 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Artist, songwriter, producer, studio and label owner -- Bruce Robison is a renaissance man who, good Texan that he is, loves his independence. The writer of #1 hits "Travelin’ Soldier" and "Angry All the Time" will follow his acclaimed Country Sunshine album with more perceptive, probing material later in 2004. |
 |
| BRUCE ROBISON Described as "one of the best of a new breed of singer-songwriters in Texas and beyond" by Billboard magazine, Bruce Robison has built a career as a recording artist whose songs are sought out by country stars, Americana artists and other singer-songwriters. He’s become the go-to guy for those looking for material outside of the normal channels. His song "Travelin’ Soldier" became a No. 1 hit for the Dixie Chicks, and "Angry All The Time" topped the charts in a duet version by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. His song "Desperately" became a recent top hit for George Strait. He’s also had songs recorded by Lee Ann Womack, Gary Allan, Allison Moorer and many others. His wife, singer Kelly Willis, and his brother Charlie Robison also regularly draw on his catalog of material. "I really like the niche I’m in right now," says the six-foot, seven-inch Robison. "I’m getting to do so many of the things I love to do." The family connection is an important one to Robison. Making music and sharing songs with his wife, his brother and his extended family – which includes members of the Dixie Chicks -- is an ongoing aspect of his life that he nurtures and cherishes. "My plan is to make music with my family as often as I can for the rest of my life," says the Austin resident, who released a Happy Holidays EP with his wife in the fall of 2003. "It’s not always easy, considering the different record labels we’re all on. But we take every opportunity we can." Robison recorded his recent album, Country Sunshine, at his home studio and released it on his own Boar’s Nest Records. Its intimate, wide-ranging feel exercised the freedom of making an album on one’s own, yet it also stayed accessible to both mainstream and alt-country music fans. The album drew widespread acclaim – Entertainment Weekly gave it an "A," while the Austin Chronicle called it Robison’s "best album." Of course, he’s yet to cut a bad one. His self-titled debut was released in 1996 as an independent album. His second album, Wrapped, originally also came out on a small label, but was picked up by Sony’s Lucky Dog Records. Robison stayed with Lucky Dog for two more albums, Long Way Home From Here, and a live album recorded with his brother Charlie Robison and fellow Texan Jack Ingram. He then asked to leave Sony Music, deciding to form his own record company back home in Austin. "The music business is being re-invented from the ground up right now, and I thought it was a good time to keep ownership of my recordings," he says. "I can make as much money recording my own records as I can at a major label. And holding onto to your creative work seems like a an idea that will work in my favor in the long run." By starting his own label and recording studio, Robison has evolved into a renaissance man who, good Texan that he is, loves his independence. "My songs are a little different than what usually comes out of Nashville," he says. "I love Nashville because it’s the last bastion of the songwriter, the last Tin Pan Alley. I love the musicians there and the way the town works. But it works best for me to stay in Texas. That has become my calling card." Robison pulls it off because of the reputation he’s established. His albums present personal versions of his distinctive songs, highlighting the wry emotion of his dry expressive Texas tenor, his knack for impactful stories and his reflective take on relationships and the world. "Robison has a style that tends to be soulfully understated," wrote Nick Cristiano of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's one that well suits the intimate penetrating nature of his songs." Indeed, nearly all of musical heroes owned an independent streak. Two of them, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, saw their careers take off after they took more control of their music. Similarly, Jerry Jeff Walker, another hero, has long owned his own record company. He also thinks the best way to expose his songs to other artists is by making albums he’s proud of and stocking them with his best new material. "I don’t travel all that much," he says. "I love being home with my family and making records. That’s how my songs get heard." |
 |
| Bruce Robison - Country Sunshine "A tender tenor that cracks like the second coming of Gram Parsons, a sharp eye and ear as a writer, and a persona bereft of the testosterone-fueled bullshit that makes cartoons of most of his second-generation, Texas singer-songwriter peers." Bill Friskics Warren, NASHVILLE SCENE "Heartbreaking vignettes of love too exquisite to survive. Wife Kelly Willis supplies the anquished harmonies." (A) Alanna Nash, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY "'What Would Willie Do?" is just one of the album's fistful of great songs....Robison's fourth and best album." Raoul Hernandez, AUSTIN CHRONICLE "This record solidifies Robison's standing as one of the best of a new breed of singer/songwriters, in Texas and beyond." Ray Waddell, BILLBOARD "Robison has produced a gentle masterpiece that will linger with you long after its entrancing melodies fade away." Jim Caliguiri, TEXAS MUSIC MAGAZINE "...showcases his plainspoken, subtle, and droll songcraft with a minimum of production trickery." Don McCleese, AMAZON.COM "The album is brimming with personal vignettes, his relaxed sense of humor and his heartbreaking way around a sad country ballad..." Mario Tarradell, DALLAS MORNING NEWS "Robison has a style that tends to be soulfully understated. It's one that well suits the intimate penetrating nature of his songs..." Nick Cristiano, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER "With Country Sunshine, Robison has crafted a suite of forsaken Americana, an homage to the spare, open sound of Don Williams' great, neglected '70s recordings and a crystalline statement about just how meaningful mainstream country music can be." ST. LOUIS RIVERFRONT TIMES www.brucerobison.com Kay Clary Commotion PR Nashville, Tenn. 615-467-6677email kay@commotionpr.com~ |
 |
 A CHRISTMAS FAMILY ROBISON GOES ON THE RECORDKelly Willis and Bruce Robison celebrate the season with a special limited edition holiday EP Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison want to bring their annual Christmas party to your house. For five years, the first couple of Texas cool has staged a series of informal holiday concerts, mixing choice Yuletide classics with favorite obscurities and a few songs from their own repertoire. This year, the musical pair decided to wrap up a little studio package to commemorate their favorite family season. The six-song cd, Happy Holidays, will be released on Boar's Nest Records on October 28th. "The holiday shows started as a good excuse for Kelly and I to do something fun together," Robison says. "We'd both become so busy in our careers that we had to book a gig so we could play music together, and it ended up being something we really looked forward to every year. It feels like our own little family tradition now." Available in select Texas record stores (Waterloo in Austin, Cactus in Houston, and Billís Records in Dallas) and on the websites KellyWillis.com and BruceRobison.com, Happy Holidays was recorded in the Robison family home studio. It shows off the couple's tasteful eclecticism with an intimate combination of sentimental favorites, poignant tales and tongue-in-cheek roasters. The collection allows Willis to show off one of America's most distinctive and memorable voices, showing a jazzy side that perfectly fits her warm, honeyed intonation and expressive, elastic interpretations. "I love singing those torchy, jazz-standard type songs," Willis says. "They're just so much fun to do. I never get to do that kind of material, so I don't usually get to use my voice that way. So it's a real treat for me." Happy Holidays also captures the vocal interplay of a loving husband and wife in a way that expands upon their striking, original duet version of "Angry All the Time," the Robison song that became a top hit for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. "My plan is to make records with Kelly my whole life in one form or another," Robison says. "But it can be hard because of our different label situations. So this gave us a chance to get together on record, and I hope this is the first of many." The album features Willis vamping on Eartha Kitt's torch-song classic "Santa Baby" and trading witty fireside lines with her husband on Frank Loesser's clever, cheeky "Baby, It's Cold Outside." "We probably made this record just because we love singing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' so much," Robison says. "It's funny, I've had a lot of people come up and ask me if I wrote that song. I thought that it was like 'Jingle Bells,' that it was that famous. It's a brilliant piece of work from a songwriting point of view." Willis also takes the lead on a Blue Note-style take of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." And Robison gets to show off his sly honky-tonk humor by performing the darkly humored, so-true-it-hurts "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)," an offbeat country Christmas tune by songwriter Bill Danoff that the Texan learned from John Denver album. On the more serious side, Robison sings R.B. Morris' "A Winter's Tale," a poetic story packed with vivid atmosphere and extraordinary imagery, while Willis gently and evocatively intones the beautiful European folk ballad, "In the Bleak Midwinter." "I think with holiday music youíre allowed to be sentimental," Willis says. "Everybody has family memories tied into Christmas. You can do songs that are more heartfelt than you might do otherwise." The couple also acknowledge that the holidays have taken on deeper meaning since the arrival of their three young children, big brother Dodie and twins Abby and Ben. "Kelly and I have been so fortunate over the last few years," Robison says. "During the holidays, you tend to acknowledge and appreciate the things you have, and I can't deny the wonderful good fortune that we've had. We've had an amazing streak career-wise, and we're able to be home together with the kids a lot right now. My cup runneth over." www.brucerobison.com www.kellywillis.com Kay Clary ~ Commotion PR kay@commotionpr.com 615.467.6677 |
 |
|||||
to download : click image, right-click large image (hold-click for Mac) and download to desktop |
|
 |
|
www.brucerobison.com
|
|