Today the iconic British Blues master Robin Trower releases his new album Come and Find Me, via Provogue. To celebrate he has revealed the lyric video for the swaggering I Would Lose My Mind, which you can watch below:
Now in his eighth decade, with a lifetime of accolades and a seminal body of music behind him, Robin Trower is still chasing the biggest high he knows. It always starts the same way, with a road-scuffed Fender Stratocaster and a revved-up Marshall amplifier, those skilful fingers exploring the fretboard until a riff sticks and a new song ignites.
âSome people say Iâm driven, but I think itâs just the love of doing it,â reflects Trower of a multi-million-selling solo catalogue fast approaching thirty releases (and thatâs before you compute his collaborations with everyone from Jack Bruce to Bryan Ferry). âI play guitar every day and just through messing around, ideas happen. I can never feel the songs coming. But all of a sudden, you get a sliver of an idea and you think, âOh, whatâs thisâŠ?ââ
Trowerâs distinctive sound pours out of his fingers as they dart up his Fender Stratocaster, with an elegant swaggering blues groove on the clichĂ©-free love song I Would Lose My Mind.
Always a sociable musician and generous collaborator, Trower enlisted his trusted studio band for Come And Find Me. Drummer Chris Taggart once again drives these powerful songs, with returning US bassist Glenn Letsch providing low end on Tangled Love and I Fly Straight To You (Trower played the remainder). Long-standing vocalist Richard Watts brilliantly interprets the guitaristâs highly personal lyric sheets, while guest singer Jess Hayes is a head-turning addition for Tangled Loveâs tough, choppy soul. For the fairydust, Trower turned to Studio 91âs owner Sam Winfield for the engineering and final mix â but the guitarist was intimately involved with every element. âFor me, working on a new song is a 24-hour job,â he explains. âItâs always on my mind. Iâll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it.â
I Would Lose My Mind is the last single to be released from the album .The guitaristâs famed musicianship takes centre stage on the swampy One Go Round, which lived up to the âseize-the-dayâ lyric with its rapid birth in the studio. âThat was almost an instant finished thing. It was like a hot knife through butter. All the lead work was improvised, and itâs exactly where I live. The lyrical meaning is pretty obvious. You only get one go round, so try and make the most of it,â Trower explains.
This follows the previous single A Little Bit of Freedom, which starts in combative style with a blast of wah guitar and a bold first line (âI donât need no-one to think for meâ). âI had a strong sense that red tape and rules are really constricting things in the world,â says Trower. âToo much red tape, not enough freedom to think â itâs got to where you feel straitjacketed.â
Fiery, thoughtful and fuelled by real human emotion in a time of machine-generated music, Come And Find Me is hardly the work of a rock icon resting on his laurels. On the contrary: keenly aware of passing time, Robin Trower has made it his late-period mission to capture as many shards of magic as possible. âIn one way, I canât believe it, that Iâm still going at 80,â he says. âItâs kind of scary. You know that youâre way down the road, and you could hit a brick wall at any time. But I still love doing this. For me, thereâs nothing more rewarding than working on a new songâŠâ
Trower stands on the cusp of a whirlwind year that will see him put down heavy miles across America and the UK âIâm chomping at the bit, because I had to cancel a US tour last year due to an operationâ he says. You can pick up tickets HERE.
Photo: Blackham Images
