Robert Turner

With roots within the deep Delta Blues and the reverb-rocking Gospel of the Staple Singers, Glasgow-based Robert Turner's music moves between old-timey ballads, toe-tapping chart-toppers, British invasion rock'n'roll, and strange tales from the hills.

Robert is a songwriter whose musical style is heavily steeped within the Blues and Folk tradition. As a teenager, Robert immersed himself within a delta blues and gospel world where his guitar picking and singing were shaped by the irreplaceable Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Willie Johnson, Eric Bibb and The Staple Singers. Being too shy to sing openly at home, Robert would frequently venture out to practice in the cold and dark garden shed.

As his musical style matured and his performance opportunities grew, Robert’s imaginative reinterpretations of songs expanded, and he is not afraid to combine the songs of Memphis Minnie, Richard Thompson, and Hall and Oates in one set. Greatly influenced by Bob Dylan, Robert revels in searching for and discovering songs that have been passed down through generations, wondering whether their construction can reveal secrets to the craft of writing.

Studying English Literature and Theatre at the University of Glasgow has had a strong impact on his approach to song writing. In his creative writing dissertation, Robert performed a concert of 11 self-written songs inspired by the mythical tales and figures within the Blues. His writings on Stagger Lee and the Midnight Special revealed a new perspective on folk music; as a timeless stage upon which characters, figures, and shadows are all in a perpetual state of appearing, disappearing, and returning.

Robert co devised ‘Darling Persephone’, an Alasdair Cameron scholarship awarded theatre show, in December 2022. For this performance he wrote 6 love songs for the character of Hades - a Conway Twitty emulating, country-crooning music star.

Robert joined the Live Music Now Scotland Scheme in 2023 and looks forward to discovering the different people and places this endeavour leads him to!