He is the man with the golden guitar. Or rather, he is the man with the golden touch. Robin Trower has sparked many an adolescent music fan’s imagination on fire with one song: “Bridge Of Sighs.” With it’s ethereal intro and elongated celestial blues vibrations, generations have been lost within this unbelievable sensation of sounds. It is one of those timeless pieces that will have life long after we have departed this earth. What more could you ask for when it comes to your art.
One thing about the legendary British guitar player that you have to give him credit for is that he didn’t just sit back on his laurels and take the magic carpet ride into a life of playing the same song over and over. He kept creating and creating something different, something new. Today, at 68, Trower has actually outdone himself once again with the February release of Roots & Branches, an album full of his reinterpretations of some of his favorite songs from his youth alongside some brand new creations in the same vein. His version of “Hound Dog” alone is worth buying this CD for.
With a career spanning over fifty years, Trower has bulldogged through ups and downs in the crazily finicky music world and has come out better than most. Forming his own band in his teens, he soon joined up with Procol Harum, a big band with an even bigger hit single, “A Whiter Shade Of Pale.” But it was James Dewar who became the voice that melded with Trower’s chords so well it was almost scary, recording their first Robin Trower Band album together in 1973, Twice Removed From Yesterday, which led to the wonderful Bridge Of Sighs in 1974. [Dewar passed away in 2002]
Trower continued to record with his band after Dewar’s departure, recruiting Davey Pattison of Ronnie Montrose’s Gamma for a few albums and now records quite steadily with Richard Watts, a young friend of his son’s whom he heard singing in church. However, after many years of letting his fingers do all the talking, on Roots & Branches, Trower finally walked up to the microphone himself and found out he wasn’t a bad singer at all, and handles vocals on several tracks.
On a lovely day in Hampshire, England, Trower called in to talk about his latest album and his wonderful career.
You’ve done it again with Roots & Branches. You have outdone yourself. How do you keep getting better and better?
Well, a lot of hard work (laughs)
But how do you keep doing it? Is it the pure joy of doing what you love that leads the way?
It is based on the fact of the love of playing guitar and creating music for the guitar. Basically, that’s the engine that drives the whole thing. But, for instance, once you’ve decided you’re going to try and come up with a new arrangement, like for a song like “Hound Dog,” sometimes it can be quite hard work to get it to where you’re really happy with it.
How did you go about picking the songs you wanted to record and then eliminating them down to the ones you actually put on the CD?
T
he main thing was that I had about a dozen or so songs that were in my head that I would like to have a try at doing something with. The ones I actually came up with, the six, they were the only ones that I could come up with fresh arrangements for which I felt added a new slant to them, if you know what I mean. That’s why I ended up putting in my own material as well. But what I did was I rearranged my own material so that it would fit in with the concept of the covers that I was doing.
It has a great vibe to it and comes together so well. They all feel like they are from the same era.
Yeah, I did try and work it so that, as I say, there was a common thread that went through it in terms of the approach. The initial approach that I started off with would be that I would try and get a call and answer between the vocal and the guitar, which is not something I usually do. So there would only be, and I think I’m right in saying apart from one track on the album, the only other is one guitar throughout. In other words, it’s not layered, it’s just one performance of one guitar take. So you’ve got the main guitar and then the voice sort of being the two voices.
What was one of the songs that you discarded and why?
I had an old James Brown song called “Think,” which I couldn’t come up with a different enough arrangement to do but it’s always been one of my favorite James Brown songs. And I almost got “Maybellene” to the point where I was going to do it but it fell by the wayside.
What was wrong with it in your opinion?
I think maybe because it didn’t have the same vibe as most of the music that I was doing. I guess it was kind of a little bit too jolly because most of the stuff has a nice sort of blue depth to it, you know.
I love what you’ve done to “The Thrill Is Gone.” It’s slowed down and sexy and sultry.
(laughs) I think that was one of the most successful. I’m very, very pleased with that, in terms of coming up with a new way of doing that song.
About the new songs, were those you specifically wrote to go on here?
A couple of them I wrote for the album, stuff that I was writing at the same time. So like “Save Your Love,” for instance, that song fits right in there because I wrote that as I was working on the arrangements for the old songs. And there’s a couple there that I already had from several months before that I completely rearranged so it would fit in with the concept.
Do you want to do something like this again? Or will your next album be all originals?
It is very, very hard to come up with new versions of classic songs. It’s much, much harder to do that than it is to come up with new songs that you write yourself. So at the moment, I feel the next CD will be what I will call a follow-on from this, from Roots & Branches; very much in the same vein. I think it probably will be all originals but still with that same sort of feeling about it and the same sort of vibe and the same concepts as well.
How did you get the title?
Well, I guess it’s because of the love of the older songs, through “That’s Alright Mama” and stuff like that, and they are very much my roots and I figured that the branches of my songs, kind of showing what those roots grew into.
For years you didn’t sing. What finally brought you around to putting your voice out there?
I think mainly because when I was working at the arrangements I was enjoying doing it. I was enjoying singing, I liked the feel I got on the vocals, and the vocals and arrangements fit hand-in-hand, really, in terms of the feel on it. That feel was vital to this success of the track.
Did it take a while to get the hang of singing and playing guitar at the same time?
It does take quite a bit of work, yeah, I must admit. Quite like the fact when you’re singing and playing at the same time, when you’re singing, the guitar falls away so it leaves it kind of like a space for the vocal, which you can only get if you’re actually doing the singing and the playing.
The coordination never got in the way?
Oh yes, there are some on there where I had to do the vocals separately because, as you say, the coordination was just too difficult.
How did you discover music?
I’ve got an older brother, he’s four years older than me, so as I was growing up, at nine/ten/eleven, he was bringing in rock & roll records and I distinctly remember “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel” and a Gene Vincent record, “Be-Bop-A-Lula.” I think they made a huge impression on me and I think it was because of Elvis’s guitar player Scotty Moore that I wanted to play guitar. I’m pretty sure it was him who inspired me.
When was the first time you performed on a stage?
I think it was probably when I was about sixteen. I can’t even remember what sort of gig it was but it wasn’t for money, I know that (laughs). In fact, we probably had to pay them to let us play. That’s about the time I started.
So you’ve never been nervous playing onstage in front of all those people?
I think I used to get pretty nervous when I was young. Butterflies, and I still get a little bit of butterflies before walking on, you know. You want that, a little bit of extra energy, don’t you, to spur you on.
You’ve talked about BB King being a big influence. What about his playing was so magical to you?
He was the first guitar player, as I remember, very early 60’s I started to hear him, that made the guitar have a vocal, like a human voice quality to his notes. That was the first time I’d heard that. And to me, that was inspirational and that’s when I decided, “Oh, I want to try and do the guitar, make it sound like a human voice.”
And he’s still out there doing it
Absolutely, and the next guy that really blew me away and also inspired me a lot was Albert King. A completely different style but he had this wonderful, flowing vibrato and everything and a wonderful choice of notes. Then Hendrix was the next big sort of influence as well. He had a big influence on me.
Did you get to see him play?
Yeah, I did. I was on a show with him in Berlin when I was in Procol Harum and that’s the only time I saw him.
Was he with the Experience?
He had Mitch Mitchell on drums and I can’t remember the bass player’s name but it wasn’t Noel Redding.
What do you remember most about recording the first Procol Harum album?
I remember it being a lot of fun. We had a great time making that first album, we really did. It all came together very, very easily. They were such great songs.
With the recording technology having changed so much, how do you like making records with all these new-fangled gadgets and gizmos?
The one thing I will say about the new technology is that you can work a lot faster. It’s a lot easier to work. Also, it’s much, much easier to change stuff when you’re not happy with something. So it does improve your ability to get to a better finished product.
You don’t think it takes away any of the aura of doing it the old school way?
I know why people do like doing it the old school way, because the sound is much better, you know. The last album I made using tape was with Jack Bruce, an album called Seven Moons, about five or six years ago. We went to tape with that and no doubt about it, it’s got a sound about it. But I think now, like for instance with Roots & Branches, I was working on my own a lot of the time and it’s made possible by using computers.
Richard Watts, who has been singing with you, has a great voice.
He has a beautiful voice
How did you find him?
Well, many, many years ago, his parents were friends of ours and he went to school with my son. They’re the same age. Eventually, as he was growing up, I heard him singing in church. He had a little outfit and he used to sing at mass and I immediately recognized that he had a special voice. I sort of worked with him on and off over the years.
James Dewar’s voice is so synonymous with you because of songs such as “Bridge Of Sighs.” Do you miss working with him?
Oh he was a first class singer, Jimmy, and I always thought, and I do think now, that it was his voice that made our stuff so successful. It allowed our music to cross over because his voice was so attractive.
When Davey Pattison came in to the band, Passion, to me, was a different sounding kind of album. It’s almost going towards pop more.
I think it is quite a pop-y album. The approach, the arrangements, make it quite pop-y, I think.
Did he have a part in that or was that something that came about when you started writing songs?
I think it was a conscious attempt to make something a bit more accessible and try to get on the radio, definitely.
You were a Gibson Guitar man and then you became a Strat man and you’re still a Strat man. How and when did that change take place?
I was in Procol Harum, actually, and we were on tour with Jethro Tull and the guitar player had a Strat and I picked it up one day and I just thought, “Oh, I like this” and went out the next day and bought one. I’ve played them ever since.
When you listen to guitar players today, who perks your ears up the most?
Jack White does some interesting things and he gets a very good sound. But the music isn’t really my cup of tea (laughs) but I recognize his very creative mind behind that. To be honest, there aren’t that many guitar players that I would say ARE my cup of tea. But there are a lot of gifted players around, there’s no doubt about it. It’s just the music, it doesn’t grab me. I can admire their ability as a player but the music itself doesn’t grab me.
Do you find that you’re very particular when you are listening to other guitar players?
It has to have some kind of vibe to it for me to really want to put it on the turntable and listen to it. I just think maybe I’m stuck way back when (laughs) and I love that music, early blues, early rhythm & blues. I’ve never really liked pop music much anyway so that narrows it down quite a bit.
When you’re not doing what you do, playing guitar, what do you like to do?
I spend a lot of time, obviously, with my wife and if I’ve got time off from the studio, I’m usually working on new material – even on the road I’m working on new material – but usually if I’m at home and I’ve got some time away from the studio, I’m working on songs and enjoying playing the guitar and that kind of thing.
Didn’t you do the cover of Roots & Branches?
Yeah, I only ever do covers. I don’t do painting as a hobby or other art, if you know what I mean. Most of my time is taken up usually with working on material or recording it or playing it live. That’s my life, really.
I’ve noticed that you are always smiling in photographs when you’re playing. Are you happy with how your career has gone?
Yeah, very happy. I never thought when I left Procol that I’d end up being so successful. I thought it very unlikely.
Why did you think that?
I didn’t think my music was very commercial and as I say, if it hadn’t been for Jimmy’s voice, I’m not sure it would have been. The whole thing is I love making music, playing guitar and that’s been a joy, more or less, throughout.
Do you have anything left to learn or do you think you know everything already about playing guitar?
Oh no, you can always come up with a new slant on playing. That’s why I like to work at it, because it’s thrilling when you come up with something slightly different that you hadn’t done before. So that’s the excitement of it all.
What are your plans for this year?
Well, I’m hoping to get back in the studio. I’ve got all the material written and I’m hoping to get in the studio in a couple of months and start working on it.
