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If you want to know what blues and RnB influenced rock bands like the Rolling Stones wished they sounded like, just check out Robert Finley’s “Black Bayou”. Robert is the real deal. Raised in rural North Louisiana, he spent much of his life working as a carpenter who sidelined as a blues man playing the small juke joints in the area. Encroaching blindness finally took away his carpentry job and so he had to turn to music solely. Although there is nothing good about being blind, it did push his music career forward and more opportunities have come his way as a performer. “Black Bayou” is his latest album and it was recorded in Nashville. The music is a mix of blues, RnB, rock and country, and he can really rock when he wants to. “What Goes Around” could be an ACDC song if the guitars were a little heavier and the vocals more annoying.
Robert decided to cut this album without rehearsal. Most of the recordings are first takes and it shows in the raw realness that permeates the entire album. Robert has a deep soulful voice that is a product of both the church and his love for whiskey. It does not get anymore blues than that. He is a consummate story teller and all of the stories on here are real and personal. He covers subjects that are important to him, women who have done him right, women who have done him wrong, his love for God and whiskey, his dislike for the ‘big city’ and his love for life in the swamps of Louisiana. On “Nobody Wants to be Lonely”, he talks about how he likes to visit the old folks home and get people to dance and have fun.
The most striking story he tells comes at the end of the album. “Alligator Bait” relates the time his grandfather took him alligator hunting and sent the young Robert ahead so an alligator might come at him giving ‘papa’ a chance to shoot the gator and bring home some supper. Robert was not happy with this cruel trick and apparently never forgave the old man for a near death experience. The occasional female backing vocals on some of the songs are provided by his children and grandchildren.