Robin Henkel

Robin has opened shows for:

BB King, Dizzy Gillespie
Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John
Jr. Wells, Jr. Walker
Roy Rogers, Arlo Guthrie
Hot Tuna, John McLaughlin
Todd Rundgren, Nichollette Larson
Warren Zevon, Steve Stills, Dave Mason
Harvey Mandel, Tim Weisberg
Don McLean, Charles Brown
John Mayall, David Lindley
Norton Buffalo
Livingston Taylor

Robin has performed with:

John Hammond, Eddie Kirkland
The San Diego Symphony
Lowell Fulson, Johnny Almond
Buddy Miles, Big Jay McNealy
Jimmy Witherspoon, Sha Na Na
Papa John Creach
Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Robin Henkel is a futurist and a historian.
--LA Times

Henkel is already playing a shuffle that is neither slow
nor fast--a strut, and it is extremely seductive
...Henkel proceeds to play a fast jump progression,
much like one of Robert Johnson's fiery paced songs.
As with Johnson, it is hard to imagine, if you close your eyes,
that there is only one guitarist at work.
You can almost hear the scratches on the 78.
--San Diego Reader

Robin's live shows are
nothing short of inspirational.
There is somthing genuinely raw, base and animalistic
about his gut-wrenching, honest music.
--360 Degrees

Robin Henkel promises nothing, if not a surprise
here and there. This is just the way the San Diego
native is. He wants to shake things up,
so expect the unexpected.

As a guitar player, Robin can play blues, jazz, funk,
country swing, Hawaiian and Latin music.
He borrows from each of those styles when he performs
and sometimes even surprises himself
with the musical direction his songs take.

"I like playing music", he says. It just feels good.
Henkel's strength is when he picks up that sawed-off pipe
fitting and puts it on his baby finger and then
lays it on the strings of a resonator or Dobro.
All of a sudden the awkward kid from Serra Mesa
is transformed into the man in the corner
at the Delta house party who commands everyones attention.
When Robin plays slide guitar, he steels the show.
You probably haven't seen anything like this for years
and you may not see it again anytime soon.

Though he leans toward playing jazz these days,
he won Best Blues CD at the San Diego Music Awards (2000)
for his "Highway" recording.
"I don't quite know how I did that," he says
"there's not much blues on it."
To make amends, Henkel has vowed to record
a blues album next. Maybe.

--Mike Kinsman

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