NEW ALBUMS
ROBERT FINLEY
Black Bayou EASY EYE SOUND
Late-blooming Southern troubadour’s bawdy, swamp-infused fourth.
By Johnny Sharp
Shades of the blues: Robert Finley
8/10
GIVEN that he was well into his sixties before he got the chance to make his debut album, it’s been no surprise to find that on the three long-players he has released so far, this veteran Louisiana singer-songwriter has painted a fairly full picture of his life up to this point, particularly on 2021’s autobiographically focused Sharecropper’s Son. But this time around, he feels able to cast his net wider for inspiration, lyrically at least.
His own back story sounds fascinating enough to keep mining for creative fuel. One thing he has referred to relatively rarely on record – perhaps ironically given its status as a quintessentially bluesy affliction – is his increasing blindness, caused by glaucoma, which forced him to prematurely retire from his day job as a carpenter and take up music full-time, since which time he has been declared “the greatest living soul singer” by producer and songwriting foil, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, and even had his profile raised in the US by reaching the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent (“Watch this blind singer wow the judges with an original song” the attendant social media implored us).