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01/5/2012
Happy New Year! After a great break, I am back in the world of the working musician. Had a lot of fun guesting with Terry Gillespie at his monthly show in Alexandria, Ontario. It will be an Ontario kind of month for me, with 11 more gigs in the province of my birth... all those dates are on the tour page... except for one, that will be added, Monday, Jan. 23 at the Moonshine Cafe in Oakville.
In other news, Rob Lutes & Rob MacDonald LIVE has been nominated for the "Blind Lemon Top Twenty Canadian Blues Albums" of 2011... that's Terry Parson's great show out of Newfoundland. To vote, you can visit this link. It's not required to join the mailing list for your vote to be counted.
http://www.keysurvey.com/votingmodule/s180/survey/405693/1157/#Q10564619
Cheers and all the best this coming year.
Rob
12/29/2011
The end of the year approaches and I just want to wish you all a wonderful end to 2011 and a great 2012 to follow. Monique, Cormac, Jesse and I enjoyed a quiet, cozy Christmas. Lots of snow fell here in Montreal on the big day, adding to the magic.
I am planning a new recording in the next couple of months, which I am happy to report will receive some very helpful funding from the Canada Council for the Arts!
Be well!
Rob
11/23/2011
Hey folks: Just a quick note from Dartmouth, NS where I've been for the past few days. The snow is falling and I'm sitting in my buddy's dining room with nowhere to go until tomorrow. Good thing cause the roads are horrible. I am headed to Wallace for a house concert at Lee Fleming's tomorrow. The tour with Thom Swift has been fun... four shows so far and it's been great to see Thom playing his stuff. He's a fabulous fingerstyle guitarist with great control. The songs are like a warm bath... there is a comfort level there. Great stuff.
I look forward to Friday playing a double bill here in Halifax with Ian Sherwood. Should be a great show.
Saturday, Thom Swift, the Hupman Brothers and I are in Windsor for a show at the St Croix Church. Looking forward to that one too,
take care and happy runup to the holiday season!
Rob
10/13/2011
Hey everyone... just writing to let you know about a few upcoming shows... this Saturday, Oct 15 in Joliette, QC, and arts hotbed in Quebec and one of my favourite towns in the province. And there's an upcoming Ottawa launch at the Elmdale Tavern and three dates at Le balmoral Montreal Jazz Fest off-season site in downtown Montreal.
I've been working on a lot of new tunes and enjoying an incredible fall in Montreal which will be topped off when I see my Buffalo Sabres (my new and improved Buffalo Sabres!) taking on the Montreal Canadians.
Hope all are well!
Rob
09/29/2011
Hey everyone: just a quick update on the progression of LIVE... sitting this week at number 17 on the Roots Music Report, Canada's roots airplay chart. It's been on the chart since June and holding steady in the top 30. Thanks to all the DJs who are playing it and all you fans who are listening. You can check the chart out here:
http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/index.php?page=intchart&country=CANADA
Playing tonight in Beaconsfield just outside Montreal and working on booking tours of the Maritimes in November, Ontarion in January and western Canada and Europe in the Spring. All dates are being listed on the Tour page.
Take care,
Rob
08/12/2011 - Some great recent reviews of the new CD
Hey Everyone. Just back from a great week away in Vermont... "vers monts" en francais, and it makes sense with the stunning mountainous terrain down there. It was our second year at a wilderness retreat there... amazing place.
Back in Montreal with a couple shows this weekend, first on Friday night at the Grand National in Ville Sainte-Catherine for the Montreal-to-Memphis competition of the Montreal Blues Society.... at stake, a trip to the International Blues Competition in Memphis in the winter. And on Saturday, I am so happy to be in town to play at the local Country-en-Ville festival in NDG Park, right down the road from where I live in NDG. Great little lineup and promises to be a fun day... details on shows at www.roblutes.com/tour
The new CD, Rob Lutes & Rob MacDonald LIVE is holding its own on the Roots Music Report blues chart... it's been at between 20 and 34 for the past couple of months. Thanks for all the support to the DJs and listeners out there.
And some really nice reviews have been coming in here and in Europe. A couple, from the Toronto Blues Society and Canada's roots Magazine, Penguin Eggs are below.
Stay well and see you out there.
Rob
Review by John Valenteyn in the Toronto Blues Society Newsletter
Rob Lutes & Rob MacDonald Live Self
Veteran Montreal guitarists in an intimate, acoustic setting, before an appreciative audience and with the recording team on hand – a recipe for an enjoyable disc. The club is Le Red Room in Glen Sutton, in the Quebec countryside and the program a selection from Rob Lutes’ previous discs plus four favourites. This is one of the best live recordings I’ve heard, capturing the show so well you might think you didn’t have to be there. The 15 years or so of Lutes & McDonald playing together are very much in evidence here as the interplay of the guitars, so beautifully recorded, adds immeasurably to the enjoyment. Lutes’ warm & raspy baritone voice mesmerizes and careful listening reveals a thoughtful & eloquent songwriter. The first song, “Uptight”, was a winner at the Kerrville Festival a few years back. “I Know A Girl” was inspired by a line from Robert Johnson’s “They’re Red Hot”. “Drop Down Baby” is tour de force of blues guitar as the duo really let fly on a new arrangement of the Sleepy John Estes classic. “I Will Stand By You”, from his Ride The Shadows CD, has also been recorded by Dawn Tyler Watson and shows he belongs in that group of singer/songwriters with the likes of Chris Whitley and Chris Smither. Whitley’s bluesy original, “Phone Call From Leavenworth” is a keeper as is Lutes’ tribute to Smither, “If The Blues Don’t Shake
You”. Fretboard fireworks again highlight the traditional “Ain’t Nobody’s Business”. More of his own blues, “Keep A Man Down”, with McDonald on slide and a song for his father, “Drive My Blues Away” show why his songs are in demand from other performers. Excellent performances of excellent songs: get your copy at www.roblutes.com.
Review of Rob Lutes and Rob MacDonald LIVE in Canadian Roots magazine, Penguin Eggs:
Rob Lutes and Rob Macdonald, Live, Independent
In a past life Rob Lutes wrote renovation books for Home Depot, but now that eye for drywall and kitchen cabinets has shifted to songwriting. That’s a good thing for Canadian roots music, although home handymen might miss his advice.
This live album with frequent collaborator Rob MacDonald on resophonic guitar was recorded on a cold January day in the town of Glenn Sutton near Montreal. It’ll make you wish you were in that little club, but it’s the next best thing to being there.
Delivered with his gravelly voice and percussive guitar fingerpicking, Lutes’ music is rooted in the blues, without staying in the box. The former writer/editor is literate in his songwriting, delivering plenty of zingers like “Unwrap each sour memory and throw away the peel.” Lutes acknowledges his roots with worthy interpretations of a few well-chosen covers, including my favourite Bee Gees song, To Love Somebody.
MacDonald’s playing is a perfect foil for Lutes. It’s always tasteful and restrained, but he shows he can rip off a mean solo in a rousing version of Ain’t Nobody’s Business.
With work like this, Lutes should be getting a warm reception on “this cold Canadian road,” to quote the man himself.
Mike Sadava
08/12/2011 - Back to the center, tree-planting territory
Just back in Montreal from Live from the Rock Festival in Red Rock, ON. Beautiful site on the shores on Lake Superior and a great lineup. Shared stage with Cheryl Wheeler, Kevin Breit, Connie Kaldor, the Laws, Jack DeKeyser, among many others. Some great young bands there too... one called Harlan Pepper from Hamilton, with so much soul and a solid traditional act called Oh My Darling from Winnipeg. Now off to Vermont for a week before hitting it again in late August. Playing a little Montreal festival called Country en Ville right in my neighborhood of NDG on August 28th during the day. Should be fun.
Be safe and enjoy this last month of summer.
Rob
08/02/2011 - Back to the center, tree-planting territory
Several thousand KMs turned on the odometer in July, and took me to a bunch of sweet locales. The Acoustic Maritime Music Fest in Kempt Shore was a revelation--great fest, stunning location right on the Bay of Fundy, and sharing a couple workshop stages with Valdy really puts career and life in perspective... I saw him first in 87 on my wat to my second year of University at Acadia in Wolfville, NS. He was charming, kick-ass as a performer, and actually remembered my name from when we met a few years back. Apparently that's a talent of his. Saw a bunch of other old friends at this fest, including Rob MacDonald who flew in for the gig from Europe.
Tremblant Bluesfest was as wonderful as always... the crowds there are among the warmest I've ever played for.
A few other shows along the way, and now back in Montreal for a few days before flying off to Thunder Bay for the Live From the Rock (or Red Rock) Festival. The lineup looks fantastic, and on my workshop roster, I see Kevin Breit and Connie Kaldor... two greats it will be fun to share tunes with. I tree-planted in Northern Ontario for three years and I love the region... I'm sort of wondering if any of the old duffers will appear at the fest.
New music is coming around a lot these days and a new project isn't far off. The LIVE CD is still doing really well, hit number 20 on the Canadian Roots Music Chart in July...
Thank God that budget nonsense is out of the way in the US. Someone said recently that it seems that we want our politicians to provide entertainment more than good governance. Maybe so. The doomsday scenarios tend to clarify priorities I guess. But we have enough to do to clear our minds already.
Stay cool and be well this August and thanks for dropping by.
Rob
07/07/2011 - Seaside rendezvous
Headed off tomorrow to play in Wallace, NS on the coast beside the Northumberland Strait, then to Moncton for a family wedding. Will be travelling to a number of shows this month and trying out a few new tunes on audiences. Plans also coming together for a November European tour. Hope to see some of you out there!
06/10/2011 - Early reviews
Just enjoyed a fantastic weekend at the Montreal Folk Festival on the Canal. My performing role was as part of the "folk jam" this year, but the festival itself was incredible... great lineup and great weather. Highlights were John Sebastian and Fred Eaglesmith. Two pros. Lots of incredible other acts though.
There have been a couple early reviews of the new LIVE CD, one from noted Montreal DJ and writer Mike Regenstreif and one in Le Devoir, our high-end Francophone daily here in Montreal.
You can read them here:
http://frfb.blogspot.com/2011/06/rob-lutes-rob-macdonald-live.html
http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/325653/vitrine-du-disque-17-juin-2011
Enjoy your day!
Rob
06/10/2011 - Summer news
I will be heading out to Riverfield tomorrow for a small festival in honour of Dawson Mizener. Riverfield is about 45 minutes south of the city, not much of a town really... but strangely, I spent a lot of time out there when my daughter Jesse was a baby. Historically, it was a Scottish farming settlement, and her grandfather Carmichaels family was part of that community.
The fact that this is the first festival of the season, well it seems like a good time to let you know that I'll be playing a few fests this summer, including the Acoustic Maritime Music Festival in Kempt Shore, NS, Live from the Rock Fest near Thunder Bay and a few others around Montreal including Tremblant Blues, Hudson Music Festival and Country En Ville, right here in NDG.
All the dates are up on the tour page. As always, it would be great to see you out there.
In other news, I am in full flight promotion of the new CD, Rob Lutes and Rob MacDonald LIVE. Very proud of it. The sound, thanks to many, including the fantastic mixer Fred Bouchard, is amazing.
I wish everyone a peaceful, happy summer.
03/24/2011 - New Live album!
After many requests by fans and a couple false starts, Rob MacDonald and I are finally releasing a live record. The whole album will be taken from our performance on the cold snowy night of January 29th at a small intimate venue outside Montreal called The Red Room. It's rare to get an entire record in one night, but we're really happy with the performances and there is a great vibe to the evening.
We are launching it April 26th in Montreal but there will be other shows (Toronto and Ottawa to start) to follow along with some festivals and tours this summer and beyond that I'll tell you about later this spring.
11/17/2010 Rob's UK Tour
Rob is headed to the UK for a short 10-day tour including two London dates.
09/21/2010 Ottawa show added
Ottawa show at the Elmdale Tavern, Sunday, Nov. 7. Meredith Luce opens. Details to come on the tour page.
09/12/2010 - Fall shows
Rob is finishing up the writing for the new CD that he'll be recording soon. Heading down to NY state for three shows coming up. Later in the month, Rob MacDonald and I will be at the Joliette Bluesfest. And in October, there are some Ontario and Michigan dates. Finally a Montreal show, at Le Petit Medley on October 15. Dates are all listed on the tour page.
Also, renowned Quebec performers Dawn Tyler Watson and Paul Deslauriers are heading into the studio to record their second duo CD. The first, En Duo, featured Rob's ballad, I Will Stand By You. This album is slated to feature three tunes by Rob.
06/01/2010 - Update
Rob will be playing at several festivals this summer, including the third annual Montreal Folk Fest on the Canal and Vermont's Champlain Valley Folk Festival. He and Rob MacDonald embark on a Maritime Tour starting August 2 in PEI. All the dates at on the Tour page!
01/18/2010 -
Truth & Fiction was selected by George Graham in his best CDs of 2009!
http://georgegraham.com/best2009.html
01/18/2010 -
Recent review of Truth & Fiction from Canada's folk music magazine Penguin Eggs, and a couple of reviews of live shows from across the pond! Read the reviews here
10/13/2009 -
Rob Lutes Nominated for English Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Get all the details here.
08/07/2009 - Truth and Fiction continues to receive some rave reviews
Maverick Magazine had this to say: "If ever an artist captured perfectly the simple beauty and honesty of roots music, it’s Rob Lutes on Truth & Fiction. This is an album to be savoured, explored and returned to time and again." - Maverick (UK)
08/07/2009 - Rob heads off to Netherlands and UK
Rob heads off to Netherlands and UK to tour in October. All dates are on the Tour page here.
And here is another new online review from NetRhythms, also in the UK .
08/07/2009 - Truth and Fiction Top Ten
Truth and Fiction made the Top Ten in July on CBC's Galaxy Folk/Roots Chart. The album continues to get solid airplay in the US and was also selected for CIMS (Coalition of Independent Music Stores) listening post for July. This is a group of more than 80 stores in the US that features the best in independent music.
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