Robert Finley

Hailing from Bernice, Louisiana, Robert Finley works as a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist who blends core blues and soul traditions with R&B and gospel influences. After performing on a semi-professional basis for many years, he stepped away from music to focus on family needs, only to resume his career in 2016 with the release of his first album, Age Don't Mean a Thing, issued on Big Legal Mess, the label run by producer Bruce Watson. Shortly afterward he connected with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and the two quickly formed a productive partnership. Together they created and released a soundtrack for the graphic novel Murder Ballads, then followed with the 2017 album Goin' Platinum! on the Nonesuch-distributed Easy Eye Sound imprint, where Auerbach served as co-writer, producer, and musician. Following joint tours, Finley began headlining his own concerts in 2018. The next year he earned an invitation to appear on the national television program America's Got Talent without completing preliminary auditions. In 2021 he delivered the autobiographical Sharecropper's Son, and the studio-composed Black Bayou surfaced in 2023.

Born in 1954 to Louisiana sharecroppers, Finley developed an early passion for gospel and acquired a thrift-store guitar at age 11, sparking a lifelong dedication to the instrument. Playing by ear, he soon started composing original material. Regular exposure to gospel quartet ensembles shaped his approach, and his abilities grew steadily through his teenage years. In 1970, at age 16, he joined the U.S. Army. Initially stationed in Germany as a helicopter technician, his musical talents led to reassignment as guitarist and bandleader for the military ensemble, with which he toured Europe performing numbers associated with artists such as Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye until receiving an honorable discharge. Back home he took up carpentry while continuing to pursue music in his free time, also working as a street performer and directing the gospel group Brother Finley and the Gospel Sisters for their weekly Sunday-morning radio broadcast, later leading the Young Gospel Brothers. At times he appeared with all three ensembles, completing three church services each week, and he has maintained performances at churches and house parties ever since. After many years at his day job, Finley had to leave carpentry because glaucoma was impairing his vision. By chance he met a representative of the Music Maker Foundation, an organization devoted to advancing the careers of blues musicians, who helped him return to live performance.

Although he had played throughout the South for years, Finley's genuine breakthrough arrived in 2015 when, at a friend's urging, he attended the King Biscuit Blues Festival. He secured a brief five-minute guitar slot on a side stage; his compelling set prompted widespread interest from those present. That performance led directly to an introduction to Bruce Watson of Big Legal Mess.

Watson brought Finley to Memphis, where the debut album Age Don't Mean a Thing was recorded with the city's premier session group, the Bo-Keys, and issued on Big Legal Mess in late 2016. Entirely written by Finley, the record drew comparisons in reviews to the early work of artists such as James Brown and B.B. King.

Building on the strong critical reception, Finley began regional touring and encountered Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys along the way. The two established an immediate rapport and agreed to collaborate. When Z2 Comics offered Finley the chance to compose and record an original score for the graphic novel Murder Ballads, he enlisted Auerbach as co-writer, producer, and guitarist. The partnership proved successful enough that Auerbach signed Finley to his WEA/Nonesuch-distributed Easy Eye Sound label and produced the follow-up album Goin' Platinum!, released in 2017. The project earned widespread acclaim internationally, enabling Finley to tour with the Black Keys and headline notable club and festival appearances on his own the next year.

In 2019, at age 67, Finley received an invitation to perform on the reality competition America's Got Talent without preliminary auditions. He resumed touring afterward but faced interruption from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

He began composing a sequence of autobiographical songs, some alone and others with Auerbach. Motivated by the material Finley submitted, Auerbach recruited veteran songwriters Bobby Wood and Pat McLaughlin for additional contributions. Assembling a team of seasoned session musicians, Finley recorded in Nashville in late 2020. On May 1 of 2021 he performed the title track of Sharecropper's Son on CBS This Morning's Saturday Sessions. The completed album, the third produced by Auerbach, was engineered by country specialist M. Allen Parker and issued by Easy Eye Sound on May 21. Finley toured and appeared at several festivals afterward, and the record received strong reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2023 Finley returned to Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville to record a fourth album. Opting for a different approach, they entered without prepared material. Auerbach played guitar and directed a band that featured drummers Patrick Carney and Jeffrey Clemens, bassist Eric Deaton, guitarist Kenny Brown, and vocalists Christy Johnson and LaQuindrelyn McMahon, the latter two being Finley's daughter and granddaughter. The musicians worked rapidly, creating parts spontaneously and typically completing each song in a single take. The resulting 11-track Black Bayou portrays life in northern Louisiana, with Finley serving as an engaging and informed guide through both personal history and the local landscape.