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Robin Trower is one of rock\u2019s true guitar heroes. The London-born musician got his professional start forming and leading the Paramounts, an Essex beat group that would during its seven-year run feature four members who would go on to Procol Harum. By 1967, Trower joined the newly-launched progressive band that had just released its debut single, the classic \u201cA Whiter Shade of Pale.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remained with the band through 1971, recording five albums, all of which were hits in the U.S. But by 1971 Trower had begin to focus less on the progressive sounds of Procol Harum and more on a heavy blues-rock style informed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He left the group and launched a power trio of his own, charting a distinctive musical path that won him a dedicated and sustained fan base.<\/p>\n
Between 1973 and 2025, Robin Trower has recorded and released more than two dozen studio albums (not even counting numerous compilations and reissues) and more than a dozen live albums. In testament to both of those achievements, Trower remains busy at age 80; he released his latest studio set, Come and Find Me<\/i>, earlier this year. And as he told me in a recent conversation ahead of his current tour, he\u2019s readying another live and studio album.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go way back. What was your introduction to the blues? And did it come before the Paramounts and Procol Harum?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got a feeling I was already in the Paramounts when I first heard B.B. King\u2019s \u201c3 O\u2019Clock News.\u201d I think that was the introduction. And then I just started hunting out more stuff from there.<\/p>\n
Was the blues your favorite and preferred style of music from the very beginni<\/b>ng?<\/p>\n
Well, up to that point, I\u2019ve been very much a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll fan. As I say, after I started to get into BB King, then I looked around and found other people: Howlin\u2019 Wolf, Muddy Waters.<\/p>\n
You began having co-writing credits with Procol Harum around the time of 1969\u2019s A Salty Dog<\/i>. Did you have to push to be involved in the group\u2019s writing, or was it welcomed? <\/b><\/p>\n
It was usually Gary [Brooker]\u2019s idea that I come up with something, just as a different sort of string to the band\u2019s bow, as it were.<\/p>\n
Procol Harum released your song \u201cWhisky Train\u201d as the single off of the 1970 album Home<\/i>. That track seemed to hint at the direction that you\u2019d follow in your solo career. Arguably, it fits into your body of work far more than it does into the Procol Harum catalog. Was there a specific moment during your time in the band at which you realized, \u201cI really need to go my own way, go solo\u201d? <\/b><\/p>\n
I think it was when I was starting to write a bit more on Broken Barricades<\/i> [1971]. I started to realize I was coming up with a lot of guitar-based songs, and that there wasn\u2019t really space in Procol Harum for it all. So I would have to do my own thing, have my own band.<\/p>\n
You mentioned Broken Barricades<\/i>. My favorite performance by you during your years in Procol Harum is \u201cSimple Sister.\u201d That song has a very strong, sharp riff, and it also has the Procol Harum progressive, semi-orchestral approach. The song is credited to Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid; did you have a hand in writing that song\u2019s signature guitar part?<\/b><\/p>\n
No, no. That was Gary\u2019s song. And I really love the music.<\/p>\n
Your 1973 album Twice Removed From Yesterday<\/i> was a very strong debut, and it received very positive reviews. Yet it it didn\u2019t really sell in great numbers. Did that muted success concern you at the time, a sort of, \u201cOh, what have I done?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
No, not at all. I mean, I was selling records, never mind about how many! It was good.<\/p>\n
Your solo career did truly take off with 1974\u2019s Bridge of Sighs<\/i> and For Earth Below<\/i> [1975].Were you at all surprised at the commercial success of those albums?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think I was, a little bit. I think we all knew when were recording Bridge of Sighs<\/i> that it had a real potency, but you can never tell how people will take to it, you know. So yeah, I think it was a bit of a surprise.<\/p>\n