What do Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Jay McShann, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, John … Read Full Bio ↴What do Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Jay McShann, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, John Hammond, the late Jimmy Witherspoon, Dr. John, Maria Muldaur, Roomful of Blues, and the Canadian band The Rockin’ Highliners all have in common?

Answer: Duke Robillard

Guitarist. 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.

Glamour Girl
The Duke Robillard Band Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Glamor girl, glamor girl
I'm cutting out on you
You just play a type of baby
And I ain't no use for you

Seven days, you play the races
Seven nights, you stay out late
You always caught in funny places

Every guy you think is great

Glamor girl, glamor girl
I find you,ll never do
You just play a type of baby
And I ain't no use for you

Twelve o clock is rising hour
You think that's a crime
You better find a better place for Charlie
`Cause I'm through feeding ya mine

Glamor girl, glamor girl
I find you,ll never do
You just play a type of baby
And I ain't no use for you

Now the fastest train that's leavin'
Is much to slow for me
Now the fastest train that's leavin'
Is much to slow for me

When all these years

I tried to believe you
That was just a foolin' me

Overall Meaning

The Duke Robillard Band's song "Glamour Girl" is a blues song that tells the story of a man who has grown tired of his partner's lifestyle and her behavior. The man addresses his partner as a "glamour girl," but he realizes that he needs to leave her because he sees her as someone who just plays a certain type of baby. The man's partner is portrayed as a promiscuous woman who spends her nights out at the races or in other strange places, giving attention to every man she thinks is great. The man is portrayed as fed up with this behavior and is done supporting her.

Throughout the song, the man emphasizes that he is cutting out on his partner because he sees that she is not good for him. He warns her that she better find a better place for Charlie because he is done feeding her. Towards the end of the song, the man comes to the realization that he has been fooled by his partner all these years and decides to leave her.

Interestingly, the song speaks to the common theme of the blues genre; of a man who realizes that his partner is not as dedicated to him as he thought. The song portrays a greater sense of the experiences of the working-class and the challenges that they go through when it comes to romantic relationships. The lyrics are simple and clear, highlighting that sometimes, we outgrow our partners, and they can outgrow us.

Line by Line Meaning

Glamor girl, glamor girl
Addressing the girl as someone who appears glamorous

I'm cutting out on you
Leaving and breaking away from the girl

You just play a type of baby
Acting immature and childish

And I ain't no use for you
Not willing to be with someone who can't act like an adult

Seven days, you play the races
Spending time at horse races for an entire week

Seven nights, you stay out late
Staying out late every night for a week

You always caught in funny places
Getting into questionable situations

Every guy you think is great
Finding every guy attractive

Twelve o clock is rising hour
Referring to midnight as the start of a new day

You think that's a crime
Suggesting that the girl has a flawed sense of time

You better find a better place for Charlie
Implying that the girl needs to find someone else to take care of her