Terry Robb is well known in the Northwest for the traditional and contemporary guitar styles with which he is so proficient. After four outstanding releases on Portland's Burnside label, Robb traveled to Memphis, the birthplace of Blues and Rock 'n' Roll, to record on the new Blues label, Yellow Dog. Though Robb is a master acoustic player, in Memphis he enlisted some of the city's finest players to add various musical textures. Drummer Willie Hall and pianist Charlie Wood have spent time with the Bo-Keys and bassist Paul Taylor has sat in with the North Mississippi All-Stars.

Robb is a player in the technical playing style of John Fahey. In the 1980s Robb's friendship with John Fahey led to collaboration on numerous albums. His time spent with John Fahey is obvious in his precise playing on Fahey's "Joe Kirby Blues." This tribute to Fahey moves out of the Blues genre and into a more dazzling contemporary guitar style. The 13 tunes Robb covers connect time and place. He opens fittingly in Memphis with Arthur Crudup's "My Baby Left Me," a rocketing 1950s Sun Studio Rockabilly. Robb then moves south to the Delta on his solo instrumental, "Madison Ave. Shuffle." He modernizes the Blues classic "Louise" with his clean, precise fingerpicking stretches. "My Mind Is Trying To Leave Me" is a warm, slow Blues dance between guitar and piano. The influences of Piedmont Country Blues players like Blind Blake and Rev. Gary Davis are present on classic fingerpicking tunes like the guitar-only "Hesitation Blues/Knowing What Blues" and "Fare Thee Well Blues." His faithful reproduction showcases his skill with Ragtime fingerpicking indigenous to the Piedmont regions in the 1920s. Robb and the band's playful execution of Chuck Berry's "Back To Memphis," with its lap steel and piano jabs, is rollicking fun.

Two other warm guitar instrumental gems are Robb originals "Like Merle" and "Cassie." Robb and the band kick into another decade with their swingin' take on Ray Charles' "Lonely Avenue." The CD ends with Robb and the band groovin' with Booker T.'s "My Sweet Potato."

Terry Robb's strength throughout is his methodical playing. Instead of being distracted by modern beats and loops, Robb instead continues to dig deeper into the essence of his guitar vision. That dedicated tone should please every fan of a bent acoustic guitar note. The clean production by Yellow Dog should help unveil this talented Northwestern artist to a wider national audience.