Atención Music Spotlight: Doug Robinson, From 45s to Forever

hace 6 días
3 min de lectura

By Felecia Ford

Our August Music Spotlight is on Doug Robinson—a piano wizard, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and musical storyteller whose fingerprints can be found all over San Miguel’s vibrant music scene. Although Doug’s journey began in sunny California, it eventually led him to the cobblestone streets of our city, where for more than two decades he has become one of its most respected and recognizable musicians.

With 18 independent albums to his credit and one more on the way, Doug continues to prove that his creative well hasn’t run dry. His newest studio album is almost complete and waiting in the wings, but before we talk about what’s next, let’s hear how his long love affair with music began.

As it turns out, Doug’s journey started in a rather unexpected way…

FF: Thank you for this interview Doug. Let’s begin with your very first musical memory.

DR: My father owned a couple of bars, and he would bring home 45s for my brother and I to listen to. We were just little kids, but he said he wanted our opinion about what was going to be a hit! At 9, I was kicked out of class for accidentally starting a fire, and the principal had to put me somewhere for the last 30 minutes of the school day. He dropped me into a piano class where I watched six kids struggling to play a major scale. I sat down and played it perfectly. The teacher thought I’d taken lessons, but I had never even touched a piano before.

FF: Besides piano, what other instruments do you play?

DR: I’ve always picked up new musical instruments quickly. Piano, organ, electric and acoustic bass, guitar, percussion, drums, dulcimer, harmonica, vibraphone, marimba, banjo, dobro, a little trumpet and trombone.

FF: Besides being a multi-instrumentalist, your writing and composing are stellar. How does your songwriting process begin?

DR: It’s usually just one phrase, whether it’s lyrics or just instrumental, that inspires me. Then it’s a process of telling a story.

FF: One thing readers may not know about you is your love for animals. Your recent song and video, “Who’s Saving Who?”, is a beautiful example of using music for something bigger than entertainment.

DR: I wrote the song to raise funds for Angelitos Sanctuario, a local animal sanctuary based outside San Miguel. Hopefully this year I will head to México City to record it with a string quartet. My plan is to offer it to animal sanctuaries all around the world to use.

FF: What is something you secretly wish for?

DR: A wider audience. I wish more people could hear what I do.

FF: Let’s fix that! Where do we go to hear your music?

DR: My website, YouTube and I’m also on Sound Cloud.

FF: Okay, now I’m dying to know about your newest studio project.

DR: We just spent three days recording our first album with DRV. On this album you’ll hear Rubén Olvera on bass, Víctor Rubio on drums and we added Freddy Thompson on Sax and myself on piano. It’s been wonderful to be recording at Myles Wakeham’s Troubled Clef Studio. I think we captured some really excellent performances from the guys— we are playing funky soul/jazz, a lot of my originals that we’ve arranged together as a band. We still have more work to do, but I’m really excited about this project.