Blues guitarist. Swing and jump blues in the T-Bone Walker style. Bandleader. Songwriter. Singer. Producer. Session musician. And a one-man cheering section for the blues, in all its forms and permutations. And every one of those names has shared recording studio space or stage time with a man who is a legend in the blues community.
The Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C.Handy Awards) have named Duke Robillard "Best Blues Guitarist" four years out of five (2000,2001,2003,2004) making him the second most honored guitarist for that award! He was also nominated in that category in 2005, 2007 and again this year of 2008.
In 2007 Duke received a Grammy nomination for his "Guitar Groove-a-rama" CD and was also honored with the prestigious Rhode Island Pell Award for "excellence in the arts" along with actress Olympia Dukakis, actor Bob Colonna, and R.I. Choreographer/Festival Ballet director Mihailo "Misha" Djuric.The Pell award is named for Senator Claiborne Pell who help establish the the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities in 1965.
Other awards over the last decade include three Canadian Maple Blues Awards in 2001, 2002, and 2003 for "Best International Blues Artist," The Blues Foundation's "Producer of the Year" award in 2004, The French Blues Association "Album of the Year" award in 2002 (Living with the Blues) and "Guitarist of the Year" awards in 1999 and 2002.
BB King himself has called Duke "One of the great players," The Houston Post called him "one of God's guitarists. And the New York Times says "Robillard is a soloist of stunning force and originality.
None of that goes to Robillard’s head. He’s still on the road, still playing as many as 250 dates a year. And still proving, night after night, that his true talent is bringing people out to hear the music, appreciate the show, and dance to the blues.
Duke had his first band in high school — he was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island — and he was fascinated from the beginning by the ways in which jazz, swing, and the blues were linked. In 1967, he formed Roomful of Blues, and the band was tight enough and tough enough to accompany two of its heroes, Big Joe Turner and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson on record and in live appearances.
Always ahead of his time, Duke’s first band pre-dated the renewed interest in jump blues by more than a decade — and almost 20 years later, in 1986, when he recorded with jazz sax master Scott Hamilton, he recorded a collection of classic big band tunes from the ’30s and ’40s, thus skillfully pre-dating the neo-Swing craze of the mid ’90s.
Roomful of Blues — which still continues, forty years later — gave Duke his first exposure to a wide public, and when he left after a dozen years, he played briefly with rockabilly king Robert Gordon, then cut two albums with the Legendary Blues Band (a sterling collection of former members of Muddy Waters’ band). He led his own band until 1990, and then replaced Jimmy Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
In 1993, as he was about to sign a world-wide recording deal with Virgin/Pointblank, he met Holger Petersen, head of the Canadian independent label Stony Plain, at a folk festival in Winnipeg. In conversation, he mentioned he wanted to record a complete album of blues, without the r & b and jazz influences of his work to date.
Petersen was interested; Virgin gave the go-ahead, and the resulting album, Duke’s Blues, earned rave reviews. It was so successful, in fact, that Virgin soon licensed the record from Stony Plain and released it around the world (except in Canada, where it continues in the Canadian company’s catalogue.
In the years since his relationship with the Canadian label has been astonishingly fruitful. As a soloist , he has released eleven CDs, plus one with label mate Ronnie Earl and one with The New Guitar Summit. Duke's next release will be in May/June of 2008
Just as remarkable have been the projects he has produced (and played on) for Stony Plain, including two albums with the late Jimmy Witherspoon, two with Kansas City piano king Jay McShann, comeback CDs for Billy Boy Arnold and Rosco Gordon, a swinging confection with the Canadian band The Rockin’ Highliners, and a superb album of guitar duets with the jazz legend Herb Ellis.
As if this growing catalogue was not enough, he has found time to share studio gigs with Bob Dylan (the Daniel Lanois-produced Time Out of Mind sessions), Ruth Brown, the late Johnny Adams, John Hammond, Pinetop Perkins, and Ronnie Earl, among many others. He now has his own 24-track studio in his home, and he has become deeply involved in graphic design and photography as well as record production.
Duke Robillard is a man in command of a full range of creative talents — unique in the blues, and rare in the music industry as a whole. He is, in fact, a complete artist at the height of his power.
I Can't Believe You're In Love With Me
Duke Robillard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And when you smiled at me,
In my heart I felt a thrill you see,
That it was love at sight and
I was right to love you as I do.
Still I never dreamed that you could love me too.
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
I'm on your mind each place we go
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
I have always placed you far above me.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
And after all is said and done,
To think that I'm the lucky one.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
Skies are gray. I'm blue each day
When you are not around.
Ev'ry thing goes wrong, my dear I've found
But when you're by my side I fill with pride
For I'm so proud of you
It all seems too good to me to all be true
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
I never knew what they could do.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
I'm on your mind each place we go
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
I have always placed you far above me.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
And after all is said and done,
To think that I'm the lucky one.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
Duke Robillard's "I Can't Believe You're In Love With Me" is a love song that speaks to the singer's amazement and disbelief that the person they are in love with, reciprocates their feelings. The first verse highlights the moment the singer realizes they are in love, as the person smiles at them, and they feel a thrill in their heart. As the song continues, they express their astonishment that this person feels the same way they do. The chorus repeats the title phrase "I can't believe that you're in love with me," emphasizing the singer's incredulity.
The second verse and chorus reinforce this disbelief, with the singer proclaiming that everyone they know is surprised that their love interest loves them back. The final verse brings a new perspective to the song, with the singer admitting that they have always placed their love interest above themselves and never imagined that they would reciprocate their feelings. However, the singer ends the song by accepting their luck and joy in this realization, punctuated by the final repetition of the chorus.
Overall, the song is a sweet, simple expression of love and the surprise when that love is returned. It emphasizes the beauty of unexpected joy and the realization that sometimes, good things happen to good people.
Line by Line Meaning
Yesterday you came my way,
The singer begins his retrospective journey, detailing the moment you walked into his life, and how in that very moment he knew he had to have you.
And when you smiled at me,
When you smiled, he felt an electric charge of excitement coursing through his heart.
In my heart I felt a thrill you see,
The singer realized that he had found his true love at first sight.
That it was love at sight and
He couldn't deny that the feelings he had was indeed love at first sight.
I was right to love you as I do.
He knew that he was not wrong to have fallen in love with you deeply.
Still I never dreamed that you could love me too.
Despite his eagerness and love for you, he never thought that you could feel the same way.
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
The singer is mesmerized by your blue eyes and your kisses that ignite a fire in his heart.
I never knew what they could do.
The artist never imagined that these simple things could have such a profound effect on him.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
Others are aware of your love and how you profess it to everyone around you.
I'm on your mind each place we go
He is delighted to know that he's always on your mind even when you are out and about.
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
Many are surprised that someone like you is in love with him.
I have always placed you far above me.
He has always been in awe of you and believed you were well out of his league.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
He finds it hard to believe that someone like you could love him.
And after all is said and done,
Despite everything that has happened between them, he still feels grateful for your love.
To think that I'm the lucky one.
He feels very lucky to have found you to spend his life with.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
The artist is in awe of the fact that you love him as much as he does you.
Skies are gray. I'm blue each day
The artist doesn't feel like himself without you around, and everything seems a little more difficult.
When you are not around.
He misses you when you are not with him.
Ev'ry thing goes wrong, my dear I've found
Without you, nothing seems to go right, and the singer feels lost.
But when you're by my side I fill with pride
The artist feels a sense of pride when you are with him, and he is reminded of how lucky he truly is.
For I'm so proud of you
He feels proud to be associated with you and to be yours always.
It all seems too good to me to all be true
The artist feels like he is in a dream-like state, where everything is too good to be true, and he is afraid to wake up.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Spirit Music Group, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CLARENCE GASKILL, JIMMY MC HUGH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind