A True Original, Trower Wows the Wiltern
By DONNA BALANCIA
Robin Trower may have been one of the founding fathers of rock, but he puts on a heck of a blues show. This is an artist not to miss, he’ll be in Portland Oregon Friday at the Roseland Theatre and he’ll be in Seattle on Saturday at The Moore Theatre.
After that it’s off to Europe in September for one of the most prolific guitarists of our era.
Bridge of Sighs
The album Bridge of Sighs arguably influenced a host of musicians, and with it, Trower single-handedly altered the coolness factor of the blues in the early 1970s. He mixed a bluesy guitar with a new, trippy sound and was one of the early initiators of prog rock. Some have even gone so far as to call him “The White Jimi Hendrix” because of his similar psychedelic sound.
Today, at 72, Trower shows no signs of slowing down as he held a super cool audience mesmerized by his remarkable guitar work at the Wiltern recently.
Time And Emotion
His new album, Time And Emotion, is excellent, with all the trademarks of the great guitarist. If you want to know what an original, tried-and-true musician is, check out this album. There are several cuts from Time And Emotion that are super upbeat and a few that bear the signature sound and that familiar ringing A-minor note that hovers over the crowd.
Trower is a showman and includes the audience on every nuance of a sound. It’s like he’s having a conversation and telling his story. And it doesn’t hurt that the story is told through his Fender Stratocaster that helps keeps the crowd in the moment.
