L. C. Robinson | |
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Robinson in 1974.
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Background information | |
Birth name | Louis Charles Robinson |
Also known as | "Good Rockin'" Robinson |
Born |
Brenham, Texas, United States |
May 15, 1915
Died | September 26, 1976 Berkeley, California, United States |
(aged 61)
Genres | Blues |
Instruments | Vocals, steel guitar, guitar, violin |
Years active | 1930s–1976 |
Associated acts | A. C. Robinson, Dave Alexander, Lafayette Thomas |
L. C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson (born Louis Charles Robinson; May 15, 1915 – September 26, 1976) was an American blues singer, guitarist, and fiddle player. He played an electric steel guitar.
Robinson was born in Brenham, Texas, United States. He learned to play guitar at nine years-old; supposedly Robinson was mentored by gospel blues singer-guitarist Blind Willie Johnson in the bottleneck style. Later in his career, he was introduced to the steel guitar by Western swing musician Leon McAuliffe, and became a noted fiddle player, who instructed Sugarcane Harris. His brother, harmonica player A. C. Robinson, collaborated with L.C. Robinson in Texas in the 1930s, and later the two performed and recorded together in a band in California in the 1940s.
Oakland Blues, a studio album Robinson, Lafayette Thomas and Dave Alexander, was released in 1968 by World Pacific Records. This was followed in 1971 by the album Ups and Downs on Arhoolie, on which Robinson was accompanied by the Muddy Waters band and Dave Alexander's trio. This material was later reissued, along with a previously unissued recording of a radio broadcast with his brother the Reverend A. C. Robinson, as Mojo In My Hand.
Robinson played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in both 1973 and 1974. He visited Sweden the following year, but his work was never widely known in Europe.