Robert Sarazin Blake

In 1997, Robert Sarazin Blake dropped out of college and hit the road. The folk music of his father’s house had combined with the DIY punk ethos of the day and produced his first batch of songs, Another Irrelevant Year. Eleven full length albums into his career, he’s continued to write pulling from folk roots, his travels, his contemporaries, and the quiet spot in the back of his mind. The writing has evolved, mellowing with experience and expanding with reference, but the essence of the work has remained the same-strong narratives solidly built on the folk foundation and fully in the immediacy of the now.

Performing 200 shows a year, Blake is a world class performer in a neighborhood venue. The show is a combination of songs and rambles landing somewhere between a concert and a theatrical instillation. The neighborhoods have been all over Ireland and the US and occasionally in Canada, Scotland, England, Norway, Denmark, Germany and France.

From his home in Bellingham (WA), Blake started his own record label SameRoomRecords, "recordings of songs and musicians in the same room and the same time" -- an oddly unique idea in an era of digitally manipulated sounds -- and has sold over 10,000 albums from his suitcase.

He is also the founder of the Bellingham's Subdued Stringband Jamboree which (this was not on his website) is my favorite music festival of the summer.

$20 suggested contribution, 100% goes to the band.