Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
A meeting of minds can happen so unexpectedly, so suddenly that the resulting maelstrom of emotions and musical frenzy that follows is something you just have to try and grab the tail of and tag along for the ride.
For Robbie Hill & The Blue 62, a chance meeting with Jesse King in Finland has led to a young Scotsman adding weight to the Blues and invigorating a genre with their, and Finnish drummer Tatu Parssinen, seriousness, style and collective wit and charm. The Devil at times might hold all the best cards in the deck but there is always a Price To Pay when allowing someone dedicated to join the game.
What is the price of good Blues, the bill in which a young artist can break through and, if not join the very echelon of the genre, at least show that he should be respected and enjoyed? The price is whatever the listener is fair and proper, to give someone with a burgeoning talent the moment in Time in which to establish the connection between himself and those in which he wants to smile. This is a contract that all artists want to do, for some it’s not about anything other than being allowed a voice, a chance in which to let words fly and the sound of a guitar to float free into the unending sky.
Price To Pay is that voice and it used to great effect, especially on songs such as The Love You’re Teaching Me, the exceptional Praise To Helsinki and the whispering call of Blues solitude that resides in Bad Woman and You Ain’t Right.
Blues players come and go, some stop around for a while and a few become legendary, even in the sometimes pocus 21st Century in which superstardom is handed out like laxatives on a silver platter and with an After Eight Mint dangling temptingly beside it, Blues players earn their crust and for Robbie Hill & The Blue 62, that crust is on its way to being a wonderful musical feast.
Ian D. Hall