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Biography“Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what
thou art.” Rob Raroux is a Connecticut-based singer-songwriter who has, to date, completed two recordings of original material, Block Island Days and Hard, Hard Times, both released during 2006, through Green Valley Records, his private recording label. Rob is presently in the midst of an ambitious two-and-a-half-year recording project, and presently his studio recording work is nearing a happy conclusion. All of the studio recording work has taken place at Celebration Sound in Warren, RI, under the guidance of master engineer and producer David Correia. During winter of 2004, Rob decided that he wanted to put some of his old analog recordings from 1986 into digital format, and he contacted David at Celebration for this purpose. During the process of digitally remastering the tapes that winter, Rob was curious about what the studio had to offer, mindful of his own private intentions to record a number of additional songs he had written since over the years. David gave him a tour of the studio as well as a sampling of work produced by other artists in the studio, and the rest is history. Rob has been in the process of recording his songs ever since, plus additional songs he has written over the course of the extensive recording project, which began in May 2004. The project entails the recording of no less than a staggering total of 72 songs (6 albums) of new material, grouped largely by theme and musical style, plus the yet-to-be-released digitally-remastered version of the original 1986 project. As of this writing, 2 of the 6 albums have been released, with early critical acclaim (see “Reviews”). In particular, Rob’s project boasts three different master guitarists who have recorded with the legendary Bob Dylan: Buddy Cage (Blood on the Tracks, 1974), Duke Robillard (Time Out of Mind, 1996), and Stu Kimball (Modern Times, 2006). Buddy Cage is widely-known as the steel guitarist for the popular New Riders of the Purple Sage, who during the 1970s regularly opened up for The Grateful Dead. Handy Award-winning blues guitarist Duke Robillard is known as a founding member of Roomful of Blues. Stu Kimball has been touring currently as guitarist for three straight years with The Bob Dylan Band, and has also recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon, Peter Wolf, and Debbie Harry. In addition, Rob’s recordings include an all-star cast of talented musicians from the Northeast folk circuit, including such critically-acclaimed artists as the popular folk duo Atwater-Donnelly, acoustic blues artist Martin Grosswendt, vocalist/songwriter Kim Trusty, fiddler/mandolinist Kevin Fallon, harmonica player Chris Turner, vocalist Amy Gallatin, resophonic guitarist Roger Williams, and the zydeco group River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs. Rob’s eclectic musical offerings have also tapped into the highly-respected Rhode Island rhythm & blues scene, including such artists as legendary blues harpist James Montgomery, keyboardist Steve Burke (of the John Cafferty Band), blues guitarist Thom Enright, singer-songwriter/guitarist Mark Cutler, Duke Robillard bassist Marty Ballou, and longtime rock and roll band Rizzz. (For further information about all of these notable guest artists, please visit their web sites through the clicking on the “Links” tab of this web site.) All of the above-noted artists have had nothing but positive things to say about Rob’s songwriting, and indeed their very participation in the project is ultimately the best evidence of their profound enthusiasm for it. Everyone knows that gifted artists such as these simply do not deign to lend their good names and talents to any project which they would deem less than worthy of their own valued artistic reputations. Rob’s exciting story is one that continues to be written as the next albums continue to be released over time, and as the albums currently released continue to find favor with his ever-growing listening audience (thanks largely to the Internet), which already includes several cities throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Sweden, Belgium, and the Bahamas. Rob’s first release, “Block Island Days”, sold approximately 300 copies during its first two months of release, during summer of 2006. Rob’s title cut of his newly-released political recording, “Hard, Hard Times”, recently charted #159 in Sweden, on the section of Neil Young’s web site featuring political songs submitted by independent recording artists.
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Green Valley Records |
P.O. Box 490 Chaplin, CT 06235 |
