Robert Finley previews Black Bayou album with "Sneakin' Around"

Robert Finley's new Dan Auerbach-produced Black Bayou album – due Oct 27 – features the Black Keys' Pat Carney on drums.  

Here's the scoop...

Robert Finley has just released “Sneakin’ Around,” the second single to his highly anticipated fourth studio album, Black Bayou, due October 27 via Easy Eye Sound. Check out the accompanying music video directed by Andy M Hawkes, starring the 69 year-young Finley below. You can pre-order Black Bayou right here: https://click.ees.link/blackbayou

 

Finley recorded Black Bayou at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. It’s the fourth time the duo have worked together, although for this record they did things a little differently. Rather than write songs beforehand—as they did on 2017’s Goin’ Platinum and 2021’s Sharecropper’s Son—they devised everything in the studio, with Auerbach leading a band of some of the finest players around: drummers Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and Jeffrey Clemens (G. Love & Special Sauce), bassist Eric Deaton, and legendary Hill Country blues guitarist Kenny Brown along with vocalists Christy Johnson and LaQuindrelyn McMahon—who just happen to be Finley’s daughter and granddaughter. They worked quickly, devising their parts spontaneously and getting everything in one take.

 

Black Bayou, is a portrait of North Louisiana from an insider who’s lived there all his life. It coalesces all of the vibrant genres bubbling in the bayou from southern soul, jazz, folk, blues, rock and roll and more. A vivid collection of songs that depict life in North Louisiana, with Finley playing the role of charismatic and knowledgeable tour guide. Tales include surviving the jaws of an alligator on “Alligator Bait,” a true story of his grandfather using him as bait to catch an alligator when he was a child. “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely” is a poignant track spotlighting the generation forgotten in nursing homes across the nation. Songs like “Miss Kitty,” a  tale of lust and love are an instant induction into the canon of the blues tradition. In all, a collection set to establish Finley as perhaps one of the last true bluesmen of our time and a truly original Louisiana storyteller who evokes the place and its unique culture for the rest of the world.

 

“It’s amazing to realize how much of an impact Louisiana has had on the world’s music,” says Dan Auerbach, “and Robert embodies all of that. He can play a blues song. He can play early rock and roll. He can play gospel. He can do anything, and a lot of that has to do with where he’s from.”

 

If Finley’s previous albums established him as a formidable blues and soul artist - overcoming losing his sight in his 60s to become a music star - Black Bayou Finley hopes will help put North Louisiana on the musical map and launch the next generation of stars. Finley still plays small clubs around the region—even the occasional nursing home. Rather than move to where the music industry is, Finley is bringing the industry down to Bernice and working to boost regional acts and has plans for a new local recording studio in the works. “We got a lot of good talent down here in North Louisiana, but nobody’s really done much with it.” Finley stated, adding, “A lot of people just haven’t had a chance to record—or even just be heard. It worked for me, so I might as well try to help someone else get discovered, too.”

Watch the video for "Sneakin' Around" following his previous single "What Goes Around Comes Around" and the Black Bayou tracklisting. Check out Robert's tour dates for October and November below.

 

Black Bayou – Robert Finley

01. Livin' Out A Suitcase

02. Sneakin' Around

03. Miss Kitty

04. Waste Of Time

05. Can't Blame Me For Trying

06. Gospel Blues

07. Nobody Wants To Be Lonely

08. What Goes Around (Comes Around)

09. Lucky Day

10. You Got It (And I Need It)

11. Alligator Bait 

ROBERT FINLEY TOUR DATES

Thursday October 26, 2023 - New York, NY - Knitting Factory 

Saturday, 4 November 2023 - Groningen, NL - Take Root Festival

Sunday, 5 November 2023 - Brussels, BE - Rotonde @ Botanique 

Wednesday, 8 November 2023 - London, UK - Jazz Café 

Thursday, 9 November 2023 - Manchester, UK - Blues Kitchen 

Friday, 10 November 2023 - Pandrup, DK - Blues Heaven Festival

Tuesday, 14 November 2023 - Toulouse, FR - Salle Nougaro 

Wednesday, 15 November 2023 - Saint-Nazaire, FR - VIP

Thursday, 16 November 2023 - Amiens, FR - La Lune des Pirates

Saturday, 18 November 2023 - Šumperk, CZ - Blues Alive Festival

Monday, 20 November 2023 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix

Tuesday, 21 November 2023 - Paris, FR - Maroquinerie

Thursday, 23 November 2023 - La Roche-Sur-Yon, FR - Quai M 

Friday, 24 November 2023 - La Rochelle, FR - La Sirène

Saturday, 25 November 2023 - Castres, FR - Lo Boegason

Sunday, 26 November 2023 - Saint-Etienne, FR - Le Fil