‘Pure‘ is Robben Ford‘s brand-new instrumental studio album – the first one since “Tiger Walk” from 1997 – is released 27 August 2021 on earMUSIC. With nine unique tracks, the album features a “pure” Robben Ford – this guitar virtuoso who has a tremendous music vocabularly of jazz, blues and rock. ‘Pure’ is an album which seamlessly blends a soulful west coast vibe with bluesy hard rock. ‘Pure’ also features exceptional guest musicians such as Nate Smith, Toss Panos, Shannon Forest and more.
The first single ‘White Rock Beer…8 Cents’ will be released this coming Friday, May 14th. The album will be released as 3 differently coloured limited edition Vinyl variants,on Digipak-CD, as a limited edition Boxset and on digital formats.
Robben’s last release, ‘Into The Sun’, came out in March 2015. Debuting at #2 on the Billboard Blues Chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Contemporary Blues Category. Featured guests are Warren Haynes, Keb’Mo, Robert Randolph, ZZ Ward, Sonny Landreth and Tyler Bryant.
His previous recording, ‘Purple House’ (2018) is a remarkable collection of songs featuring Ford’s enlightened approach to composition and production. Exploring the range of the studio with a fresh approach, he weaves in and out of surprising musical moments, ear-wormy hooks, and thoughtful lyrical themes. His sophisticated approach to the blues is evident throughout, yet the record is far more diverse regarding song structure and style. “I was inspired to go past what would certainly happen on a traditional blues or R&B album, take more chances sonically, and open it up without loosing the essence of soulfulness or live performance.”
Robben Ford on ‘Pure’: “‘Pure’ is unlike any recording I’ve ever done. I’ve always been a traditionalist in the way I’ve worked in the studio: bring a great band into a great room with a great engineer, track songs for three to five days, do any overdubbing necessary, then, mix and master.
I started ‘Pure’ in that same way. But, somehow the influence of other musicians on the music, which is inevitable, always felt a little off. It became clear to me that I had to shape this new music myself from the ground up. My engineer and co-producer, Casey Wasner, proved invaluable in making that happen and most of the music you’ll hear in this recording was accomplished by the two of us working together in his studio, Purple House: getting the right shape and feel to the music, then adding bass and drums after the fact.
Having worked in this way, I feel that ‘Pure’ is perhaps the most complete representation of my personal musical vision: previous recordings having been products of a period of development that lead to the music presented here. It’s been very satisfying to have shaped my own compositions so thoroughly and to deliver something so completely my own.”
