Roland Van Campenhout

Born in Flanders, blues guitarist Roland Van Campenhout earned widespread recognition throughout Belgium simply as Roland, revered among the genre’s leading figures while also moving fluidly through folk and country over a span exceeding thirty-five years. His earliest band work came in the first half of the 1960s with the William & Roland Skiffle Group; he later turned toward folk, providing support for the duo Miek & Roel until striking out alone in 1969. Under contract with CBS, he delivered his debut long-player, A Tune for You, in 1971. Three further releases appeared before the decade closed—One Step at a Time in 1972, the 1974 concert recording Live, and Movin’ On in 1975—yet international exposure arrived most decisively during his tenure in Rory Gallagher’s band, which carried him across continents and sharpened his blues command. Resuming his solo path, Van Campenhout issued Snowblind in 1981 and scored his first substantial commercial success with 76 Centimeters Per Second four years later. In the early 1990s he explored rock alongside Arno in the project Charles et les Lulus. The 1994 anthology Day by Day, Blow by Blow surveyed his catalog, and in 1998 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ZAMU Awards. Additional partnerships included Marie Leure Béraud, Pieter-Jan de Smet, and the tribute ensemble Spelers & Drinkers. His twentieth studio album, Never Enough, arrived in 2008, after which he maintained an active schedule before enthusiastic crowds.