Terry Robb

Terry Robb was born August 14, 1956 and is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Robb moved to the United States with his parents, living briefly in Pittsburgh, before settling in Portland, Oregon, at the age of seven. Robb is a self-taught fingerpicking guitarist associated with the American Primitive Guitar style, which draws upon diverse musical influences while rooted in the blues. Known primarily as a folk-blues guitarist, he learned to play guitar by listening to blues musicians such as Charley Patton and Mississippi John Hurt, and has developed a distinctive fingerpicking technique in which he plays the bass line, rhythm chords, and single-note leads simultaneously. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions. He plays electric and acoustic guitar and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. When steel string fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey relocated to Salem, Ore., in 1981, a mutual friend gave him Robb's demo recording of One Way Gal by blues guitarist William Moore, and the two met backstage after Fahey's performance at Luis' La Bamba in Portland. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous Terry Robb Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. The Vancouver-born, Portland-based bluesman took home the Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar so many times that the Cascade Blues Association finally broke down and attached his name to the trophy permanently.

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