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About Robert

Baltimore City  

I have been playing music professionally since the early 1960s in styles as diverse as Folk, Rock, Country, Funk, Latin, Caribbean, and Jazz. I play guitar, ukulele, electric bass, and keyboards and teach group ukulele lessons at Creative Alliance. I have performed in and around Baltimore and in the Caribbean since the mid 1970s in bands as diverse as Mambo Combo, The Mooks, The Dogtones, The Loose Shoes Rhythm Band, The Self-Righteous Brothers, The Patapsco Delta Boys, and the Fabulous… more

View Robert's Resume
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Mambo Combo

A five-piece band playing Latin and Caribbean dance music including original compositions by Robert Friedman. Over the years, the band has recorded two CDs, "Mr. Happy," and "Live." Every year (for over 20 years) thousands of people attend Mambo Combo performances at concerts, parties, and fundraisers throughout the region.

  • mambo_md.jpg
    mambo_md.jpg
  • Smother Your Mother Tango - by RJF
    A classic tango with unusual instrumentation. The lyrics are about smothering mothers, but we never sing them.
  • Socalypso - by Robert Friedman
    A hybrid of two Trinidadian forms: Soca and Calypso, hence the name. Soca has a lilting beat that comes directly from East Indian folk music.
  • The Fates - by Robert Friedman
    This is a Bolero. The real title is "The Fates Conspire with Incredibly Bad Fortune to Create a Totally Untenable Situation."
    •

    • The Patapsco Delta Boys

    For over 10 years I have been playing a quirky combination of Blues, Folk, country, and Early Jazz songs with my buddy, (famous cartoonist) Tom Chalkley. Sometimes we fill out the sound with bass and drums.

    • Patapsco Delta Boys
      Patapsco Delta Boys

      This is one of the trio versions of the Patapsco Delta Boys

    • Suddenly I'm Irresistable

      This is an original song (c) 1978 Robert Friedman performed by the Patapso Delta Boys

    • One Foot in the Gutter

      Here's the Patapsco Delta Boys performing Tom's song which celebrates his inner hobo.

    •

    • The Blues

    As an indication of my continuing appreciation of the Blues, I have included a photo of me with the legendary Muddy Waters at the Marble Bar in the early 1980s when I was part of his opening act. I also include a performance of a Howlin' Wolf song and an original composition called You Left the Water Running.

    • Bob and Muddy Waters 1980s
      Bob and Muddy Waters 1980s
      The Marble Bar was having some sort of shirt contest that night, I guess.
    • You Left the Water Running

      This is the first song I wrote, You Left the Water Running (c) Robert Friedman 1970

    • Little Red Rooster

      Here I am by the fireplace singing a Howlin' Wolf classic, Little Red Rooster

    •

    • The (Shameless) Mooks

    For over twenty years, this five-piece band has played a mixture of Rock, Reggae, Funk, Rockabilly, and R&B Classics. For most of that time the (Shameless) Mooks were generally considered to be the "Best Behaved Band in Baltimore." Unfortunately, one of the main Mooks move to Maine, so the band is currently inactive...although we're working on a CD.

    • mooksharbor1
      mooksharbor1
    • Funkyard - by Robert Friedman
      An exploration of the world of shade-tree mechanics and the junkers they inevitably collect. In this song, Bob is thinking back to a time when he and his buddy (Ernest and Julio) ran an open-air car repair business called "God's Garage."
    • All Greased Up and No Place to Go
      Bob's greaseball-inspired ballad harkening back to the world of "Rocks and Jotters" he experienced going to a regional high school in New Jersey.
    • Give Me Back My Stuff - by Robert Friedman
      The Mooks play Bob's song about breaking up, which everyone knows is hard to do.
    • Dictator Blues - by Robert Friedman
      A meditation on totalitarian love. This song sometimes features Imelda Marcos, but not this time.
    • In the Dreamtime - by Robert Friedman
      "Suburban aborigines living in your neighborhood...."
    •

    • Murder Ballads Show at Creative Alliance

    Organized and curated a performance on Halloween Weekend of Murder Ballads. Showcasing a wide variety of songs from 300-year-old Scots-Irish and English balladry, through classic Blues ballads, to English Music Hall songs and contemporary songs of murder and mayhem, this sold-out show presented Bob and many great local musicians including Tom Chalkley, Jon Glik, Walker and Jay, Eleanor Ellis, and the Austin Harp Family.
    http://www.creativealliance.org/events/eventitem2712.html
    • murderballads_simplesmall.jpg
      murderballads_simplesmall.jpg
    • The Werewolf
      A spooky song performed by Bob at his Murder Ballads show on Halloween Weekend 2011 was written by his friend and mentor, Michael Hurley.
    • Been on the Job Too Long
      On this song Bob and his ad-hoc ensemble perform this famous version of the Duncan and Brady family of Blues Ballads. This is a recording of part of the song from the show.
    • Down in the Willow Garden
      Here's one example of the other acts performing in the Murder Ballads show: Walker and Jay playing with the incomparable Jon Glik on this old song.
    •

    • The Folk and Blues Project

    This is an educational project promoting American Folk and Blues music to elementary and middle-school students through both after-school singing clubs and arts-integration residencies. Bob has taught versions of two three- to five-day residencies ("Songs of the Civil War," and "Songs of the American Colonial Period") in two Baltimore middle schools and one in Anne Arundel County. These lessons integrate songs with American history which research shows help them to retain the material.

    • The Folk & Blues Project
      The Folk & Blues Project
    • The Folk & Blues Club 2011
      The Folk & Blues Club 2011
    • Arts Integration in the classroom
      Arts Integration in the classroom
    • songs-of-the-civil-war---residencyrev5.doc
    • songs-of-american-colonial-times---plan-1.doc