers relocated to South Florida and recorded for the Sal Soul imprint, settling in Ft. Lauderdale for ten years and eventually kicking her addictions in 1989. A year later in 1990 she moved to North Carolina, where she met her husband, guitarist Tony Rogers. The two began performing as an acoustic blues duo with Rogers turning more and more attention to her harp playing. Producer and drummer Jim Brock heard the duo and recorded a debut album, 2001's Time for Myself, with them. Now working with a full band, which included her husband on guitar, Rogers signed with the 95 North label and released 2004's Crazy Cryin' Blues, which was again produced by Brock. She signed with Blind Pig Records in 2008. Her first album for the label, Treat Me Right, appeared later that year. Back in the Fire followed in 2010, debuting at number three on the Billboard blues album charts, but Rogers learned she had inoperable liver cancer just before the album was released. She died from the cancer on December 17, 2010 at the age of 55.

Steve Leggett, Allmusic.com

Although she might be a new face on the national blues scene with this debut for the high-profile Blind Pig label, Robin Rogers is a familiar name to dedicated blues fans. She has gigged steadily in the Southeast since 1990 and has released two previous indie discs, both with her husband/guitarist Tony Rogers. In other words, she's a veteran performer, just without the catalog to prove it. Perhaps that's why she sounds so comfortable on this set dominated by originals. Her husky voice falls between Maria Muldaur's sexy croon and Susan Tedechi's controlled rasp as she commands attention without oversinging or upstaging the songs. The material is a sharp mix of gospel-infused jazzy blues-rocking with an occasional torchy aside. Lyrically, she touches on serious subjects of substance abuse ("Drunkard's Alley") and '60s racial discrimination (the riveting "Color-Blind Angel," which already won second place in the blues category of the 2007 International Songwriters Competition despite not being officially released until this 2008 album), along with more typical lost-love laments. Horns and Rogers' own harmonica perk up the arrangements, which veer slightly to the slicker side. The combination of excellent material and Rogers' compelling voice is what makes this a winner. She sings the lyrics to the midtempo "Dark Love" like she has lived them and infuses every track with genuine passion that never devolves into self-pity. The religious overtones of "Promised Land" tussle with Rogers' sassy delivery in a yin and yang that create tension and relief between the lyrics and the horn-driven verses. She slinks around the chorus of the noir jazz blues "Nobody Stays" like a panther on the prowl as Tony Rogers' guitar lays down subtle licks that provide the smoky, stale beer, last-call atmosphere. Although she's clearly a fan of female blues legends exemplified by her terrific take on Big Maybelle's "Don't Leave Poor Me" and a piano-driven "Ain't No Use," Rogers applies their intensity to a slightly more updated style that pays respects to the past without wallowing in it.

Review by Hal Horowitz, Allmusic.com

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Robin Rogers - Treat Me Right (2008)

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Robin Rogers - Treat Me Right (2008)

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