Robben Ford planned to play pop

Robben Ford has recalled how he began to focus on becoming a pop musician because he thought the blues genre was finished.

He steeled himself to abandon the music he really wanted to play – until three other artists turned things around.

Ford tells MusicRadar: “I was beginning my solo career, when it really looked to me like the blues was dead.

“I had even been trying to school myself in pop music, because I really thought that was where I was going to have to go to make a living.

“Suddenly Stevie Ray Vaughan arrived, Robert Cray started getting attention and then John Lee Hooker was a star.”

The turnaround served him well when he launched 1988 solo album Talk To Your Daughter, and it was nominated for a Grammy award.

Ford continues: “Not so long ago the Black Keys came out with just a guitar player and a drummer playing blues music, and it became the biggest thing in America.

“Blues music means the same thing it always has. It will never go away.”

Ford released Into The Sun in March, featuring guest appearances from Warren Haynes, Keb’ Mo and others.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.