Hard
Luck Café
ROBINSON & ROHE
Wednesday, May 17th at 7:00 PM | An Open Mic Precedes the Concert
Members $20 | Public $25
Robinson & Rohe
features Liam
Robinson (banjo, accordion, vocals) and Jean Rohe (guitar,
vocals). Since the release of their debut record, Hunger, in 2017,
they have taken their music all over the US, Switzerland, UK, and Ireland,
lighting up venerable folk venues and festivals from Club Passim to The Green
Note and opening for Tom Paxton and Anaïs Mitchell along the way. In April 2021
they were the first act to welcome live audiences back to Caffè Lena since the
pandemic began.
Now, Robinson & Rohe is poised to release a new
collection of songs, Into the Night, on Righteous Babe Records in
May 2023, showcasing their skill as producers and arrangers. After a long
production period, made longer by the pandemic, and preceded by a touring
hiatus during which Liam served as vocal-arranger and music-director of Anaïs
Mitchell’s smash hit Broadway musical Hadestown and Jean released Sisterly,
an award-winning record of her own, this record is long overdue. Into
the Night builds on the keen-eyed writing, detailed arrangements,
impeccable duo singing, and modern American themes explored in Hunger but
takes a new tack with the addition of drums, electric guitars, horn section,
and vocal ensemble.
“Robinson & Rohe are musicians’ musicians,” says Mike
Pengra of Minnesota Public Radio. “They create a perfect duo–listening,
waiting, complementing each other, and adding just what needs to be added to a
song at just the right moment.”
A power couple if there ever was one, the two pursue
individual artistic lives outside of R&R, making names for themselves and
finding their places in NYC’s richly overlapping arts scenes. In addition to his
critical role in the success of Hadestown, Liam was a member of the
Broadway cast of Warhorse and an integral member of the Becca
Stevens Band, shaping its sound since its inception. Jean’s songwriting has won
honors from the Kerrville Folk Festival (2022 New Folk winner), the Falcon
Ridge Folk Festival (most-wanted artist), the Brooklyn Arts Council (2022 grant
recipient), The Independent Music Awards (2019 Best Adult Contemporary Album),
and The Telluride Troubadour contest (2016 finalist). She is perhaps best known
for her oft-covered video single, “National
Anthem: Arise! Arise!” a stirring alternative to the Star-Spangled
Banner featuring brass arrangements by Liam.
