Robin Henkel will make you laugh. He'll make you cry. And, most definitely, his musical grooves will make you tap your foot. Raised in San Diego from the age of five, Robin committed himself to a life of music at an early age and has never looked back. Who is this man who has played with or opened for the greats, including Dizzy Gillespie, John McLaughlin, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Roy Rogers, Arlo Guthrie, Hot Tuna, Stephen Stills, Dave Mason, Nicolette Larson, Todd Rundgren, Harvey Mandel, Tim Weisberg, Don McLean, Charles Brown, John Hammond, Eddie Kirkland, the San Diego Symphony, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Almond, Buddy Miles, Big Jay McNealy, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sha Na Na, Papa John Creach, and others?

Who is this man who has won SDMA awards for his solo endeavors and as a member of the 7th Day Buskers, received several SDMA nominations, performed in a string of soul and rock bands in San Diego, and whose new band the Robin Henkel Band has been putting out arguably the best funk/blues/rock San Diego has ever heard?

Young Robin and Early Musical Influences

It all began for Robin in Pensacola, Florida, when his mom, a Boston girl, met Robin's father at a roller rink. Marriage soon followed as did Robin's birth in 1951. A brief period in a Seattle trailer park was followed by a move to De Anza Cove Trailer Park on Mission Bay, back to Seattle, and back again to San Diego, finally settling in the community of Serra Mesa. Essentially an all white enclave, Robin grew up listening to the folk music revival of the early 1960s. As Robin describes it, 'Pete Seeger was a big influence early on. I remember the coffee house scene during the early 1960s and my parents taking me to the Upper Cellar on El Cajon Blvd. near 63rd Street at that time. I loved it.'

One day he heard the acoustic blues music of Josh White. Robin remembers, 'In those days and at that time, I didn't know any black people and had certainly never heard any music like this before. It grabbed me and rocked my world. I was transfixed by Josh White's bending of strings.' As his first major musical influence, White's social activism also provided an enduring inspiration for young Robin, who would later travel to a poor rural community in Alabama and work with young kids within the context of a musical project.

Robin soon found himself in a high school band trying to capture the groove sound of the era's black music that had so enamored him. A self-taught guitar player, Robin soon realized that he was in the company of some hot lead pickers, all of whom could read music except for him, so Robin decided to take up the electric bass. As the bass player of the Hilites, Robin and his high school mates performed the music of the Temptations, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Booker T and the MGs and others. 'We had a white soul band.' Robin reports that he now looks back on this time period with great affection.

Through 1967-1968 the Hilites played many military venues and were quite a hit with their matching outfits, practiced step kicks, groove moves, and covers of the soul hits of the day. 'The moms and dads of the kids in the band would drive us to our gigs at the local enlisted men's clubs on the navy bases at North Island, Miramar, the Naval Training Center on Rosecrans, and the Naval Hospital,' recalls Robin.

Robin had his second transformative musical experience when he heard Jimi Hendrix for the first time. As he so succinctly puts it, 'Jimi Hendrix blew my mind!' Jimi's was an aggressive, emotional style of guitar playing, showing great skill and technical prowess while literally thumping the listener in the chest with the power of the groove. Robin would never be the same. He dove into the music of the late 1960s and early 1970s - Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. Although Robin tried to get the Hilites to learn some Jimi Hendrix tunes, one of the parents put a kibosh on that, saying, 'My boy ain't playing none of that psychedelic sh**!' It was inevitable that Robin would move on.

College and Radical Politics Supplants Music

During this time the anti Vietnam War movement was gaining momentum and the rock music of the time was inextricably intertwined with left leaning social movements that spoke to Robin's young adult sense of righteousness and of time and place. Robin, as did many of his contemporaries, decided to drop out of music, go to college, and be a lefty radical. Robin enrolled at Cal Western USIU located on the beautiful Pt. Loma campus overlooking the Pacific, where he graduated with a degree in political science. While it was his 'intellectual' decision to drop out of music and be a political radical, he soon found he couldn't stay away from music. And, as he now reflects back, while there was legitimacy to his politics of the time, there was also an element of naivete and of being cool.

In college he met other musicians and formed a band called Jumbalayah. After graduation, Robin earned a living, playing with this band for three years. It was fun and impressed the young man that he might, in fact, choose a life of music and not starve to death. Jumbalayah played the music of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, ZZ Top, and other rock hits of that period, and did them well. They played Ledbetters on El Cajon Boulevard and Neutral Ground at 47th St. and University among other local venues.

Robin is Asked to Leave the Band, Compounding Feelings of Inadequacy

Robin loved playing with Jumbalayah. But in truth the self-taught bass player was dragging. The band asked him to 'get his bass playing together' because they liked him and although he worked hard to improve - and did improve - he was eventually asked to leave Jumbalayah, an experience that made Robin practice even harder. Feelings of insecurity about his chops as a musician and about his self-worth - feelings we all experience at one time or another - were strong motivators for the adolescent Robin. While the outside observer may have seen a competent, articulate musician, inside was often a jumble of emotions, painful shyness, and fears that would often motivate Robin to do better, thinking to himself, 'if I can only play better, people will like me better.' But that would sometimes leave him vulnerable to drugs, alcohol, and other escapist strategies.

Almost immediately after leaving Jumbalayah Robin joined a new band called Island. The bandmates lived together on Carmel Valley Road south of Del Mar. They had a blast playing and living the life of young musicians - collaborating, living together, and enjoying what the times had to offer from music and 'better living through chemistry' to women. Island still saw Robin playing bass, performing at many great gigs at the Albatross in downtown Del Mar, a hot spot for live music, where the band took over for the respected Nova. Then, it happened again.

Jazz, Brazilian Music, and Chick Correa

Robin's fire was lit and his musical horizons expanded for the third time upon hearing Chick Correa during those Del Mar days. 'There was a wonderfully talented group of young musicians playing jazz around Del Mar at that time. Peter Sprague had a group with Kevyn Lettau, John Leftwhich, Kelly Jocoy, and his brother Tripp Sprague called the Dance of the Universe. Peter lived next door to me then and I learned so much just overhearing their rehearsals. I also took a few guitar lessons from Peter and what I studied with him over 20 years ago is still with me today,' Robin reminisces. Another shining young talent, saxophonist Mark Lessman, became a close friend during this period, spending hours with Robin and showing him the ins and outs of jazz. In addition, Robin was introduced to the wonderful Brazilian music of Jobim from recordings that belonged to his mother. All of these new influences swirled and settled in Robin's musical world, adding to, but not displacing, his strong tendency toward the 'groove' that he had learned from Josh White, soul music, Jimi Hendrix, and the rock music of the 1960s and 1970s.

Robin Drills the Groove with his Students

Teaching music became an important part of Robin's life at an early age. He recalls showing guitar licks to his high school pals at home in Serra Mesa. This informal teaching became structured in 1973 when he began giving lessons out of a shack behind a friend's house in Ocean Beach as well as from an O.B. record store, where he talked his way in. When he moved to Del Mar, lessons were conducted in the communal house and in the late 1970s Robin began his affiliation with the Blue Guitar, which continues to this day. He began teaching out of the Blue Guitar's satellite store, called Blue Ridge Music, in Encinitas, transitioning later to the mother ship Blue Guitar downtown, following the store from its early Old Town location to Pacific Beach, back to Old Town, and to its current location on Mission Gorge Road.

Robin currently gives private lessons to approximately 35 students on acoustic, electric, and bass guitar at the Blue Guitar. He restricts the number of students he takes on to make time for other activities and to keep his perspective fresh. Enjoying his role as teacher, he describes his style: 'I always play with my students, talking only as needed. I think the most important thing I pass on is an appreciation for, and ability to capture, the groove, rhythm, and timing of blues music that is at the heart of what makes this music great.'

Buzz and Johnny from Hot Rod Lincoln were two of his many students. During one lesson Robin remembers having Buzz count out loud to a metronome for 25 minutes - one and two and .... Buzz, who now plays with Sha Na Na, related to Robin a year later that he had thought it a complete waste of time, but that the gig he played that same evening had felt different somehow. In a flash of insight while playing, he recognized the value of rhythm, timing, and the groove that Robin was teaching.

Back to the Music and Robin's Progression

Cindy and Breeze was Robin's next band, which was in keeping with the late 1970s' disco movement. As Robin describes it Cindy could hit all those high disco vocal notes, with the band backing her with the thumping disco rhythm characteristic of the style. Respected drummer Jack Flannery, in particular, worked with and taught the somewhat wild Robin how to control his groove on bass. Jack told Robin after their first few gigs, 'Man, I'm making you sound good and you're making me sound bad. We gotta fix this! Listen to the kick drum and play with that,' Jack said. And so, under Jack's patient tutelage that year, Robin learned to play and master the groove, producing a solid disco groove like a pro.

Breeze played at the Fogcutter in Carlsbad and other disco-heavy venues, with Jack and Robin holding the groove, which included Jack's tendency to stick his drumstick in the portable fan he always set up for himself to punctuate the rhythms with a rat-tat-tat-tat the fan blade made hitting the stick. Robin maintains that his teaching techniques and his new CD Bad Bongos, all heavy on the groove, owe a debt of gratitude to Jack Flannery.

Some time during the late 1970s, Robin's girlfriend at the time took him to the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa to see acoustic blues master John Hammond Jr., who impressed Robin and rekindled his interest in acoustic blues, similar to the way Josh White had started him on his musical journey more than a decade earlier. Between his band gigs and teaching, Robin started playing solo blues again.

The next step in his musical odyssey was with his old roommate Ron Bolton in a cover band called The Ron Bolton Group. This was a prosperous period for Robin and the band as well as a fun time. They were young, talented, and out to experience it all in the days before AIDS, when the baby boomers were ready to party. The popular band played Halligans in Pacific Beach and the Triton Pub on the beach in Cardiff - Jimmy Buffet even sat in with them once. They played Kenny Loggins, whom Ron Bolton greatly admired, along with other soft rock tunes, with hard rock mixed in. The band had a lot going for it.

Self Doubt, Drugs, and Alcohol

Regardless of the public acclaim, Robin still wrestled with his ever lurking shyness and feelings of inadequacy as a person and as a musician. Looking back now with considerable insight from the perspective that many years of sobriety can provide, he understands how he went through a period of going home alone every night and drinking to the point of passing out. He sees now how he - and so many of his contemporaries - used drugs and alcohol to compensate for feelings of inadequacy and insecurity to get that quick 'feel good' when in reality the chemical 'feel good' was only masking his ability to interact with the real world and impeding his development of real world coping skills. As he now notes, 'You know, instead of learning how to deal with the ups and downs of life, how to talk to women, how to get along with others, and how to respect myself and to mature, I threw drugs and alcohol at my problems and never really faced them.'

Then Robin read the book The Artist's Way, which, coincidentally, had been given to him by a friend on the same day he had bought the audiotape. It had a profound effect on him. He took a trip to the desert and sat on a rock to meditate on his problems and his life. What he had read opened his eyes and allowed him to let go of his fear of inadequacy, to be himself both musically and as a person, and to back away from the drive to always please others as the highest of priorities. Ten days after finishing the book Robin quit alcohol and drugs. Six months later he quit cigarettes. Robin remains sober to this day. Quitting cigarettes, in particular, was torture, but Robin realized that when he was feeling the worst, he was really 'winning' because his body and spirit were changing for the better.

As he weaned his body and spirit of chemicals, Robin went through a life change that was critical for getting back to his music - only this time in a healthier way. The 'new' Robin finished a blues recording project that had been languishing since 1995. Titled Highway, it received the San Diego Music Award for Best Blues CD in 2000. Looking back, Robin says he finally was able to 'get off trying to be perfect' and, instead, to be himself. In 2004 he won another SDMA award for his solo project titled Acoustic Blues.

Robin learned some tough, but important lessons through these escapades. When asked what can he pass on to today's young musicians, he says, 'Remember, your thoughts are not you. Just like you would throw something nasty out of your house if you found it lying around, throw those nasty thoughts out that otherwise lie around in your head, causing all sorts of avoidable problems. It really is OK to be you, to be imperfect and to accept that.'

Back to Robin's Musical Journey

While the Ron Bolton Group was fun and popular, they weren't playing the music that personally lit Robin's fire. So, after a while Robin dropped out of the Bolton Group. He soon hooked up with Johnny Almond and the Mark Lessman group playing jazz, R&B, and classic soul. The group included Doug Randall on piano, Gary Underwood on drums, and Robin on bass. People loved the band as did Robin. This gang could really play, and the musical style appealed to Robin. They started playing at the Fish House West (now Jay's Gourmet) in Cardiff and soon moved next door to the popular Windjammer in Cardiff (now Ki's restaurant) where they played to packed houses of rowdy crowds. They also played Bobby G's in Encinitas (now Martini Ranch) to considerable acclaim. They were cranking out six gigs a week, burning the proverbial candle at both ends. After six months Robin concluded that the fast life, drugs, and partying needed to be left behind. Robin remembers packing up their stuff at the Windjammer after an evening gig and seeing cocaine wrappers and detritus spread across the dance floor and bathrooms. He also recalls wild partying, cars spinning donuts on Highway 101 after the bars closed, and other out of control behavior.

Robin decided to go solo to get away from the schlock groups and even from the talented but fast living bands in order to assert more artistic control over the music he was interested in - playing delta and piedmont blues. While he hoped this decision would be artistically rewarding, it in fact led to some of his most frustrating and difficult days. All of sudden the spigot was turned off on the regular good paying gigs. 'As I became more discriminating about taking only gigs that were artistically fulfilling, I became poorer and poorer as well as emotionally darker and more frustrated,' Robin recalls.

True, he still had his teaching income, but he soon found that he had to take gigs just for the money. Some of them were embarrassing, he wouldn't even tell his friends with whom and where he was playing for fear they might come. As he puts it, 'You know, Huey Lewis with a drum machine kind of stuff'.

Love and Marriage

In 1983 Robin met and fell in love with Cynthia, an attractive down-home country girl from Ramona. They hung out, grew closer, and were married in 1985. In 1989 the marriage ended in divorce although the couple continued to live in the same house for another few years. Robin says it was a cool marriage and they have remained friends. While his love life was going South, a couple of important things happened on the musical front.

During 1985 and 1986 Robin took lessons from Hal Crook who taught him how to compose and arrange jazz and was a great influence on Robin's music. Also at that time, by luck he got a great gig at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego that paid well and lasted for three years (1986-1989). With Robin on guitar, Richard James played bass with him; sometimes Richard would play the piano and Robin would take up the bass. Robin says that he learned a lot playing bass behind the jazz piano of Richard James.

Robin recounts, 'One night Herbie Hancock came into the lounge where we were playing. Doug Randall was playing piano that night and so we played Doug's version of a Herbie Hancock instrumental tune called 'Watermelon Man,' to which Doug had written lyrics. We got a surprised grin out of Herbie for that! Later, Herbie played a 10 minute version of 'Maiden Voyage.' Wow!' Sadly, Doug Randall would soon die in a plane crash and Robin would lose a supportive collaborator and friend. Although a great gig in many ways, even good things can get tiring and after three years Robin again moved on.

It wasn't long before Robin hooked up with local blues man Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors, including stalwarts Mike Cherry on drums, Paco Shipp on harmonica, and Tom Mahon on keyboard, with many other great talents dropping in and out. Moving from the calm propriety of the U.S. Grant to this group was liberating and exciting. The music was hot and contemporary, old and venerated, and all of the above.

From 1989-1993 Robin played a lot of blues. 'Independent producer J.B. Leep, who had seen me perform at the U.S. Grant, produced a CD for me in1989 titled Robin Henkel Blues 90. To help promote the CD I formed my own group with bassist David Curtis and two of the guys I had met playing in Earl's band - drummer Mike Cherry and harmonica player Paco Shipp,' notes Robin.

Beginning in the early 1990s they performed at Croce's for three years. They also played lots of shows at Blind Melons and did gigs for the swing dancers at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. This group gradually evolved into the Robin Henkel Band.

This was a time when blues was hot in San Diego, and there were lots of blues bands in town. Robin recalls playing at a once a month event called 'Blues Fest' at Blind Melons in Pacific Beach where all of the blues bands would come in and play for an hour on the same night. Robin describes the scene as way cool. Every blues player in town was milling around, musicians were sitting in with each other's groups, and the musical stew that was created was stimulating and exciting. It was a time Robin remembers with great fondness. There was a real blues community in town at the time, centered at Blind Melons and also at Croce's and Patrick's downtown where Robin and the others played regularly. They played hard, typically without rehearsal. It was one of those magical periods when the music jelled for Robin.

As 1993 drifted into 1994 the scene in the Gaslamp District was cooling off. Robin started playing at the Zanzibar in Pacific Beach with drummer George Sluppick and bassist Clark Stacer. While his music was contemporary Robin was, by this time, in his 40s and feeling a little over the hill. But when the two young players joined the band, the music not only rejuvenated Robin but it also provided access to a younger audience. The result: the band was a local smash hit. The corner of Cass and Garnet was like a mini Haight Ashbury right here in Beach Town, USA. The crowd was young, bohemian, and wild, and the music was infectious.

At the time Robin was into playing blues, both electric and acoustic, but he also maintained his interest and love for funk and other forms of music. The spare and beautiful jazz music of Miles Davis was also a great influence on Robin then, as were Latin and Brazilian rhythms. Since 1997 many musicians have played in the various configurations of Robin's bands as the type of gig dictated and the budget would allow.

Ever interested in new directions and challenges, Robin joined Shawn Rohlf and the 7th Day Buskers in 2000, playing acoustic dobro as part of the band's bluegrass and related repertoire. Robin describes this as an exciting new direction for him as he had never played this style of music. He soon adapted and was adding not only his skilled dobro work but also his harmony vocals to the powerful musical mix. Robin's work with the Buskers can be heard on their two most recent CDs, Born to Pick and Fool's Grass.

Robin has been on three tours with the Buskers, one up the coast in 2003, with gigs in California, Oregon, and Washington; a second to Texas and the Southwest in 2004, and a repeat tour up the West Coast in 2005. In between tours the band has been busy with gigs ranging from their regular Sunday morning performances at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market and the Adams Avenue Roots Festival to performances with the San Diego Symphony and various other events. Robin and his bandmates were honored with the 2004 San Diego Music Award for Best Americana Band and have been nominated this year for best Americana CD for their new release Fool's Grass.

Not content just to play music, Robin and the Buskers proved their musical and acting skills in Cotton Patch Gospel, a musical play produced by the Lambs Players Theater in June and July of 2004. It was such a hit that it was held over for performances at the San Diego Lyceum Theater in Horton Plaza through September. Robin is still a regular, key member of the 7th Day Buskers. As Robin puts it, 'In the Buskers we don't present a repertoire based on what we think the general public wants to hear. Rather, Shawn writes great original material, we collaborate and work it up, and present it for the public to receive as it will. This is the kind of ?art' band I would like to play in for the rest of my life.'

On another interesting side track, Robin was invited to play with the San Diego Symphony in 2003 as part of its Summer Pops series. He performed his original composition 'Solitude' on resonator guitar with the symphony to a warm reception.

Alabama, Here I Come!

In the early 2000s Robin was invited to travel to rural Alabama to work with poor black kids. The point of contact was respected local blues man, Willie King, who lived in a trailer in the small community of Old Memphis and was the unofficial town mayor. A tiny town comprised of a collection of trailers and simple buildings in the Alabama woods, it lies next to Freedom Creek, which has served as the town water supply and laundry spot for many years. It is also the name of a local music event: the Freedom Creek Blues Festival. Robin got along famously with Willie and the kids, playing the blues with Willie at a local juke joint. Robin served as teacher and mentor to a group of young kids learning to use photo and video equipment as part of a grant sponsored program to bring technology to a technologically naive rural area. As Robin describes it, the kids were great. They filmed and interviewed community members about the history of Old Memphis and shot footage of the Freedom Creek Blues Festival, producing some remarkable stuff. It was great to see them learn to use the cameras and equipment and to film what they thought was important.

The Robin Henkel Band

Most exciting for Robin currently is his new band, the Robin Henkel Band. In many ways this new group is the culmination of all that has gone before, which if you've read this far, you will agree is a lot! Band members include core players Bob Campbell and Dave Castel de Oro on tenor sax, Larry Dent on drums, Rodney Ratelle on electric bass, and Robin on electric guitar, with occasional sit ins and substitutions. The group has been together for about a year, although the members, in one configuration or another, has been playing since 1986. Robin's dream early on was to a member of an 'art' band that played the music he loved and that would command paying gigs comparable to what could be earned playing top 40 music. When it proved impossible to do that, Robin remembers the frustration, bitterness, and negativity toward himself and toward the top 40 music that consumed him, a condition from which he has now largely recovered.

Now, in 2005, a sober, realistic, and much more content Robin Henkel accepts top 40 music as having its place while he presents the music he loves through the Robin Henkel Band. Gone, or at least substantially reduced, are the days of fear of rejection. And, guess what? The public loves the music and the positive way that Robin and his bandmates present it - with skill and with accessible melodies and rhythms, but also with emotion, affection, and humor. The music is a complex, but magnetic, fusion of jazz, funk, blues, and acoustic rock. An evening with the Robin Henkel band is an experience you won't forget. You simply can't help but like the music and the musicians. Robin mentions, 'Currently I am really into the sound of two horns so we can harmonize the melody with the saxes and guitar. The main thrust is the tunes I've written with a jazz influenced melody over a funk groove. Saxophonists Bob Campbell and Dave Castel de Oro bring an edgy emotional sensitivity to my melodies and harmony while bassist Rodney Ratelle and drummer Larry Dent groove some really messed up funk. We also blend saxes and steel guitar into a beautiful and unique sound reminiscent of the 1940s' and 1950s' steel guitar and western swing sound. There is usually a blues undercurrent to whatever we play, and the twisting of melody in blues phrases and its interaction with the rhythm has always been an inspiration for me.'

The Robin Henkel Band will perform on the Blues Stage at the Adams Avenue Street Fair on Sunday, September 25, 1:30 p.m. You can also hear Robin around town soloing with the 7th Day Buskers, Big Rig Deluxe, and Billy Watson. His new CD, Bad Bongos, is available for purchase on cdbaby.com, along with his other recordings. To learn more, visit his web page at www.robinhenkel.com.

The final word on Robin Henkel is yet to be written as much lies ahead. Right now, though, it's great to see this talented local icon doing such wonderful things with his music with a clear head, a smile, and a perspective on life and music that can only be achieved by long travels on a sometimes difficult road. Get out to hear Robin, shake his hand, and tell him what you think about his music. He'll be glad to hear from you.