Michael John "Duke" Robillard (born October 4, 1948 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island) is an American blues musician.
After playing in various bands and working for Guild guitars, he co-founded Roomful of Blues with pianist Al Copley in 1967. He has also been a member of the The Fabulous Thunderbirds which included Kim Wilson, replacing Jimmie Vaughan
. Also experienced in Jazz, Swing, Rock and Roll and modern electric blues forms, Robillard is generally regarded as a guitar player keeping the blues style of T-Bone Walker.
He has recorded with leading artists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Snooky Prior, Jay McShann, Hal Singer, Pinetop Perkins and Bob Dylan. In the summer of 2006, Robillard accompanied Tom Waits on a ten date tour of the Southern USA. Waits had not visited many of these cites in almost 30 years, and tickets for the Louisville, KY show (which Waits had not played since 1978) sold out in less than 10 minutes.
Awards
He has been nominated for and has received numerous awards over his career. Awards include:
2007 Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts
2001 "Best Blues Guitarist" W.C. Handy Award
2000 "Best Blues Guitarist" W.C. Handy Award
Robillard has also been nominated for:
2007 "Best Contemporary Blues Album" Grammy Award
Discography
"Let Me Love You"/"Sleepin' on it" (1981) (Wham Single)
Duke Robillard & The Pleasure Kings (1984) (Rounder)
Too Hot to Handle (1985) (Rounder)
Swing (1987) (Rounder)
You Got Me (1988) (Rounder)
Soul Searchin Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters 1988 Blacktop
Soul Deep Miki Honeycutt 1989 Rounder
''Rockin' Blues (1988) (Rounder)
Royal Blue Al Copley & Hal Singer 1990 Modern Blues
Heavy Juice Greg Piccolo 1990 Blacktop
Turn it Around (1991) (Rounder)
Too Cool to Move - with Snooky Pryor 1991 Antones
Poison Kisses - with Jerry Portnoy 1991 Modern Blues
Texas Bluesman - with Zuzu Bolin 1991 Antones
After Hours Swing Session (1992) (Rounder)
Temptation (1992) (Pointblank)
''Pinetop's Boogie Woogie - with Pinetop Perkins 1992 Antones
Good Understanding - with Al Copley and the Fabulous Thunderbirds (1993) Suffering Egos Records
''Toolin' Around - with Arlen Roth 1993 Blue Plate
Minor Swing Gerry Beaudoin and David Grisman 1994 North Star
''Spoon's Blues Jimmy Witherspoon 1995 Stony Plain
Get Down with the Blues Tony Z 1995 Tone Cool
Married to the Blues - with Mark Hummel 1995 Flying Fish
Found True Love - with John Hammond 1996 Pointblank
''Hootie's Jumpin' Blues - with Jay McShann 1997 Stony Plain
Time out of Mind - with Bob Dylan 1997 Columbia
Duke Robillard Plays Jazz (1997) (Rounder)
Duke Robillard Plays Blues (1997) (Rounder)
New Blues for Modern Man (1998) (Stretchin' Out)
Jimmy Witherspoon with The Duke Robillard Band Jimmy Witherspoon 1999 Stony Plain
Living with the Blues (2000) (Stony Plain)
''Still Jumpin' The Blues Jay McShann 2000 Stony Plain
Blow Mr. Low - with Doug James 2001 Stony Plain
More Conversations in Swing Guitar (2002) (Stony Plain)
