Robin Trower will return to UK stages in May 2024 for a select run of shows taking in London, Gateshead and Holmfirth. It’s been six years since Robin Trower last played in the UK, but the iconic guitarist has certainly been keeping busy. Recent album releases include the United State Of Mind project with Maxi Priest and Livingstone Brown and three albums in four years on the Provogue label, including his most recent ‘Joyful Sky’ with vocalist Sari Schorr. It’s hard to believe that Robin Trower first came to prominence with Procol Harum in 1967 and was selling out stadiums in the USA with his solo band in the 1970s. More about Robin Trower and those tour dates follow:
For six decades, Robin Trower’s career has been an act of quiet rebellion. Rewind the reels of the British guitarist’s backstory and you’ll find an artist who has always rolled the dice rather than take the path of least resistance. In the early-’70s, Trower announced his fearless streak by leaving the security of Procol Harum for a gold-selling solo career whose ever-present Bridge Of Sighs - album filled the stadiums of North America. Since then, he’s flowed from his own projects to collaborations with everyone from Jack Bruce to the United State Of Mind supergroup alongside Maxi Priest and Livingstone Brown. Fast-forward to 2024 and Trower’s new studio album, Joyful Sky, represents vindication for his latest flash of artistic instinct.
A literal lifetime since he first stepped onto the British blues circuit as a cub gunslinger, that fabled Trower power shows no sign of burning out. In fact, the iconic guitarist’s late-period acceleration is something to behold, sweeping up new fans alongside the hardcore who have followed his every move. “I think this record is more accessible than the stuff I’ve done over the last few years and I’ve got a feeling it’ll reach more people,” says Trower of Joyful Sky. “At my age, to still be doing it, and still turning out good stuff – you really appreciate what a blessing that is.”
Photo (C) Rob Blackham
United State of Mind shouldn’t work as well as it does. On paper the idea of Robin Trower the guitar ace and Procol Harum founding member - who sold millions of records in the 70s and 80s with his brand of power-trio, blues-rock - forming a band with Maxi Priest the British singer who enjoyed chart success in the 1990s (‘Close To You’ was a US No.1 in 1990) with a sound that merged elements of reggae and R&B seems at the very least unlikely (The pair aren’t quite David and Bing but it’s a pretty close run thing). Any fears prove unfounded as there is plenty of musical chemistry on show here. Robin initially met Maxi by chance in the studio of producer Livingstone Brown who recalls “When Robin first met Maxi; I thought this cannot end well. Wow, this record is proof I was so wrong!” Livingstone Brown is the glue that holds USM together utilising his bass and keyboard skills alongside his duties as the producer on as soulful a record as you’re likely to hear this year.