Robert Finley

Robert Finley is an American blues and soul singer-songwriter and guitarist from Bernice, Louisiana. He is born in 1954 and is also identified as a blues artist, with genres listed as blues, R&B, singer-songwriter and soul.

Early life and music

Finley grows up in Bernice and begins playing guitar at 11, using an instrument he buys from a thrift store. Gospel music shapes his early playing, and he says he watches gospel quartet musicians closely from the front row to study their technique.

Military service and work in Louisiana

In 1970 he joins the army, originally intending to work as a helicopter technician in Germany. After arriving, he is used as a guitarist and bandleader for the army band, travelling with the group across Europe until his discharge. Back in Louisiana, he works as a part-time street performer, leads the gospel group Brother Finley and the Gospel Sisters, and also works as a carpenter.

Comeback and recording career

After decades of semi-professional performing and a period away from music, Finley returns in 2016. His debut studio album, Age Don't Mean a Thing, appears later that year on Big Legal Mess Records and receives a positive response from critics. The album is recorded in Memphis with members of the Bo-Keys, with production from Bruce Watson and Jimbo Mathus. Finley writes all but two of the songs, including the autobiographical title track, and the record reflects influences from Booker T and the MGs, James Brown and B. B. King, while leaning especially towards Southern soul.

Later work and support network

In 2015, the non-profit organisation Music Maker discovers Finley while he is busking before a gig in Arkansas, after he is found to be legally blind and forced to stop carpentry. With Music Maker's help, he resumes recording and touring, including packaged tours with Robert Lee Coleman and Alabama Slim. His second album, GOIN; PLATINUM!, is co-written and produced by Dan Auerbach, and its first single, "Medicine Woman", is released before the album.