DISC: "Here's the perfect CD to play on a rainy Sunday...or a sunny Saturday, or any time you need to break free from the demands of the week...year...life, take it easy and let the day develop around you. Red, White and Blues is the debut CD of Robin O'Herin. Punctuated by beautiful harmonies and intricate guitar, Red, White and Blues is a country blues and folk mix of old standards and originals that would make Mississippi John Hurt and Lead Belly proud. Highlights include the original instrumental Robin O'Herin is a Berkshires -based, acoustic blues and gospel musician with a hint of Appalachian mountain music. She plays bottleneck and fingerstyle guitar and mountain dulcimer. Robin specializes in historically rich, often interactive concerts that include original and traditional American music, for schools, libraries and small listening rooms. Her concerts are warm, affirming experiences she shares with the audience. Robin was a finalist in the 2006 Memphis Blues Challenge. She played in the Tropea Blues Festival in Trope Italy in September '06. She was the headlining act in the Resophonic Blues Festival in Pilzen, CZ. in '05. She opened for the Doobie Brothers in Pittsfield, MA. and for Vance Gilbert and Michael Powers in Sept 04. Her arrangement of "Old Country Rock" and her original "Everhopeful" were used in the soundtrack for the PBS "2005 Roadtrip Nations" Series (episode 4). She has served as song leader in several churches and led a traditional gospel choir. REVIEWS: "Red, White and Blues" is an easy-going, laid-back effort, a tribute to tradition that extends that tradition forward in a personal vein. It also highlights O'Herin's deft fingerpicking and slide-guitar work on numbers like Willie Moore's "Old Country Rock" and her committed vocals on "Abilene" and a few humorous, original tunes, including "Junkfood Junkie Blues" and "The Driving Song (Commuter Blues)." Seth Rogovoy, The Beat, Berkshires Week "O'Herin keeps things appealingly bluesy, due in no small part to her accomplished fingerpicking and bottleneck playing...It's her fine interpretation of standards like "Corinna, Corinna" and "Precious Lord" that are highlights." Tom Hyslop, Blues Bites, Blues Revue "She sings and plays with such passion and honesty; it comes through loud and clear in every song. I am firmly convinced that whatever style of music this woman decided to play, her love for her craft would be evident. The only shortcoming I could find on this album was the longevity of her instrumentals. They are so good that I was disappointed they ended so quickly...This is a fine collection of blues songs and the theme is eclectic, so if you happen to enjoy many different styles of the genre you are in for a treat. "©Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck BIO: Growing up in the Sixties, I was probably the only kid in my neighborhood listening to such legendary blues artists as Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, Blind Willie Johnson and Lightning Hopkins, among others. My father still has boxes of his old 78s stored in his garage (someday they'll be mine). My mother liked folk music, especially Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, but I liked them all; blues, folk and gospel. I wore out my mother's Odetta records. My choices in music covered a wide spectrum. Leo Kottke and John Renbourne were my heroes. I found myself listening to and learning from a diversified group of musicians: everything from Phil Okes to the Staple Singers, Emmy Lou Harris to Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt and Rory Block to Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. I learned to sing by making up harmonies and singing along with the albums. Music was a refuge and answer to the pain and seeking of a youth growing up in troubled times. I especially loved the raw power and emotion of bottleneck blues. In August of 2001, I fulfilled a dream and spent a week at Blues Guitar Camp in California (International Guitar Seminars), with guitar greats Bob Brozman, Woody Mann and John Renbourne, to name just a few of the awesome guitarists who were there. We studied all day and jammed all night. It's never too late to go to camp. I was an introspective teen, with lots of time to practice, (I wish I had that kind of time now), listening to scratchy records and struggling to develop a sound. Armed with just two chords I began writing songs. If I was happy, it would make me sing, and if I was sad, it would make me sing. Music became irrevocably entwined with my life. Being involved with the civil rights movement in the sixties had repercussions that are still echoing in my music. It was a nonviolent movement fueled by faith and music, lots of music. People wept and laughed and sang, and changed the world. My Debut cd, "Red, White and Blues, is filled with original music, gospel and country blues. It was recorded at SubStation, a subsidiary of SoulTube Music in Housatonic, MA, owned and run by musician, Robby Baier. The cd is available online and locally in the Berkshires. The Road Home is a more meditative CD filled with holy blues and appalachian gospel. Music is my passion, and even in the wost of times I cannot stop singing. In the words of the great gospel song, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free." "My life flows on, in endless song, Above earth's lamentation, I hear the real, though far-off hymn, That hails a new creation. No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I'm clinging. It sounds an echo in my soul, How can I keep from singing." --Appalachian hymn