Quit Your Job - Play Guitar

EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Quit Your Job - Play Guitar by Mark Robinson

REVIEW
" . scorching guitar work . Just give him a guitar, give him The Blues, give him a lyric he believes in, and Mark Robinson can bring it with the best of them." -- MUSIC NEWS NASHVILLE, August 23, 2010 (musicnewsnashville.com)

"'Back in the Saddle' [is] close to the best Stones, Bob Seger work . `Backup Plan' [has] a great New Orleans groove. `I Know You'll Be Mine' [is] a great example of juke joint, groove blues . This CD turns the roots-based blues, Americana, rock landscape into an undertaking not to be missed." -- ROOTSVILLE.be, August, 2010

"Robinson is a master on the guitar . a great debut release . the world should be happy that Robinson has not only decided to make music but write some songs and give us a great record to listen to." -- BROKENJUKEBOX.com, July 31, 2010

"A soulful tour of American roots music's hot spots . Mark's erudite guitar . narrates the journey." -- TED DROZDOWSKI, Guitarist, Songwriter, "Keeping the Blues Alive" Award-Winning Journalist

"Roots-based blues, Americana, rock . all Mark Robinson. His musical soul is poured out on the Memphis-inspired balled `Try One More Time,' with Johnny Neel on the B-3 and great backup vocals by Vickie Carrico and Tracy Nelson. This CD is for blues lovers everywhere." -- NASHVILLE MUSIC GUIDE, August 2010 (vol. 15, no. 153) (also online at nashvillemusicguide.com)

FROM THE ARTIST
"For me, Nashville's been a six-year town," says Mark, referring to the "5-Year Town" status Nashville has for many musicians. "After years working a straight job and playing guitar on the side, I just had to give music a full-time shot. I didn't want to wake up one day, looking retirement in the face, regretting what might have been. So I quit my job and moved here. Now that my CD is out, a project I could only have done in Nashville, well, it's a great feeling. This whole experience has been so worth it, worth every gig where the musicians out-numbered the audience, every near-empty tip jar, every call I didn't get. Because when I look at the incredible players I work with now, the amazing songwriters I write with, and the line-up of some of Nashville's best on the CD, I realize that I am doing what so many musicians only dream of: I make music for a living in Music City. It just doesn't get any better than this."

ABOUT THE ARTIST
The story of Mark Robinson is the story of this CD. After graduating from Indiana University, Mark moved to Chicago and had the chance to play with some American blues legends. When he returned to his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana to take a job, he continued to perform with acclaimed blues and Americana acts including Tad Robinson, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Roznowski, Bob Cheevers, and the legendary Bill Wilson.

In 2004, Mark quit his job to play guitar in Nashville. It was the right move. In Music City, Mark has played and recorded with Davis Raines, Randy Handley, Walt Wilkins & the Mystiqueros, Tricia Walker, Kent Blazy, Cory Batten, Johnny Neel, Brian Langlinais, Tom Ghent, and Joe Sun--to name a few. He's also produced and engineered several CDs for others in his studio.

In addition, as part of his teaching gig, Mark has put together several adult band workshops, giving his guitar students the chance to get up on stage and perform for the first time -- fulfilling their dreams, too.

But Mark's goal was always to put out his own CD.

Living music fulltime not only allowed Mark's playing to reach new heights, it also resulted in a songwriting explosion, singly and with acclaimed co-writers such as Davis Raines, Randy Handley, and Mike Cullison. Mark wrote songs in all genres, especially Americana and blues -- and he continued to stretch artistically. The songs on his first solo CD are blues/country-infused, guitar-based roots music. But though he takes his inspiration from many, Mark Robinson is not an imitator. Every song bears his highly personal musical stamp.

There's no easy slot in which to file Mark Robinson's music. You're listening to the work of an artist who draws from the deepest wells of America's musical heritage -- and manages to serve it up fresh.

Originals such as "Runaway Train" and "The Fixer" are steeped in roots and blues, alt-country comes calling with the catchy "This Old Heart," and New Orleans spices up "Backup Plan." But Mark's musical soul is most exposed on the Memphis soul ballad "Try One More Time" -- with Johnny Neel's haunting B-3 and the testifying background vocals of Vickie Carrico and the legendary Tracy Nelson, it's a knock-out.

Mark's personal stamp is also heard clearly on the CD's two cover songs. "Payday Giveaway," by the late, great Bill Wilson, is a tribute to this incredible musician with whom Mark played for years. And Mark gives us a soul's-eye-view of Santo and Johnny's classic slow-dance instrumental "Sleepwalk."

Being in Music City meant some of the best musicians in the country could be enlisted for the CD, too, including Dave Roe (from Johnny Cash and Dwight Yoakam's bands), Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth), Johnny Neel (The Allman Brothers), Paul Griffith (John Prine), Dennis Taylor (Delbert McClinton, Gatemouth Brown), and many more.

With his alarm clock set to Central Soul Time -- keeping the beat in New Orleans, Memphis, Chicago, and Nashville -- Mark Robinson is set to wake up the whole damn joint with Quit Your Job - Play Guitar.



















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Number of Discs: 1

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