ROBERT FINLEY (USA)
„Black Bayou“ EU Tour 2024

American blues and soul singer Robert Finley released his debut album "Age Don't Mean a Thing" in 2016 at the age of 62. When Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) heard the album, he was immediately impressed. The pair began working together and Finley has since released three masterful albums on Auerbach's own Easy Eye Sound label.

Auerbach recognized Finley's potential and described him as "the greatest living soul singer". "He came in like he was straight out of the swamp." Auerbach recalled, adding, "He had leather pants, snakeskin boots, a big country & western belt buckle, a leather cowboy hat and a three-quarter-length leather dust coat." The finishing touch was the folding cane that Finley, a blind singer, carried in a holster on his hip. Basically, he was dressed for national television."

Finley's latest album, "Black Bayou," was released in the fall of 2023, and he recorded "Black Bayou" at producer Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. It's the third time the duo have worked together, although they did things a little differently for this record. Instead of writing songs in advance - as they did on 2017's "Goin' Platinum" and 2021's "Sharecropper's Son" - they developed everything in the studio, with Auerbach leading a band of some of the best musicians around: drummers Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and Jeffrey Clemens (G. Love & Special Sauce), bassist Eric Deaton and guitarist Kenny Brown, and vocalists Christy Johnson and LaQuindrelyn McMahon - who happen to be Finley's daughter and granddaughter. They worked quickly, developing their parts on the fly and taking advantage of the opportunity to get everything in one take.

In addition to appearances on America's Got Talent (2019) and America's Got Talent (All-Stars 2023), Finley has headlined shows across North America and Europe and toured with The Black Keys, Greta Van Fleet, Lake Street Dive, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dan Auerbach and Low Cut Connie, among others.

PRESS QUOTES

“Black Bayou is definitive Robert Finley—a master musician and entertainer—taking all his bluesy swagger up a notch, a bigger sound with heavier grooves, full confirmation that Robert Finley only gets better with time.” SPIN

“Black Bayou’s swampier blues and subtler arrangements offer a versatile range of material that reveals the wide expanse of his vocal prowess.” No Depression

“An anthem of hope” The FADER

“The 11-track album, a portrait of a life that comes together in strokes of gospel, blues, and rock and roll, is simple, relatable, and wise, but above all honest.” AMERICAN SONGWRITER

“Black Bayou is surely the album Finley was put on Earth to create, filled with stories only he could tell. 5 STAR REVIEW” MOJO MAGAZINE

“Approaching his eighth decade, then, and with no shortage of tall tales to impart, Robert Finley’s work here is clearly just getting started.”   UNCUT

LINKS

SPOTIFY | FB | INSTA | LINKTREE | LABEL

VIDEOS

Robert Finley – “What Goes Around (Comes Around)” [Official Music Video]
Robert Finley – “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely” [Official Music Video]