Roger Smith with Robert Thomas
I always enjoy it when I’m surprised to hear young musicians that play real instruments, and that have an obvious passion for what they are doing. This was the case earlier this month when we heard singer & guitarist Robert Thomas. Tower Of Power was the featured artist at one of the summer concerts held at the Rodney Strong Vineyard in Healdsburg CA this past June 16th. Also on the Bill, was smooth jazz artist Craig Chaquico (also of Starship fame). Yes my wife and I decided to catch yet another Tower Of Power show (ok, so we are stalkers). Opening the show was Robert and his band.
Robert performed for about forty-five minutes mixing rock standards, with a couple of original of his own. What so impressed me was the ease to which he worked the crowd, as if he has been doing this a long time (as I understand this was his first major show). Robert’s guitar work was very impressive (some nice soloing) and his vocals were spot on as well. Backed by a solid group of musicians, Robert got the audience fired up for the rest of the show.
I got a chance to talk to Robert’s mentor and producer Roger Smith (Keyboardist with Tower Of Power) to give me some insight into Robert. As it turns out Robert is of High School age from the Healdsburg area, and he also plays drums and keyboards. He has been playing for seven or eight years, and during the summers he has attend Jazz camps. He has a vocal coach, and a guitar teacher (who happened to be in the back up band for the show). I asked Roger what impressed him most about Robert. Roger’s response was “Well for a young guy, he uses very sophisticated techniques when composing and arranging songs, techniques that are well beyond his years”. And Roger wrapped up our conversation with “He has excellent potential, to do well in this business”.
I think Robert is someone we may all need to keep an eye on.
