BIO
Robbie Laws recently toured the lower Baja region of Mexico for the highly acclaimed 2012 'Rockin' Blues Extravanganza' and the annual 'Cabo Blues Guitar Boot Camp'. The Gringo Gazette touted this performance tour as " the best ever musical performance of a band in Los Cabos in the past 20 years".
Robbie Laws is one of the most decorated and in demand blues guitarists in the Pacific Northwest. He has been honored with 21 Portland Cascade Blues Association Muddy Awards, nine of which were for ‘Best Electric Guitarist", the ‘Best Blues Act 2010' award from the Seattle based Washington Blues Society and most recently, the 'Outstanding Achievement in Blues' award from the Portland Music Association in 2011. The Robbie Laws Band won the prestigious 'Journey to Memphis' competition in Portland, Oregon on July 4, 2011 as the top regional act and competed at The 2012 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, making it into the semi-finals and runner up for the 'Kings of Beale Street' competition.
Having played with guitar legends from Albert Collins to Ronnie Earl, Robbie is an internationally recognized Blues Guitar Master who has thrilled festival and concert audiences for over 15 years with his sheer technical prowess on the guitar, his soulful voice, impressive stage presence and likeable personality. Laws possesses the inherent ability to authentically convey styles such as nineteen forties, jump swing, traditional country blues, Piedmont, Delta, early Texas and Chicago, yet is comfortable playing uptown jazz as well as progressive rock.
Robbie has shared the stage with a long list of great legends and has performed at many notable blues festivals as well as being a regular favorite at argueably the best and second largest blues festival in the United States, the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival. Throughout his career, Laws has released five recordings including the most recent ‘Robbie Laws Live' which has been receiving rave reviews and notable airplay up and down the West Coast, including Alaska and Canada. All of his previous recordings have been awarded "Best Recording of the Year" in the Pacific Northwest. Robbie is currently in the recording studio working on his next album and plans a release in Summer of 2012.
Laws is also co-owner of 'Guitar Expeditions' with his wife Jerri. Guitar Expeditions is a music company that offers the guitar player several options on their personal journey of learning how to play the guitar along with an optional performance component if the student so desires. This company offers private and group guitar lessons as well as workshops held locally, regionally and at festivals around the world. In addition, Robbie holds the 'International Vacation Guitar Boot Camps' yearly in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and is working on an additional camp this coming winter in Cancun. His mission is to keep the blues alive and available for generations to come. "Each generation leaves a fingerprint on the music" says Laws. "It's about keeping the music fresh and viable for the next one".
REVIEWS
"The white Buddy Guy"
Albert Collins, Blues Legend
"The man's got it all...tone, taste, and a ‘T-Bone' mentality that not many can duplicate or
understand. It's a treat to see Robbie cut other guitarists alive onstage."
Steve Pringle - Portland's top radio personality - KINK/KMHD - Portland, Oregon
"A multi-genre guitar virtuoso, singer, songwriter from Portland, Oregon. Highly recommended!"
Blues Review Magazine
"Whenever I have friends in town from back east, he is always on the "must see" list like Multnomah Falls and Timberline Lodge...you just can't say you've seen Oregon and miss Robbie Laws."
Local Blues Fan - Portland, Oregon
PRESS
"He channels his heroes - vocalist Bobby Bland and guitar slinger Albert Collins are among them - into a performance of what modern has become; electric, loud when appropriate but soft when necessary, and an in-concert showcase for instrumental mastery".
The Anchorage Press - News Article - Anchorage, Alaska
"There is a reason why Robbie Laws has held such demand with audiences in the Northwest. His vocals are spot on and his guitar work is crisp, tasty and quite often simply jaw-dropping amazing".
Greg Johnson - President, Cascade Blues Association - Portland, Oregon
