Robert Finley

Robert Finley is a blind American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist who played all his life without success until he broke through in 2016 at the age of 63 with his debut album 'Age Don't Mean a Thing'. Former Elvis Presley sideman Dan Auerback of the Black Keys teamed up with him for a follow-up album 'Goin' Platinum', which came out in 2017 and they set tour dates together with Shannon Shaw on the Easy Eye Revue across Canada and the United States in 2018.

Finley learned to play guitar as a child and performed with gospel groups until he enlisted in the US Army in 1970. He played in the army band while serving in Europe and back home he performed in a group called Brother Finley and the Gospel Singers in concerts and on the radio. When the singers departed he worked as a carpenter for most of his life until his eyesight deteriorated and he decided to focus once again on music. A charity organisation called the Music Maker Relief Foundation discovered him busking at a blues festival in Arkansas and that led to a recording contract.

Producer Bruce Watson, who runs a label called Fat Possum Records in Mississippi, took him to Bo Keys bandleader Scott Bomar's recording studio in Memphis and, with singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimbo Mathus, produced Finley's first album. A performance at the Music Maker Revue in New York caught the attention of the media and he had high praise from critics with National Public Radio and the New York Times. Of his late success, Finley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, "My motto is 'quitters never win'. I just hung in there and believed I was gonna get a chance someday. Music just became a part of me. Whatever happened to me in life, I put it to music."