Robert Finley to release new album 'Goin' Platinum!'
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Soul and blues singer Robert Finley will release his second studio album, Goin' Platinum! on December 8. Goin' Platinum! was co-written and produced by The Black Key’s Dan Auerbachand also features writing credits by legendary songwriters John Prine, Nick Lowe, and Pat McLaughlin.
Goin' Platinum! captures a singer at his prime, surrounded by all-time-great session musicians with skill to match his singular voice, including drummer Gene Chrisman (Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin) keys player Bobby Woods (JJ Cale, Bobby Womack), horns players from Preservation Hall and legendary guitarist Duane Eddy.
“These guys are legends in their own time,” Finley says. “I’m grateful to be part of the team and working with such extraordinary guys. We hooked up the soul and rock and roll and made one hell of a record.”
Hailing from the small town of Bernice, Louisiana, Robert Finley, a self-taught musician, is no stranger to collaborating with and leading an elite group of musicians. Finley joined the army as a teenager to become a helicopter technician, but quickly found work as the leader of the Army’s band and toured the continent many times with them on guitar and vocals. Following his military service, Finley settled back in the States and made a living as a carpenter. It wasn’t until Finley lost most of his eyesight and was forced to retire from carpentry that two happenstances rejuvenated his music career. First, while playing to a street crowd in Arkansas, Finley met a member of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, an organization that provides direct support to older and underprivileged musicians. This lead to the release of his first LP Age Don't Mean A Thing in the fall of 2016. A video of Finley performing songs on the street also made its way to Dan Auerbach, front man of The Black Keys and Easy Eye Sound Nashville-based record label owner. Auerbach immediately recognized the singer’s immense and innate talent, and writing and recording sessions with the Easy Eye Sound house band.
“I realized very quickly Robert’s capable of doing so much more than old blues songs,” Auerbach says. “He’s a blues guitar player, but when he puts his guitar down, you could set him in front of an orchestra and he would sing just as good as Ray Charles on the first take. He has that magnetic hugeness about his voice and just knows where to put it in the pocket, always.”