Bobby Hird is a guitarist and singer-songwriter with a different twist on his music. He’s much more than just a guitarist though. He plays all types of stringed instruments, including all kinds of guitars: basic electric and acoustic for starters, but also Dobro guitar, slide guitar, banjo and mandolin. And Bobby has also been known to toot a trumpet and fiddle with a fiddle or two, too. And he sings too!
Now, lots of people can play multiple instruments, sure. The real magic happens in music when you couple those talents with someone who eschews the boundaries of the “standard songwriting rules,” and opts for a road less traveled, taking a more scenic route to the point of destination. The mix of sensibilities can be intoxicating.
Bobby Hird has mastered the art of alternative arrangements for consistently producing new and refreshing music, but always with vaguely familiar roots. This is borne of Bobby’s wide variety of musical influences, from country (and western) and bluegrass, to hard rockers, to pop music, and also to prog and jazz. His songwriting style defies categorization and incorporates elements of all of those styles, sometimes as standalone per song, but more frequently amalgamated into a whole new style, and other times in widely diverse sections. It toys with the listener, with the occasional “aha” moment thrown in. The cognitive dissonance created has a stickiness to it that is impossible to shed. It’s catchy, memorable.
Bobby comes by his roots honestly, playing in top 40 bands in his formative years, migrating to country and country-rock, then to rock and progressive music. Musician’s music. He played his early days with a unique legendary band of troubadors called Climbadonkey, then carrying on with the early version of the Ravyns, finally getting the call to be guitarist for prog giants Crack The Sky, where Rick Witkowski and Bobby are the guitarist bookends.
Check out his latest release, Hird Immunity.
or, now available from Adobo Records, Bobby’s first solo CD, Heartbeat Away.