Guitarist Terry Robb is based out of Portland, Oregon, but his musical roots extend far beyond his Pacific Northwest home. In fact, the accomplished guitarist has been a serious student of the blues since he picked up the guitar at the tender age of 12.

Coming from a musical family, Robb listened to every blues record he could get his hands on, including early 20th-century ragtime and country blues masters like Blind Blake, Charley Patton, and Mississippi John Hurt. Later in his musical development, Robb followed Bukka White until he met his guitar guru. Robb also trailed acoustic guitar legend John Fahey until the two met and established a friendship based on their mutual love of great guitar music. Robb went on to produce and play on several Fahey albums.

Robb¹s latest studio effort, entitled Resting Place on Yellow Dog Records, is a finely crafted CD that defies categorization. The multitalented songwriter/producer/vocalist/guitarist is comfortable in a variety of musical settings -- boogie-woogie, country blues picking, Delta bottleneck slide, and jazzy folk music.
Robb traveled to Memphis to record the band tracks at Sam Phillips' Recording studios. Engineer Roland Janes, who recorded Jerry Lee Lewis and countless others for Sun Records, helped Robb assemble a tight rhythm section consisting of Willie Hall on drums, Charlie Wood on piano, and Paul Taylor on the bass. Hall and Wood provide a deep pocket while Wood plays a rollicking piano on updated renditions of Big Boy Crudup's My Baby Left Me and Chuck Berry's Back To Memphis.

What sets this CD apart, though, are the instrumental numbers, including Like Merle which is a tasty tribute to country blues guitarist Merle Travis, and a sweet rendition of Hesitation Blues. Robb has a clean soulful style of picking the steel-stringed acoustic guitar, and when Robb plays the bottleneck slide, as on Resting Place, it creates a pure joyous feeling that certainly attests to the healing power of the blues.