Charlie Robison
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This section requires expansion with: More info on musical career. |
| Charlie Robison | |
|---|---|
 Charlie Robison in Austin, Texas |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Fitzgerald Robison |
| Born | September 1, 1964 |
| Origin | Houston, Texas, USA |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Viero Lucky Dog Columbia Dualtone |
| Associated acts | Jack Ingram Bruce Robison Emily Robison |
| Website | Official website |
Charles Fitzgerald "Charlie" Robison (born September 1, 1964 in Houston, Texas) is an Texas Country singer/songwriter, who was raised in Bandera, Texas. His brother is singer/songwriter Bruce Robison. Sister, Robyn Ludwick, is an accomplished singer/songwriter in her own right.
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[edit] Career
After an injury in college ended a potential football career, Charlie Robison came to Austin, TX in the late 80's and had stints in the bands Chaparral, Millionaire Playboys, and Two Hoots and a Holler.[1] He went solo with his album "Bandera" in 1996. He subsequently signed with Sony and released "Life of the Party" on Sony's subsidiary Lucky Dog Records. The album gave him three of his biggest hits including "My Hometown." His next release was a live disc called "Unleashed Live," which is credited to Charlie, brother Bruce, and Jack Ingram. He then signed with Columbia Records for "Step Right Up" and another live album.
In 2003, Robison was a judge on the first season of the TV singing competition Nashville Star.[2]
Unhappy with the expectations & limitations of being a Nashville country artist, he moved to a smaller independent label, Dualtone, for "Good Times" in 2004, followed by extensive touring and newfound control over his career. Accordingly, his sound began to evolve away from mainstream/Nashville country and toward more Southern & hard rock influences.
Five years after the release of Good Times, Robison released Beautiful Day on June 23, 2009 on Dualtone. This is the first CD he has self-produced. Both albums feature several songs written by Nashville singer/songwriter Keith Gattis.
His song "Good Times" was featured in the credits of HBO's original series True Blood in the first season's third episode.
In 2009 he embarked on an East Coast tour with stops in Little Rock, Nashville, Atlanta, Raleigh, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa City, and Memphis to promote "Beautiful Day." Since then he has played primarily in Texas, with occasional shows in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
He is known for playing classic rock covers during his live shows. Some of these include: "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Highway to Hell" (AC/DC), "Call me the Breeze" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "Whiskey River," "Stay all Night," and other songs by Willie Nelson, "Rocket Man" (Elton John), and several Rolling Stones songs including "Dead Flowers" and "Honky Tonk Women."
His live band includes: Mark Tokach (lead guitar), Abe Combest (drums), Louis Landry (keyboards/accordion), and Chris Grady (bass). Most of his recordings feature The Enablers: Keith Robinson (drums) and Scott Esbeck (bass). Other notable ex-band members include Kim Deschamps (pedal steel, lep steel, mandolin, guitar from 2000–2009), Kevin Carroll (guitar), Jens Pinkernell (guitar), and Kris Brown (bass). His recordings have also featured special guests Lloyd Maines (who produced Step Right Up and Good Times), Rich Brotherton, Charlie Sexton, and Natalie Maines (harmony vocals on El Cerrito Place).
[edit] Family
He married Emily Erwin of The Dixie Chicks in 1999. They have three children together: Charles Augustus, called "Gus", born November 11, 2002[3] and twins Julianna Tex (9:19 pm, 6 lb 10 oz) and Henry Benjamin (9:29 pm, 6 lb 14 oz), born on April 14, 2005.[4] Charlie and Emily divorced on August 6, 2008 after nine years of marriage.[5]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Heat |
||
| Bandera |
|
— | — |
| Life of the Party |
|
71 | — |
| Unleashed Live (with Jack Ingram and Bruce Robison) |
|
— | — |
| Step Right Up |
|
27 | 23 |
| Live |
|
51 | — |
| Good Times |
|
52 | — |
| Beautiful Day |
|
33 | 25 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | |||
| 1999 | "Barlight" | 60 | Life of the Party |
| 2000 | "My Hometown" | 65 | |
| "Poor Man's Son" | 67 | ||
| 2001 | "I Want You Bad" | 35 | Step Right Up |
| "Right Man for the Job" | — | ||
| 2003 | "Walter" | 58 | Live |
| 2004 | "El Cerrito Place" | — | Good Times |
| 2005 | "Photograph" | — | |
| 2006 | "Wild Man from Borneo" | — | Why the Hell Not: The Songs of Kinky Friedman |
| 2009 | "Reconsider" | — | Beautiful Day |
| "Down Again" | — | ||
| 2010 | "Feelin' Good" | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||
[edit] Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "Barlight" | Adrian Pasdar |
| 1999 | "My Hometown" | |
| 2000 | "Poor Man's Son" | Adam Little |
| 2001 | "I Want You Bad" | Trey Fanjoy |
| "Right Man for the Job" | ||
| 2004 | "El Cerrito Place" | Adrian Pasdar |
| 2005 | "Photograph" |
[edit] Tributes
He appeared on Kindred Spirits: A tribute to Johnny Cash, singing "Don't Take Your Guns to Town".
In 2006, Charlie Robison performed "Wildman from Borneo" on the Kinky Friedman tribute "Why the hell not..." The songs of Kinky Friedman.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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